Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Soldier For Fortune

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler and the Making and Breaking of the American Empire by Jonathan M. Katz

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An excellent read and an infuriating read. Worth all five stars. And like Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction and Ackerman’s Reign of Terror, you’re guaranteed to be peeved on every page. I knew the United States had a colonizing history dating back, well really to its foundation through the US-Mexican War of the 1840s, but more specifically from the end of the 19th century onwards. I knew that we captured many islands in the Caribbean and Pacific respectively, even if I didn’t know the hows-and-whys. Jonathan M. Katz does […]

There’s No End Like a Sanderson End

The Hero of Ages by Bandon Sanderson

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The more Sanderson I read, the more I feel like his books are really just love letters to his fans. His author notes are always so personal, and its clear that he takes his fans seriously and thinks about them as he’s writing. In this last installment of the Mistborn trilogy, Sanderson’s goal was to write an ending of a series that both satisfied and concluded without rushing or shoehorning. He took all the things he hated about series that ended disappointedly and made sure he […]

James Ellroy meets the War on Terror in the search for Honor and Soul

Pukhtu Primo by DOA

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In the fast-paced depiction of the war in Afghanistan at the end of 2000s, French author DOA depicts the search for the Afghan soul, the “Pukthu” – the code of honor and justice, that his characters pursue in vain. Retired warlords, rogue mercenaries, lost soldiers and tired journalists look for meaning and truth in a chaotic world that does not make sense anymore. Though well researched and entertaining, the book’s characters feel somehow a bit unoriginal. A sense of deja-vue echoes through the narrative of […]

I have a secret I want to share

Nour’s Secret Library by Wafa’ Tarnowska

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Nour’s Secret Library is a book that is about the power of books, the power of one person, the power of a community and how we can learn from each other instead of fighting. The emotional and chaotic images by Vali Mintzi show the ugly of war but also the hope people can find when looking. Wafa’ Tarnowska took a true event (children of Syria finding books and making a hidden library for anyone who wished to partake of books of many languages and subjects, […]

Manly Men Doing Manly Things

The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte

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It didn’t take too long for me to realize who this author reminded me of.  Not particularly his style, but more his content.  Hemingway.  Coming from me, that is not a complement. Faulques is a professional photographer who specializes in the battlefield.  In Serbia, he photographs a young Croatian fighter, Markovik, and the picture wins a prestigious award, and is also published widely.  Unfortunately, it also makes Markovik himself famous, and his wife and child are killed.  Thus, he is searching for Faulques.  Meanwhile, Faulques […]

Get the scooper, ’cause I got the scoop on a robo-dog and its girl

D-39: A Robodog’s Journey by Irene Latham

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I am not really a dog person, but something about the idea of D-39: A Robodog’s Journey was grabbing. Maybe the androgenous look of the character on the cover or the fact it was a robot dog and as far as I could remember I had never read a book with a robot dog. Maybe because it was free. But what kept me reading this novel by Irene Latham was two main things: first it was done in a poetic prose manner. But it was […]



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