Cannonball Read 10

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Women & Espionage in the World Wars

The Alice Network: A Novel by Kate Quinn

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The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is an ambitious work of historical fiction that straddles two world wars and their aftermath, and that shines a light on the heroic work of female spies. Quinn uses a solid base of historical fact and real people to create her fictional heroine Eve (aka Evelyn Gardiner, aka Marguerite Le Francois), a spy for England in WWI who made shattering sacrifices and has never healed from her tragic and brutal experiences. Eve is an alcoholic recluse when, in the spring of 1947, an assertive and unrelenting American girl named Charlie (Charlotte), who is single […]

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4/12/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:15 |

Army Chief of Staff Reading List #11

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

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The Sleepwalkers is one of the most thorough books I have recently read.  It attempts to describe and make sense of the factors that led to WWI.  The author attempts to discover the real causes beyond the notion that the war was inevitable.  It’s a nearly impossible task that I think Christopher Clark does quite well.  His findings do not provide a clear or simple answer but it is comprehensive and much better than the tired tropes we learned about in high school history class. I think that one of the most interesting, and also depressing, aspects of the lead […]

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4/10/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:18 |

Army Chief of Staff Reading List #3

The First World War by Hew Strachan

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I read The First World War by Hew Strachan mostly because it was recommended by the Army Chief of Staff.  I also realized that my knowledge of WWI is woefully inept considering I have a history degree.  I took a class on World War II and the US Civil War.  There are dozens of movies about WWII and the Civil War.  We joke about the days in which the History Channel showed only profiles of Hitler, as opposed to Ancient Aliens, as a sign of the times.  Outside of of the tales of Diana, Princess of Themiscyra, I know very […]

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1/12/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:3 |

“You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed

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There is a complex tapestry of finely woven threads that make up this story; each one reaching back into antiquity, becoming drab of color and less distinct. The tapestry details the modern world, and without these threads, it’s impossible to understand the context in which we live. This book is an attempt to explain this tapestry, and details its creation via the economic systems of Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States. It follows their development in the 19th century, through WWI and it’s tumultuous aftermath and through the implosion of the Great Depression and rebirth following WWII. Which […]

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2/24/2017 's CBR9 Review No:10 |

Indescribably mediocre YA steampunk.

Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) by Scott Westerfeld

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I don’t know what happened here. How a book about an alternate history steampunk WWI where one side has Clankers, and the other genetically engineered flying beasts that double as airships could be so exceptionally uninteresting and generic, I really don’t know. Also one of the MC’s is the son of the murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand. And the other is a girl who dresses as a boy! Also, also it was narrated by Alan Cumming! And yet, my mind wandered constantly while listening, and I had to force myself to finish. Maybe I shouldn’t have done audio on this one. […]

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12/28/2016 's CBR8 Review No:157 |

Woodrow Wilson Writes Good Notes, And That You May Tie To

Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

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So we finally come to The Great War. This has been slowly building for four or five books now, each book has had some hint about this major event and how it will effect the characters. If I’m to be honest, I don’t think I’ve read this book more then once or maybe twice. The first time I read it, I was very young and the character death really bothered me, so I didn’t re-read it very often if at all. Is that a spoiler? It’s war, the book is about WWI, I think it’s a given that one of […]

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9/30/2016 's CBR8 Review No:81 |

Spoiler: The Ship Sinks

Dead Wake by Erik Larson

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I love everything that Erik Larson has written.  I usually read them, but I went with the audiobook version for this one.  It took me an entire year to get through – but that was no fault of the book.  You see, I like happy endings.  The ending here is no surprise, and I stopped listening to this one when it reached the last morning of the voyage.  I just couldn’t do it. Then, I found myself on a long solo car trip with my small children this summer.  No offense to the narrator, but there is nothing quite like […]

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8/8/2016 's CBR8 Review No:32 |

The Art and Poetry of War

Above the Dreamless Dead by various authors edited by Chris Duffy

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I teach British Literature to 17 and 18 year olds of various levels and degrees of interest (in different classes).  Something that I’ve noticed over the years is that just about all my students feel something when we read World War I poetry. I don’t know if it’s because it’s visceral,  perhaps they appreciate the simple plain language, or maybe they can relate to the poems where the young authors express regret and naivete about their involvement in the war.  Because come on, I remember regretting decisions made at 17, having made them with only my idealistic little mind.  Either […]

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1/8/2016 's CBR8 Review No:5 |


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