Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   
Book and Dagger

Nerds vs Nazis

Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham

August 20, 2026 by Halbs 2 Comments

As promised by the title, Graham’s Book and Dagger delivers plenty of stories of academics and librarians helping the Allies in World War II through espionage and other covert ways. As the book notes, the best spy isn’t someone dashing like a James Bond. It’s someone who can’t even get a waiter’s attention. Bring in the nerds! No one can get away with collecting books, or asking questions about train gauges, or fiddling with a dam, quite like a nerd. In my mind, though, the […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Featured, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Elyse Graham, espionage, spies, war, WWII

Halbs's CBR18 Review No:11 · Genres: Audiobooks, Featured, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: Elyse Graham, espionage, spies, war, WWII ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

Crimes Against Our Own Humanity

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven R. Scott

May 2, 2026 by matt_thac Leave a Comment

I’ve spent a career at the margins of politics, learning a lot about how people interact and how the most insignificant seeming interaction can have massive ripple effects and how political discourse flows in certain directions, mainly towards fear. It’s a world of real-politik which can best described with the world-weary quote from Men in Black, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.” Nowhere is this more evident than in George Takei (Yes, Sulu from Star Trek)’s graphic novel rendition of his […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction Tagged With: cbr18, George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven R. Scott, Internment camps, Japanese Americans, WWII

matt_thac's CBR18 Review No:39 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction · Tags: cbr18, George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven R. Scott, Internment camps, Japanese Americans, WWII ·
· 0 Comments

Exciting historical fiction for the kids

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

April 21, 2026 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

The Bletchley Riddle, a novel for readers age 10-14, was co-written by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. The two authors take turns writing chapters from the points of view of 14-year-old Lizzie (Sepetys) and her 19-year-old brother Jakob (Sheinkin). It’s a fast-paced, thrilling and educational mystery/spy novel set in the early days of WWII at Great Britain’s top secret location for code breaking — Bletchley Park. Sepetys and Sheinkin include tons of fascinating historical facts and real historical figures in their story. When the story […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Fiction, History Tagged With: cbr18, code breakers, ElCicco, Fiction, Kids Lit, Ruta Sepetys, Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, Steve Sheinkin, The Bletchley Riddle, WWII

ElCicco's CBR18 Review No:20 · Genres: Children's Books, Fiction, History · Tags: cbr18, code breakers, ElCicco, Fiction, Kids Lit, Ruta Sepetys, Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, Steve Sheinkin, The Bletchley Riddle, WWII ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“He had been defying us all. Yet there was nobody in the court who did not look superior to him.”

Radio Treason: The Trials of Lord Haw-Haw, The British Voice of Nazi Germany by Rebecca West

January 29, 2026 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

Radio Treason was originally a series of New Yorker dispatches from Rebecca West, covering the trial for treason of William Joyce, who was a radio propagandist for the Nazis nicknamed “Lord Haw-Haw.” This book is a reissue of these columns into one book, which is unfortunately and depressingly extremely of the moment. I had a lot of moments of recognition and sadness reading this as to how little things have changed in terms of the small minded and pathetic nature of Fascists. West details the trial and […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books Tagged With: legal history, post WWII Britain, rebecca west, WWII

GentleRain's CBR18 Review No:36 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books · Tags: legal history, post WWII Britain, rebecca west, WWII ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“The ultimate effect of unceasing propaganda has now been to cancel out the effect of all news alike.”

A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939-1940 by Iris Origo

January 24, 2026 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

Another random bookstore find, as so many good books in my life are. It’s why I trawl through my favorite sections! A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary, 1939-1940 is what the title conveys. Iris Origo was an American born woman married to an Italian man (although she spent most of her life in Italy from childhood) and this is her diary of 1939-1940 as Italy slowly descends into war. Origo was a woman from a highly privileged background — her godfather was the […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, History Tagged With: Diary, Iris Origo, Italy, pre WWII, WWII

GentleRain's CBR18 Review No:29 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, History · Tags: Diary, Iris Origo, Italy, pre WWII, WWII ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“The past is the future”

Obasan by Joy Kogawa

August 10, 2025 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

Cbr17bingo citizen Over the years, I have read a number of books that have dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy and Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine were all written from personal, family experiences of that shameful chapter in US history that was left out of history books when I was in school (and is probably being removed from them now). I had never heard of Joy […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: Canada, cbr17, cbr17bingo, ElCicco, Fiction, Japanese Internment Camps, joy kogawa, obasan, WWII

ElCicco's CBR17 Review No:37 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: Canada, cbr17, cbr17bingo, ElCicco, Fiction, Japanese Internment Camps, joy kogawa, obasan, WWII ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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