Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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“I suppose one has to have lived in the U.S.S.R. to know what a priceless treasure security is.”

Liberation — Russian Style by Ada Halpern

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My mom suggested I read this and I’m glad she did (she knows me well and this is the sort of book that’s right up my alley). Liberation — Russian Style is short at only 106 pages, but it packs a big emotional punch and really drives home the inhumanity of the forced civilian deportations by the Soviet government during WWII. This is one of those overlooked historical events in the American understanding of the US, I think, but millions of people were forcibly deported, […]

Time traveling is for nerds.

Blackout (All Clear, #1) by Connie Willis

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30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 1/30 I’ve sat on this review for several weeks now and the feelings that I have for this book—despite its clear flaws—are overwhelmingly positive. So I’m rounding up to four stars! I always enjoy a Connie Willis book, even when they are debilitatingly sad (looking at you Doomdsay Book), but they do have their flaws. She is OBSESSED with miscommunication and people being unable to find each other, and those kind of plots (which I am not interested […]

The perfect mix of war and noir

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

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Five Decembers by James Kestrel won the 2022 Edgar Award for best novel. It is a solid murder mystery that involves a classic noir detective story paired with international intrigue and  the Pacific Theater in WWII. Main character Joe McGrady is army brat who went to college and later served in the army before settling in Hawaii and becoming a detective in the Honolulu Police Department. His boss, Capt. Beamer, is a chain-smoking benzedrine-inhaling hard nose who hates Joe and makes it clear that he […]

Finding family

On the Move: Home Is Where You Find It by Michael Rosen

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A rating of 3 makes this seem like it On the Move: Home Is Where You Find It is not a good book/collection. However, this rating is because of the images of Quentin Blake, which I am not a fan of. However, they are perfect for the atmosphere of the writing (raw, desolate, almost hopeless) and since t there are no half points, this is a 3.5 lower 4. The idea of migration, refugees, immigrants, all come together while we follow Michael Rosen finding out about […]

“Their own words are their best memorial:” Civilian Casualties of WWII

Leningrad by Anna Reid

In the Ruins of the Reich by Douglas Botting

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Both of these books illuminate the impact of cataclysmic war on the civilian population, which is an angle I personally find much more compelling than straight military history. I am way more interested in the individual experience and the repercussions of what we in America tend to view of the last good war, or the war in which we foreground ourselves as heroes. These books both complicate that picture and ask the reader to face the consequences of war. Books that deal with the immediate […]

No Code Breaking Necessary to Enjoy this One

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

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This historical fiction is about women code breakers at Bletchley Park (Officially the Government Code and Cypher School) during WWII. The three main characters, Mab, Osla and Beth are thrown together through Mab and Isla’s arrival at Bletchley Park. Mab is from Shoreditch. She is unabashedly clawing her way out of poverty and aiming toward stability and a better life by marrying up (so to speak). Osla is a socialite, of Canadian birth but English at heart. She has stayed in London to help with […]



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