Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About faintingviolet

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A reader and caffeine addict who consumes all sorts of books, some just more frequently than others. Your CBR Book Club Maven with over a decade of Cannonballing experience I believe in the beauty that comes from a common goal of reading, reviewing, and discussing. Also, Fuck Cancer. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: faintingviolet's Quick Questions interview.)

faintingviolet's Reviews:

“It’s always been real for us.”

In a Rush by Kate Canterbary

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When I finished reading In a Jam by Kate Canterbary in July, I ordered the second book in her Friendship, RI series as quickly as I could. I was so pleased with Canterbary’s style that I knew I wanted more of it. While I four-star loved In a Rush, it paled slightly in comparison. If In a Jam was a 4.5 rounded up, In a Rush is a 4.25 rounded down. Which is not a huge difference, but so much was the same between the two books that I couldn’t help but compare them to one another and while it all still worked a treat for me, Emme […]

Moving Beyond the “Great” Men

The Problem with Great Men by Hallie Rubenhold

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A couple of weeks ago an essay that Hallie Rubenhold had presented for the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2020 as part of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Lecture came to my attention, and I slid it into the TBR. The Problem with Great Men hits on so many of the things that are bothering me professionally these days and reminds me why I got into the work of public history in the first place.   Rubenhold lays out how nearly 200 years ago (1840 to be exact) essayist Thomas Carlyle gave his lecture series “On Heroes […]

1930s Cinema History

Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; 1930-1934 by Thomas Doherty

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Are you looking for a primer on how the enforcement of what became known as the Hayes Code on the movie business in the 1930s impacted what came before and after 1934? I might have the book for you. In 1999 Thomas Doherty published what might be considered the go to book on early 1930s Hollywood, deep diving the various social forces at work and how they effected the creative output of the artists (and businesspeople) in Hollywood.   The Code was adopted in 1930 but was without any enforcement measures. By 1934, however, the enforcement was […]

“If there is a silver lining to suffering trauma, it is the opportunity to learn about one’s self, to trail mental fingers over a previously unrecognized core of inner strength.”

A Libertarian Walks into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

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Sometimes a title just does it for you. A Libertarian Walks into a Bear – as a title – makes me smile every time. Make of that what you will. Its author’s writing style is also sly and occasionally funny which works to balance out the serious nature of a lot of what is being discussed in the narrative.   Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling is a local New Hampshire journalist who gets pulled into the world of Grafton, NH and its story of libertarians and bears through what […]

“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.”

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, Benjamin Moser (translator)

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 The Hour of the Star is a book that climbed onto this year’s TBR by the Read Harder Challenge. One of this year’s tasks is to read a work of literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author. So, I went to books already on my radar to see if any fit the bill and sure enough Clarice Lispector’s final book did just that (Lispector was severely injured in a fire in her 40s and nearly lost her hand). It also was a book […]

Spending a little extra time with some characters I love.

Ghosts: The Button House Archives by Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond

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Everyone has their comfort entertainments and one of mine is the television show Ghosts. It started with the BBC version which aired 2019-2023 and I think I’ve watched it at least annually since I discovered it in the early part of COVID lockdowns. Ghosts: The Button House Archives is the kind of series companion book that is fan-service, but in an enjoyable “a fun bit of extra content that deepens some of the jokes and visual gags of the show while sneaking in some additional […]



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