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:

The title of the book tells you everything you need with this one. (CBR12 Bingo)

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe

July 12, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I laughed out loud when I saw the How To square on this year’s bingo card – days before a friend had given me Randall Munroe’s latest  How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems when I had lamented my inability lately to sink into reading anything. Her answer to that problem (and it is a good answer) was something intended to be read in small pieces and not all at once, and something that is both humorous and full of interesting information. Checks […]

Filed Under: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction Tagged With: cbr12bingo, faintingviolet, How-To, humor, Randall Munroe, science, xkcd

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:35 · Genres: Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Non-Fiction · Tags: cbr12bingo, faintingviolet, How-To, humor, Randall Munroe, science, xkcd ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“I don’t want you to keep downplaying the hurt you feel like you’re not even human. You keep it up – all these lies to yourself, to other people, and soon you’re not going to know who you are.” (CBR12 Bingo)

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

July 5, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

My Cannonball Bingo tradition is to sit down with the square descriptions and game plan out options for what books to read for each category. I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi could qualify for several squares (this is her debut published October 2019, we read it for CBR Book Club) but I’m using it for UnCannon. The ‘Canon’ is often made up of books written by old, white men and the goal of this square is to read as far from […]

Filed Under: Book Club, Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: CannonBookClub, cbr12bingo, faintingviolet, Farah Naz Rishi, I Hope You Get This Message, The Future is Queer, UnCannon, we need diverse books

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:34 · Genres: Book Club, Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: CannonBookClub, cbr12bingo, faintingviolet, Farah Naz Rishi, I Hope You Get This Message, The Future is Queer, UnCannon, we need diverse books ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“She didn’t know how to get it—but she had a feeling that if she stuck with the Librarians for long enough, she might be able to figure it out. How to feast instead of starving. How to like the person who she was instead of fighting it.”

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

June 29, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Upright Women Wanted was one of the books I was most looking forward to in 2020. This is my first Sarah Gailey, I know them from Twitter and I’ve clocked the reviews here of their books. But the description of Upright Women Wanted caught my attention and plunked itself on my to read list. Alas, I wanted to love this book but instead I just really liked it. Its good, its comfortably three stars good but the idea and themes deserve four. Unfortunately the beginning […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: faintingviolet, LGBTQ, queer lit, Sarah Gailey, upright women wanted, we need diverse books

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:33 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: faintingviolet, LGBTQ, queer lit, Sarah Gailey, upright women wanted, we need diverse books ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“The dark shadow of crime spreads right and left, from the Penitentiary and the Workhouse, over all the institutions, the Asylum, the Alms-House and Charity Hospital; so that, in the minds of the people at large, all suffer alike from an evil repute.”

Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn

June 28, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Damnation Island was a book I pulled off my shelves when quarantining and social distancing began back in March. I had read Ten Days a Madwoman in February and I decided an adult non-fiction trip to Blackwell Island was needed to balance and expand the accounting in Noyes’s book. I was right, there is much important history here – particularly pertinent to our times as we reexamine and revisit the functioning of corrections, and how we as a society care for those around us. Often […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: 19th century, Blackwell Island, Damnation Island, faintingviolet, Mental Healthcare, new york, Prison Reform, Public Aid, Roosevelt Island, Stacy Horn

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:32 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: 19th century, Blackwell Island, Damnation Island, faintingviolet, Mental Healthcare, new york, Prison Reform, Public Aid, Roosevelt Island, Stacy Horn ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Disaster Planning By the Book

Building an Emergency Plan: A Guide for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions by Valerie Dorge

June 27, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

This is a book I read specifically because of our current pandemic. In my job I am responsible for much of the physical care of our historic collections and buildings and the response to COVID-19 is just as much an emergency/disaster response as any of the other things that make their ways into our plans. As I make updates to our Emergency Procedures and our Collections Care Policy and Procedures to reflect long term closures as well as reviewing our Disaster Plans, I began reading […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: Cultural Institutions, Disaster Planning, Emergency Planning, faintingviolet, GLAMS, museum, Valerie Dorge

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:31 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: Cultural Institutions, Disaster Planning, Emergency Planning, faintingviolet, GLAMS, museum, Valerie Dorge ·
· 0 Comments

“Any questions? Comments? Last-minute genius ideas? Prayers, hymns, interpretive dances?”

The Disasters by M.K. England

June 27, 2020 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

My reading intake has dropped off considerably since May, but book club kept me with my hand in the game so to speak, because I really enjoyed my first choice, The Disasters by M.K. England. This book ended up on our selection list because I saw an interesting write-up about it and thought hey, I want to read that book. Sometimes it pays to be the Book Club Maven. (I also read I Hope You Get This Message , I had previously read The Long […]

Filed Under: Book Club, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult Tagged With: bisexual hero, book club, faintingviolet, found family, M.K. England, space road trip, the disasters, The Future is Queer

faintingviolet's CBR12 Review No:30 · Genres: Book Club, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult · Tags: bisexual hero, book club, faintingviolet, found family, M.K. England, space road trip, the disasters, The Future is Queer ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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