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!   

Mary Doria Russell Always Makes Me THINK

August 7, 2016 by faintingviolet 4 Comments

I read The Sparrow last year and was absolutely gutted by the story of Father Emilio Sandoz and the crew of the first mission to Rakhat. Having decided to work my way through Mary Doria Russell’s works, I knew that I would eventually read its sequel, Children of God. However, I knew very little about it, other than that it continued Emilio’s story.  Bonnie also read The Sparrow for Cannonball Read 7, and we had talked about reading Children of Men together this year. In […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Religion, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: bonnie, buddy reads, children of god, faintingviolet, Mary Doria Russell, Philosophy, read harder challenge, Religion, The Sparrow

faintingviolet's CBR8 Review No:47 · Genres: Fiction, Religion, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: bonnie, buddy reads, children of god, faintingviolet, Mary Doria Russell, Philosophy, read harder challenge, Religion, The Sparrow ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

Leah Remini does good Scientology memoir.

January 30, 2016 by narfna 2 Comments

“Belief and faith are great, but very few people have been led astray by thinking for themselves.” I finished this book at one AM on a work night, when I had to be up at 6 AM the next morning. I did this even though I knew I would feel like shit the next morning, because I just couldn’t help myself. I was thinking, boy, I should go to bed! I’m going to regret this tomorrow (and probably the days after)! And then I just […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Religion Tagged With: #memoir, cults, leah remini, narfna, Non-Fiction, rebecca paley, Religion, scientology, surviving hollywood and scientology, troublemaker

narfna's CBR8 Review No:18 · Genres: Non-Fiction, Religion · Tags: #memoir, cults, leah remini, narfna, Non-Fiction, rebecca paley, Religion, scientology, surviving hollywood and scientology, troublemaker ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

On My Own Cranky, Beautiful Path to Faith

September 30, 2015 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I don’t really know how to review Pastrix. I think what I’m going to do is tell you a bit about the book and its author, and then blog about how some of the things in the book really affected me and gave me some things to ruminate on. So, enter at your own risk, I’m going to talk about faith. Awhile back our own bonnie read and reviewed this book and suggested it to me via Goodreads before I even had a chance to […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Religion Tagged With: faintingviolet, faith, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix, read harder challenge

faintingviolet's CBR7 Review No:83 · Genres: Non-Fiction, Religion · Tags: faintingviolet, faith, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix, read harder challenge ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“It’s fear that makes us lose our conscience. It’s also what transforms us into cowards.”

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (translated by Mattias Ripa, Blake Ferris, Anjali Singh)

August 27, 2015 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

This year as I began making my epic list of things to read for Cannonball I asked some of my friends what they would suggest. While having these conversations my coworker mentioned that she hadn’t read Persepolis yet, but kept meaning to, and had I. I had not, so on the list it went, since she’s the mom of two small kiddoes, I could certainly do a little market research for her reading intake. Good news for her and you is that I *really* liked […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Religion Tagged With: Anjali Singh, banned book, banned books, Blake Ferris, challenged book, faintingviolet, Graphic Novel, Iran Revolution, Islam, Marjane Satrapi, Marjane Satrapi (translated by Mattias Ripa, Marjane Satrapi (translated by Mattias Ripa, Blake Ferris, Anjali Singh), Persepolis, works in translation

faintingviolet's CBR7 Review No:66 · Genres: Non-Fiction, Religion · Tags: Anjali Singh, banned book, banned books, Blake Ferris, challenged book, faintingviolet, Graphic Novel, Iran Revolution, Islam, Marjane Satrapi, Marjane Satrapi (translated by Mattias Ripa, Marjane Satrapi (translated by Mattias Ripa, Blake Ferris, Anjali Singh), Persepolis, works in translation ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

“The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.”

January 27, 2015 by faintingviolet 10 Comments

I’ve read a couple of Neil Gaiman works before. I loved Ocean and the End of the Lane and had mostly good feelings about Neverwhere and that book, and its protagonist Richard Mayhew, has grown on me over time. (In fact, I suggest reading my friend Ale’s review from this year to get a better take on the book without the depression funk I was in in 2013). Late last year I saw badkittyuno’s review of American Gods and decided that it would be my […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Religion Tagged With: American Gods, badkittyuno, faintingviolet, Neil Gaiman

faintingviolet's CBR7 Review No:6 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Religion · Tags: American Gods, badkittyuno, faintingviolet, Neil Gaiman ·
Rating:
· 10 Comments

“the sparrow still falls”

January 14, 2015 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

Many moons ago I read Dreamers of the Day for CBR4. I loved the prose, and marveled at the rich character development even if my review isn’t as effusive (the book has grown on me over time). The author, Mary Doria Russell, has received positive reviews over the course of the many Cannonball Reads, so I decided that I wanted to jump back in with this author. I put The Sparrow on my library request list, and when the email came in that it was […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Religion, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: faintingviolet, Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow

faintingviolet's CBR7 Review No:4 · Genres: Fiction, Religion, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Suspense · Tags: faintingviolet, Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments
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