Cannonball Read 17

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:

“She wanted to read stories that had been written with care, by a writer who’d wrestled with words, who might have sworn at the computer and procrastinated by cleaning the entire apartment and furiously dictated notes in the middle of the night”

Magically Generated by Jackie Lau

October 7, 2025 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Invariably, something that is bothering an author is going to make its way into the book they’re writing. That something for Jackie Lau in Magically Generated is GenAI. While I am largely on the side that Lau takes via her main character’s rants, I thought the note was hit too often and it wasn’t necessary because Lau already had enough character depth with Nora to have the reader empathize with her “done with the nonsense and not trusting anyone new or anything on the internet” vibe she is giving off strongly as this Christmas novella gets started (and throughout, really).    I love […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: cbr17bingo, Christmas novella, Jackie Lau, Magically Generated, novella, romance novella

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:44 · Genres: Romance · Tags: cbr17bingo, Christmas novella, Jackie Lau, Magically Generated, novella, romance novella ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
cover of box office poison featuring a theatre marquee and the title in neon lights

What is a flop, anyway?

Box Office Poison by Tim Robey

October 5, 2025 by faintingviolet 6 Comments

One of my coworkers and I love to chat movies. When his birthday came this year I went on the hunt for a book about Hollywood that I thought would be up his alley and while I couldn’t put my hands on my first choice for him Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris (a book I read back in 2008 before my time with Cannonball and LOVED) quick enough,  I went browsing shelves at the bookstore and Box Office Poison by Tim Robey jumped out to me and a copy was […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: borrow, Box Office Poison, cbr17bingo, flops, hollywood history, Tim Robey

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:43 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: borrow, Box Office Poison, cbr17bingo, flops, hollywood history, Tim Robey ·
Rating:
· 6 Comments
Cover of Kate Canterbary’s In a Rush. The title is over astroturf with a white pain line across the top.

“It’s always been real for us.”

In a Rush by Kate Canterbary

October 1, 2025 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: cbr17bingo, friendship Rhode Island, In a Rush, Kate Canterbary, marriage of convenience, Play

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:42 · Genres: Romance · Tags: cbr17bingo, friendship Rhode Island, In a Rush, Kate Canterbary, marriage of convenience, Play ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Moving Beyond the “Great” Men

The Problem with Great Men by Hallie Rubenhold

September 28, 2025 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: cbr17bingo, culture, Great Man Theory, Hallie Rubenhold, social history, The Problem with Great Men

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:41 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: cbr17bingo, culture, Great Man Theory, Hallie Rubenhold, social history, The Problem with Great Men ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

1930s Cinema History

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

September 28, 2025 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Non-Fiction Tagged With: arts, cbr17bingo, cinema history, classic hollywood, moral panic, read harder challenge, Thomas Doherty

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:40 · Genres: Non-Fiction · Tags: arts, cbr17bingo, cinema history, classic hollywood, moral panic, read harder challenge, Thomas Doherty ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“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

September 23, 2025 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: a libertarian walks into a bear, cbr17bingo, Citizen, environmental impact, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, read harder challenge

faintingviolet's CBR17 Review No:39 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: a libertarian walks into a bear, cbr17bingo, Citizen, environmental impact, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, read harder challenge ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments
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