faintingviolet – Page 32 – Cannonball Read 17

“I knew beyond any doubt that there was genuine value to be found in my story.”

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

March 27, 2022 by faintingviolet 1 Comment

I feel like this is going to be a tough one for me to review, because my relationship with the content that Hannah Gadsby creates is so personal to me and has been frankly crucial to how I am coming to understand myself that it’s a bit difficult to try to take that out of the equation and look at Ten Steps to Nanette on its own. I’ve likely watched Nanette half a dozen times in the past couple of years (and once again in […]

“As far as Valentine was concerned, the way he kept being likeable was starting to feel pointed. And probably meant they were friends. Dammit.”

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall

March 20, 2022 by faintingviolet 4 Comments

Quickly on the heels of reading Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material last month I requested Something Fabulous from the library keen to see how Hall’s voice translated from contemporary romance to historical. The verdict: mostly quite good with moments of brilliant, but also moments of not good at all. I’ve gone with a 3.5 rounded up for this one. We’ve got the story here of Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern, and his twin problems: Belle and Bonny Tarleton. Operating under his deceased father’s desire for […]

“The only way I can put it is that we recognized, too surely even for surprise, that we shared the same currency.”

In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French

March 13, 2022 by faintingviolet 6 Comments

I can see in this book where everything I loved about The Searcher got its start. However, I am not sad to no longer be in the minds’ eye of Detective Rob Ryan. The narration of In the Woods is entirely in first person, he is telling the reader the story as it happened from somewhere in the near future. He opens the book by announcing that he is an unreliable narrator. It is both true and not, depending on how you define that style […]

“We’re all just trying to be comfortable, and well fed, and unafraid.”

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

March 12, 2022 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I cried far more often during this 147-page read than I’m strictly comfortable with, but the wise characters in this book would reassure me that my being comfortable with something isn’t a pre-requisite for it having worth. For the first third of this novella, we are with Sibling Dex getting a feel for them and the world they live in. Dex lives on the moon Panga where centuries before the robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, and recoiled from Factory life. They […]

Fourteen Hundred Years of History; Still Uncovering the Women whose Achievements were Hidden.

The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak

March 12, 2022 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

I work in Public History, but any good public historian (or historian of any stripe) will tell you that it is nearly impossible to know all eras and areas well. There are inevitable blind spots – you must choose where to apply your limited time. When this year’s Read Harder challenge asked us to read a history about a period you know little about, I was stoked, an excuse to go back further than I normally do and read about some women doing the leading. […]

Worth and Expectations

Her Favorite Rebound (Cider Bar Sisters #4) by Jackie Lau

A Very Beery New Year (Cider Bar Sisters #3.5) by Jackie Lau

March 9, 2022 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Her Favorite Rebound Sierra Wu is thirty-four, divorced, does not want children and is a constant disappointment to her family. They are horrified that she quit her engineering job (that she hated) to run a small greeting card store (that she loves) four years ago. Sierra is used to living a pretty small life, so the last thing she expected was being swept off her feet by Colton Sanders, the billionaire (think Jeff Bezos type). They’ve been together for a year, and despite his reputation […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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