reading women – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

“Are we going for an anchor or a compass? A memory to ground you, or a spark to guide you forward?”

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

April 30, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

In early April I made the choice to put my limited free time (so, so limited in late March and early April) into a complete rewatch of Game of Thrones before the series came back for its final series. I also picked up and put down two different books earlier this month, just not feeling any of them. When it was time to travel for Easter, with a total of four flights, I reached for a sure-fire winner: A Closed and Common Orbit. I loved […]

“I learn that I am a tiny piece of a miraculous world.”

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

March 28, 2019 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

I struggled with this book for quite a while. For reasons I now don’t remember I believed this book to be a graphic novel and had filed it as such as a different task for Read Harder challenge than I eventually recorded it under. Then, once I began reading it for what it truly was, I found myself struggling through the chapters. Marin the protagonist is in such a low place, and Nina LaCour writes it so well that I felt myself being pulled under […]

“who hurt you once before, so far beyond repair”

The Nature of the Beast (Inspector Gamache #11) by Louise Penny

February 17, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

This is my first Inspector Gamache book without narrator Ralph Cosham. It took me a bit to get used to hearing Gamache’s voice in my own head without the aid of Cosham, but after ten books Cosham is Gamache’s voice for me and once I got started it all worked itself out. The tenth book, The Long Way Home, was a departure for both Penny and her characters and in some important ways this book is a return to form. We have at the core […]

Nobody fights you like your own sister; nobody else knows the most vulnerable parts of you and will aim for them without mercy.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

February 6, 2019 by faintingviolet 2 Comments

Reviews for this one kept popping up following its November 2018 publication. I’m a bit squeamish and while I like mystery books I don’t read horror. Pluiedenovembre assured me that this one wasn’t scary or gory so I requested it from the library. Like ASKReviews mentioned in her review of this book a few days ago, it is also a very quick read. The chapters are short and crisp, with rapid fire information. Our point of view character is Korede, a nurse in one of […]

Small but Mighty

The LIttle Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by HIldegarde H. Swift, Lynd Ward (illustrator)

February 3, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Until a few years ago I didn’t know that this book from 1942 existed, and once I did, I still didn’t quite grasp where it was set, which little red lighthouse and great gray bridge it was talking about. How silly I felt when I was flipping through this one after a long day to discover that it is set along the Hudson River and the great gray bridge is the George Washington bridge which I drive over several times a year. In some ways […]

A glimpse into the mind of a 12th century religious thinker

Hildegard of Bingen: Mystical Writings by Hildegard of Bingen, Fiona Bowie (Editor), Oliver Davies (Editor)

February 2, 2019 by faintingviolet Leave a Comment

Every so often a book about faith sneaks into my reading. There was a time when I was much more involved in organized religion, but it has been a tough fit for me in the past decade or more. I have tended to hold my personal faith a little closer than that shared in a large gathering. The historian side of me is also always looking to learn more about the faith I was raised in and a couple of years ago when the ladies […]

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.

Help Our Mission