Thursday, April 12, 2018

First Line Friday: A Mother's Reckoning



First Line Friday is brought to you by Hoarding Books.

Last week my line came from Columbine by Dave Cullen. I shared my personal experience both as a student then, and a teacher now. This week I am delving into a third perspective - that of a mother who has now spent nineteen years living with the fact that her son was a murderer.

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"I began writing about the experience of Columbine almost from the moment it happened, because writing about my son's monstrous behavior, the loss of innocent lives, and his suicide was one of the ways I coped with the tragedy."

I was skeptical when I first heard this book was coming out, but upon learning of Klebold's plans to donate all profits from the sale of the book to mental health charities, I decided to give it a try.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Sarah

28 comments:

  1. Happy Friday!
    I have that book on my TBR list but haven't read it yet. I can't even imagine being the mother of a child responsible for a school shooting. Heidi Chiavaroli's book The Hidden Side is fictional but shares the point of view from the mother and twin sister of a school shooter. Tough read but I highly recommend it!
    My FLF is from one of my favorites by Terri Blackstock called Covenant Child.
    “There’s a question that haunts me in the blackest hours of night, when wasted moments crowd my dreams and mock the life I know. The question is this: How could a child born of privilege and promise grow up with nothing?"
    Hope you have a great weekend!

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    1. Hi Becca, thanks for stopping by. I feel the same way. How do you ever reconcile the child you knew, to the monster they became? I will look into that title you mentioned. I don't read fiction often, but it sounds interesting. Happy Friday!

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  2. Wow, I can't even imagine what it must be like to be a family member of someone who did that!

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    1. Same. So far I am only about 50 pages in, but just reading what their life was like in those first hours after the attack...I can't help but feel sorry for them. They didn't ask for this, they didn't know the depth of their son's pain. This does not excuse what he did in any way, but after reading about both boys, and seeing their journal excerpts, it is definitely clear which one wanted to kill others and which one wanted to kill himself. His mom wrote of praying he would do so, to stop any other people from being hurt. Can you imagine, as a parent, praying for your child to do that? I can't even.

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  3. Happy Friday! My FLF comes from a book I will be reading soon, Her Fear by Shelley Shepard Gray…….

    Until that moment, Sadie Detweiler hadn’t thought mere words could hurt so badly. But as Harlan continued to speak, each word cutting her as deeply as if it were a shard of glass, Sadie felt her heart was bleeding.

    Have an awesome weekend and Happy Reading!😎

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    1. Thanks for coming by Susan, happy Friday and happy reading to you too!!

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  4. “I am not sure I will live long enough to finish this account.” – The Man with Two Names by Vincent B. Davis II

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  5. Over on my blog I'm sharing the first line from The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd. Here I'll share the first line from chapter 30.

    "Henry winced as he gripped the newel post and pivoted from the stair's landing to the next flight of stairs." -- The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd (first line from chapter 30)

    I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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  6. Today on my blog, I am sharing the first line from Chasing the Wind by Paula Scott. Here I will post the first line from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. It's the book closest to me right now because I'm currently teaching it to my 9 Honors kiddos.

    "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood make civil hands unclean."

    Have an excellent Friday and a great weekend!

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    1. AAHHH! Such a good line! Today was a teacher work day, so it was pretty good. Happy Reading, have a lovely, book-filled weekend!

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  7. Elin Carlson walked into the barn and everything changed. – Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin

    Happy Friday!

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  8. oh wow! I bet that's a powerful book!

    My current first line is from Kathy Herman's Only By Death - "Liam Berne was about to commit murder - at least according to Arkansas law."

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    1. I am about 50 pages in and even though I have tons of ARCs to get read and review, I am going back to it as soon I am done making the rounds. I can't even imagine that complete and utter terror she felt in first being told her son was possibly involved. How do you even remain calm?

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  9. Heart wrenching. On my blog, I'm featuring Jen Turano's book, A Match of Wits. Here I will share the first line on page 113 of a book I'm currently reading, The Heaven Answer Book by Billy Graham. "Marriage in Heaven will be on a much higher plane because the church will be united with Christ." Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

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    1. It is, I feel so terribly for her, because my first thought is, how did you not know something was wrong? But teenagers are very good at showing their parents only what they want them to see and I really do feel terribly for his family too. Happy Friday and Happy Reading!

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  10. Some heavy reading the past couple weeks for you.

    I'm reading Julie by Catherine Marshall right now. The first line is: "Our 1928 Willys-Knight had been climbing for at least ten miles, one hairpin turn after another, under a threatening sky."

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. It has been, hasn't it? I am not sure what drew me to the books but after Parkland I kind of felt like it was time. Seeing all these students and survivors standing up and saying this has to stop, sparked something in me. I remember Columbine so vividly and I never want another single student to have to experience that trauma.

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  11. This is from the book I'm about to start tomorrow:

    "This book sets out to bring to the fore a man who has not received the historical attention he deserves, and who was certainly never been regarded as a hero. As a raw youth of twenty who had barely left the confines of the Alhambra palace except to go hunting, and who had no experience of the world outside his dysfunctional family, he rose to the throne as the twenty-third and last sultan of the Nasrid dynasty of Granada".

    The Moor's Last Stand - How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain came to an End by Elizabeth Drayson.

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    1. Aaaaaaaaand added. Probably not so shocking, eh?

      This will be a good starting point for me to learn more about that aspect of Spain's history. I've been wanting to learn more about Spain in that era, beyond just Ferdinand and Isabella's wars.

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    2. It's a period of European history I know very little about - short of that it happened - and I've been long intrigued by it. I was in the region with my ex-girlfriend about 20 years ago and thought it was brilliant - the architecture, the history, the art. I have another book on the period on my Amazon Wish List. I'll mention it when it arrives @ some point in the future!

      I think the shock will be when you *don't* add my non-fiction to you TBR list! [lol]

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    3. Same here, and most of knowledge of the area is from the lens of the wars that Ferdinand and Isabella waged. I'd love to see it for myself and will get there at some point when my daughter is little older and can enjoy and understand it.

      That is true, lol. I have found so many new titles thanks to you!

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  12. I'm sharing from library books today, since it is National Library Week, so here is the first line from Laura V. Hilton's Love by the Numbers:

    "He was gorgeous. Simply gorgeous."

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Happy National Library Week! Aren't libraries the best? <3

      Thanks for sharing, happy Friday!!

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