Hallelujah! He Is Risen!

Wishing you all a joyous day hopefully spent with family and friends, whether or not you celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Every year starting on Palm Sunday I begin this book

I treasure it for many reasons, the first and foremost being that it breaks down each day in the last week of His life. It does a fantastic job explaining and reconciling the different books of the Gospel, as each account sometimes varies wildly.

Eleanor and I are blessed with fantastic pastors - pastors who patiently answer my endless questions about how this happened or how that happened. Pastors who point me in the direction of historical secular texts that confirm events in the life of Jesus. It will probably not be a surprise that I ask A LOT of questions.

I was a little late starting the book this year unfortunately, due the chaos of these last few weeks of school and my ballooning caseload of students. I felt out-of-sorts not beginning the book on Palm Sunday. When I did finally have a moment to breathe and pick the book up, it was like a warm blanket had been wrapped around me as I was immersed once again in the familiar story of the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

This book is a wonderful source of information and each day looks at the events reported by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The author then provides commentary about the Scripture, as well as maps and diagrams in color. 

Happy Easter!

Sarah

Stacking the Shelves #188

    

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature hosted by Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected throughout the week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, etc.

Prime First Reads

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Tackling the TBR Week 13 and 14: Apr 1 - Apr 14, 2022

I am now in year FOUR of Tackling the TBR. Slowly but surely I have made big strides in getting my TBR under control. When I first started in 2019, that list was topping out at over 5,000 books. I don't know that I will ever get below 500, but a #BookDragon can dream!

I will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month. Feel free to join in if you'd like!

Previous Week's TBR Total: 2,517

Currently Reading

Books Added to TBR: 0

Books Removed from TBR: 44

Books Reads

Books DNF-ed:

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 2,470

Happy Reading!
Sarah

NetGalley ARCs | OF COURSE THERE ARE NEW TITANIC BOOKS COMING OUT IN APRIL!

             

I received both of these books from Pen and Sword via NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.

I will never not be a sucker for a book about Titanic. This mindset has even infected my child (big surprise!) and she constantly laments how the school library makes her check out fiction books. She told me just the other day how many Titanic books they have that she wants to read, but can't because they only get one non-fiction at a time. Honestly, it's a really stupid rule. There is no danger of my child never reading. She has TONS of books at home, so many not read yet because of our never-ending love affair with the library where we find even more fiction and non-fiction treasures. Regulating a child's reading in this way is unacceptable.

But I digress.

Titanic Day by Day ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Titanic Day by Day is not a book to be read in a few sittings. It is as much a reference book about the great liner, her passengers, and crew, as anything else, given all of the exhaustively researched details it contains.

The author is the great grandson of Robert Hichens, one of Titanic's quartermasters who was at the helm of the great ship when she struck the iceberg. Hichens would survive the sinking by manning one of the lifeboats and I think this book is a wonderful tribute to not only him from his grandson, but a greater tribute to EVERYONE who lived and died that night.

This book is incredibly unique in that we are given a look at every single person who set foot on the ship during her maiden voyage. Starting on January first, the author lists events on that day related to every passenger and crew member - those who were born that day, and those who survived the sinking but died on that particular day later on. The author also includes news articles from the day, quotes from survivors, and an assortment of facts about the Ship of Dreams. As a result, we get quite a bit of information on both the American and British inquiries in the days following Carpathia's arrival in New York with the exhausted and traumatized survivors.

I truly appreciated that the author sought out information on everyone. So often we only hear about the first class passengers who lived and died, because that is the information most readily available. But second- and third-class passengers were no less important and deserve to have their stories told as well.

This book is nothing short of a labor of love and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in learning a bit more about those who lived and died that awful night.

Why the Titanic was Doomed ⭐⭐⭐

Full discloser, it annoys me when people say 'the Titanic'. That was not her name. Her name was Titanic, so refer to her properly please and thank you.

There are so many factors at play for why Titanic sank, that solely blaming the iceberg that tore her open is a bit silly. Over the years so much information has been discovered and made public, that chances are you have heard about everything the author discusses (if you are obsessed like I am) even if all of that information has not been confined to one book/article/etc.

There are a myriad of reasons why Titanic sank and the author posits that she was doomed before she even left Southampton on April 10th, 1912. We know about the lack of lifeboats, the rivets and sub-standard metal, the lack of wind, the missing binoculars, the lack of true watertight bulkheads (since they did not actually go all the way up to the deck above), the ignored ice warnings, Captain Smith's decision to maintain speed, and so on.

What the author has done is taken every single issue, devoted a whole chapter to its discussion, and broken down piece by piece every part of the puzzle that lead to 1,500 senseless deaths. That is the core of what the book is about, and he does not spend time recounting the disaster itself minute by excruciating minute, because that has been done several times over already. He focuses on each issue that contributed to the sinking.

The author also looks at the reasons as to why some would live while so many others would die. Specifically of course, in third class, where the majority would not make it to the decks in time to get a seat in a lifeboat.

One issue that is not often discussed is the fact that Titanic should not have even set sail in April. The original date was March 20th. However, when Olympic collided with HMS Hawke in September of 1911, many resources being used to build Titanic were shifted to making repairs to Olympic, thus pushing back her launch date. Given the weather conditions, this is huge, because warmer weather of course meant that icebergs were drifting farther south at that point than they would have been in March.

Given all the positives I have discussed, you might be wondering why only three stars. I have thought about it a lot and my reasoning for this is that there was not any new information here. I liked reading the book, it was well-researched and each flaw was given its fair share of ink. But I do not consider it a 'new and unique' look at why Titanic sank.

Even so, I do believe this would be a good book for anyone interested in looking specifically at each failure that lead to Titanic's sinking. It is clear and concise, while still offering thorough explanations.

Recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Two Truths and a Lie

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐.5

***WARNING: There will be spoilers, so don't read on unless you're okay with that.***

I should have LOVED this book. Given the premise, it should be something that I could devour in short order and it was, but by the end it was for the wrong reasons.

So, here's the deal: Nell and her theatre friends, with their theatre advisor, are on their way to a competition. It's a big deal, they could get scholarships, etc. A blizzard forces them to pull off the interstate and seek shelter at a super sketch rundown motel. Soon another group of high schoolers arrive and claim to be on their way to a robotics competition. A couple randoms also arrive, a truck driver, and the dude who the robotics team picked up on the side of the road. They're adults and all have secrets of their own.

To pass the time, the kids decide to play Two Truths and a Lie. Nell's group's advisor tells the kids to let her sleep and pops a pill, disappearing into her room for the duration of the book. Totally a responsible thing to do. The other group's advisor is not much better. Oscar is super young and also kind of creepy in an I'm-the-cool-adult-who-flirts-with-high-schoolers kind of way. The adults basically wander off, letting the kids have the run of the place.

During the game of Two Truths, the kids are having fun, Nell is flirting with Knox, a boy from the other group. It's all good until Nell (of course) pulls a slip from the pile that has the following written on it:

1. I like to watch people die
2. My least favorite food is mushrooms
3. I've lost count of how many people I've killed.

Suddenly things aren't so fun anymore and despite Nell going on and on and on about how she does the backstage stuff, isn't an actor, blah blah blah, things felt like they were getting good because the mystery was beginning to unfold.

The kids are understandably freaked out, but try to rationalize it away saying someone must have made a mistake and wrote two lies instead of two truths. But no one will admit to it. So they decide each of them will take their own slip and then anyone without a slip will be the one who wrote it. Problem is, when they do this, each kid has their own paper and the creepy one remains unclaimed.

The maintenance guy, Travis, and the owner whose name I forgot already, share some of the history of the motel. The owner talks about how there had been a double murder twenty years ago and his parents tried to keep the business going but they were not successful and that's why it is so rundown now. Travis gives a lot more details on the murders. He has a scrapbook basically of articles and stuff.

He also talks about himself in third person. Obviously we need an OBVIOUS weirdo who could be a killer, but won't actually be, because it would be TOO OBVIOUS. He clearly has had some kind of TBI that makes him act and speak the way he does, and it was a shitty weird stereotype that I hated.

The kids find an Ouija board and decide to do a séance because, why not? Most don't take it seriously, but two do - one because she has done these before and one because his religious beliefs make him believe it is incredibly dangerous.

(Side note: if you have been around a while, you know all things paranormal are my jam. But even I draw the line at Ouija boards. I don't fuck around with that stuff, EVER.)

Then in the middle of asking the spirits about the murders, the power goes out. Don't forget, there is a blizzard raging outside and they are isolated. The board does not get closed properly due to everyone being startled by the outage, and everyone is freaking out.

Everyone decided to go to bed and, OH NO! One of the girls from the other team is MURDERED! She's found hanging in the common room where they'd all hung out the night before. THEN in another's girl's room, BLOOD IS FOUND, but NO BODY!

Turns out, the robotics group was really just another theatre group on their way to the same competition and they decided to play this SUPER FUNNY joke on Nell and her crew, because of how snobby and pretentious they'd been acting. Truthfully, all the kids were annoying in various ways, and did not always read like high schoolers. They seemed very young sometimes, or at least super immature, despite being in high school.

So the joke is that the two girls are not really dead, they just used theatre props and fake blood, etc. to make Nell's team think a murderer was loose among them. Apparently Knox, the boy who Nell is crushing on, is 'super convincing' - meaning he is a douche who is very persuasive, and he basically bullied his team into pulling this prank. And their advisor, Oscar, was okay with it because he basically bullied Oscar into it too. And he like, knows stuff about the others and blackmails them into doing this.

Naturally that should make Knox a suspect when the two girls who were supposedly murdered end up missing FOR REAL.

So that next morning when all this nonsense has come to light, the kids are running around, the adults are just background at this point, and NELL looks out the window to see ANIMAL TRACKS! The owner of the motel says he will take his snowshoes and head out to get help, many miles away. The blizzard continues on and off, Nell and one of the guys end up out in the storm trying to find the owner or something, a family of undocumented immigrants is discovered freezing in the trucker's truck...all kinds of WHAT THE FUCK stuff starts coming fast.

The worst part is the reveal of the killer, which I had a pretty good idea was coming. All the sudden it's revealed but it happened so fast that I had to go back and reread because I thought I missed something.

Turns out, nope. It really just happened that way.

As you might surmise, the pacing is all over the place and that's what makes this book such a letdown. You don't have time to be surprised by the final twist because it just barrels over you and the story keeps moving. For those who don't read YA thrillers often, this might be okay, but for seasoned veterans like myself it was ridiculous. I've often said that even if I see a twist coming, it doesn't typically ruin my enjoyment of a book if there are other positives going for it. That can't be said here unfortunately.

I think the book would have been better off without the "joke' played by Knox and his crew. I get why the theatre angle was played up, because HEY IT COULD ALL BE A JOKE, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL! But it fell kind of flat.

There was also nothing to really help distinguish the teens from one another. I kept mixing up which kid was on which team, because they all might as well have been the same person - except Knox and Nell OF COURSE.

So, between the twists that weren't, the depiction of Travis, the random family in the truck, the bobcat lurking outside (JUST KIDDING! The murderer faked the tracks to scare everyone), and awful pacing, and bland/annoying characters, this one didn't work for me.

There was so much promise in the beginning, but in the end I have to say I can't recommend it if you're looking for a unique read.

Book Review | The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a harrowing, beautiful survival story and one I could not put down. I have read more than my fair share of such stories, but they have typically focused on those who survived the death camps, the death marches, all the cruelty Nazi Germany had to offer. That does not mean there was not cruelty in Edith Hahn's life; she was still surrounded by it every single day.

Hahn grew up in Vienna and was forced to live in a ghetto when the Nazis arrived. From there she was sent to a labor camp for many months. Her sisters had escaped the Nazis, but barely. Yet Edith stayed for her mother and her love, Pepi. He insisted it could not really be that bad. Pepi was Jewish, but his mother had him baptized as a Christian. It made no difference in the end, because he was still Jewish and the baptism was not applicable 'retroactively'. He had to hide for most of the war no matter what - as a Jew, he would be deported to a camp; as a gentile, he would be shot on-sight as a deserter from the army. His mother was also awful and hated Edith because she was Jewish and said the most awful things to her all the time, begging her to 'let Pepi go' so he wouldn't be seen with a Jewish person. I am a little disappointed that his mother survived the war, not going to lie.

But I digress.

While Hahn was held in the labor camp in Germany, her mother sent whatever little comforts she could. Hahn remarked that her mother always sent whatever she herself needed - gloves, cakes, etc. While Edith was away, the ghetto was cleared and her mother was sent off to Poland. Hahn always kept the idea in her head and heart that she would find her mother again, and the family would be reunited. It was never to be however, as her mother was murdered within a week of arrival in Poland. Though Hahn does not find this out until after the war has ended. It is absolutely gut-wrenching because logically you know elderly women were not kept alive to work, but you hold out hope nonetheless.

Hahn's survival eventually came to depend on the very monsters who were hunting her people down. After returning from the labor camp, Hahn was supposed to report to a deportation site. She never did, and spent the remaining years of the war under an assumed name of a Christian friend in a plot that would have seen them both tortured and executed on the spot had either been discovered.

Hahn takes the name of her friend in order to get the necessary papers, and lives as Grete Denner. She lived in Munich after she escaped Vienna and eventually meets a man named Werner Vetter. He is a Nazi and pursues her at all costs. He is in the midst of divorcing his wife he later reveals, and in turn Hahn confesses to being Jewish. Despite his inclination to be in the party of mass murderers, Vetter continues to insist they get married. Hahn worries about the identification papers she does not have, those which prove her family's lineage as "pure Aryan", but in the end they are allowed to wed.

Side note: One of my favorite parts of the book occurs when the war is over and Hahn returns to the office where her papers were accepted so she and Vetter could marry. She needed to do so in order to get identification with her real name this time, finally safe from the Nazis. The same officiant is working in the office and he is shocked and angry to find out she lied, that she is actually Jewish. It was a beautiful little snippet.

I can not imagine living in a state of constant, paralyzing fear. Yet Hahn performs in her role so well, never giving in to that fear. She knows what to do in order to survive, and plays the part of the dutiful German wife. For a long time Vetter resisted the idea of having a child, and his terrible temper worried me for Hahn quite a bit, but she eventually becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. Of course he is pissed because he wanted a boy. Hahn speaks of refusing any pain meds during Angela's birth, out of fear of what she might say when under their influence.

As the war rolls on and Germany's defeat becomes a foregone conclusion, Vetter is drafted. He had previously escaped this due to the fact that he was legally blind in one eye. He is captured by the Russians in battle and a prisoner for ages, though Hahn uses every professional and political connection she has to free him. You see, before the Nazis came to Vienna, Hahn was studying to become a judge. She'd completed all her classes and only had to take the final exam. Yet the day she showed up to do so, she was turned away (with glee, I might add). After the war she was able to fulfill her goal and become a judge.

It was through these connections she was finally able to get Vetter home, though it did not last long. He still went on and on about her Jewish blood infecting their daughter, which confused me. If the Germans were so superior, shouldn't their blood have been "stronger"? GTFO of here, you Nazi scum, is all I have to say about that.

Hahn eventually leaves Germany for good when the Stasi is growing, and she is repeatedly asked to spy on her friends and acquaintances. Under the guise of visiting her sister in England, Hahn escapes for good. The heartbreaking turn of events means she will never practice law, never sit as a judge again. But she survives, as does her daughter.

Hahn was urged by her daughter to tell her story, and for that I am grateful. here we have a complete record of how one woman was able to do the unthinkable - live opening among the very people who hated her and would have wanted her dead had they known her true identity. I worried throughout the book whenever Vetter was angry, that he would turn her in, but that never happened. They divorced eventually when he went back to his first wife. That didn't last long however, and soon he was divorced again. He'd marry four more times before passing away in 2002.

Hahn kept every single piece of paper she was issued over her years in hiding, and when her daughter discovered these, she convinced her mother to give the photos and documents to the world. They are now part of the permanent collection at the Holocaust Museum in DC.

As memoirs from this period often do, this felt like much more of a conversation between Hahn and myself. I was there only to listen to her incredible tale of survival, to be in awe of a courageous woman who kept going, day after day, never knowing if that dreaded knock at the door in the middle of the night would come.

My only slight issue is the title - it is a bit misleading. Vetter worked for most of the war as a supervisor in a paint factory. He was only sent to fight near the end of the war, something he had avoided previously due to his blindness in one eye. But truly, it doesn't even matter all that much, because Hahn's story is so remarkable. She survived.

Highly recommended.

Stacking the Shelves #187

   

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature hosted by Reading Reality. It is a chance to showcase all the goodies you've collected throughout the week, whether they're bought on-line or in-store, an ARC or a final copy, borrowed from a friend or the library, physical or digital, etc.

Library Treasures
NONE!

Two weeks in a row now I have not acquired any new books. I am really trying to focus on my TBR and what I have on my shelves and my Kindle. It won't last forever, but I am trying!

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Eleanor Reads! March Edition

 

Each month Eleanor and I share the chapter books we read. We've been reading chapter books since before Kindergarten and her attention span as a four year old was definitely something to brag about. Eleanor was born a reader and that makes my heart so, so happy.

I am making a couple changes because Eleanor is becoming a more independent reader at home. She has no problem plowing through books at school, but at home she prefers I read to her while she is drawing, painting, working on a science project, etc. Plus, who doesn't also love being read to at bedtime?

Currently Reading Together

Read Together

Currently Reading Independently*

*Eleanor has begun reading more than one book at a time. I can't imagine where she got that idea from.

Eleanor's Independent Reads

Do the kiddos in your life have an interest in any of these?

Our reading has slowed a bit for a couple reasons: the first being that we are reading longer books together now, but she is also reading and re-reading longer books on her own. The second is that we are in the midst of dance season and have done four competitions already since February. Two left, one in April and one in May. This kiddo of mine is KILLING it, both in her solo AND group routines. I can't wait to share (if Eleanor wants me to) at the end of the season.

Happy Reading,
Eleanor and Sarah

State of the ARC #44

  

State of the ARC is a monthly feature hosted by Evelina at Avalinah's Books - and now me, too! I took over temporary hosting duties back in early 2020. A couple months ago Evelina asked if I would like to co-host and of course I said yes! If you are new to the meme, you can check out the guidelines HERE.

Links go to my review. The majority of the ARCs I receive are through NetGalley. I sometimes find a book or two via Edelweiss or BookSirens. Others have come from authors, publicists, or were offered to me from a publisher who specifically approved me for it on NetGalley; I will always note in the review how I acquired the ARC.

Currently Reading

Ancestor Trouble - Mar, 2022

Titanic Day by Day - Apr, 2022

Two Truths and a Lie - May, 2022

Gun Barons - May, 2022

Spare Parts - May, 2022

The Women of Rothschild - Oct, 2022

Finished, Review to Come

Coffin Ship - June, 2021

Sweating in the Land of Smiles - July 2021 (Author Gift)

Romanovs - Mar, 2022

The Other Dr Gilmer - Mar, 2022

Why the Titanic was Doomed - Apr, 2022

Two Truth and a Lie - May, 2022

Teen Killers - Aug, 2022

Review or Feedback Sent

When I first started blogging my monthly State of the ARC I felt like I was drowning in ARCs. My main goal was to get my NetGalley feedback ratio above 80% and thanks to this meme, I slowly but surely clawed my way up. At my highest I was at 97%. I am currently at 94%.

How are you doing with your ARC goals? Let's talk ARCs!

Happy Reading

Sarah

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