Stacking the Shelves #119

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature co-hosted by Tynga's Reviews and 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.

BookSirens ARC

Prime First Reads

Library Treasures

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Book Review | My Survival: A Girl on Schindler's List

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Preface: I have probably watched Schindler's List more times than most people, and it's not because I just loved it so much, I watched it for fun over and over again. No, the actual reason is because when I was a senior in high school, I was taking a class called 21st Century Writing. We have four major papers to complete over the trimester and for one paper, we were supposed to select a movie from AFI's Top 100 and analyze the various components of the film - lighting, sound, color, etc. I am the giant moron who chose Schindler's List, then proceeded to have to watch it repeatedly as I took notes, wrote, revised, rewrote, etc. I have not watched it since. I can't. Ten+ times was enough and I may well only watch it once more in my lifetime - with Eleanor when she is old enough.

If you are unfamiliar with Schindler's List (and really, this should be no one), it tells the story of a German businessman who ended up saving approximately 1,200 Jews from certain death. He does this by employing workers from Krakow's Ghetto, keeping them safe and healthy and fed. To be fair, his intent was not so noble in the beginning. A businessman to the core and a member of the Nazi party because it benefited him businesswise, he wanted cheap labor to keep his factories running, thereby growing more and more wealthy each day. However, he came to be protective of 'his Jews' and fought to keep them together, bribing whoever he had to in order to keep those destined for the camps safe within his factory. The scene near the end when he must leave because the camps are being liberated, and he in tears, sobbing as it comes to him that perhaps there was more he could have done, more he could have saved, even one more. If you doubt that Liam Neesen is one of the top five greatest actors of all time, then watching that scene alone will change your mind.

Rena Finder was born in Krakow and at age eleven the Nazis arrived in full force. She and her family, along with every Jew in the city, were moved to the Ghetto. From there they are sent to Plaszow, outside of Krakow and Rena and her mother begin working in a factory owned by Schindler. Plaszow is eventually closed and Rena, her mother, and hundreds of Schindler's other employees are sent to Auschwitz. Schindler is determined to save them, so he completely up and moves his factory. He has it reassembled near Auschwitz and was able to get his workers back. They survived the Holocaust because of his actions.

It was truly a thing of horrific beauty to get a story of the Holocaust from a child who survived it. Even younger than Anne Frank, and living through the trauma of life in the Ghetto, then the camps. To have the reprieve, then it all taken away with the mix-up that sent them to Auschwitz, that feeling of lose and despair. But then to be found once more, to be saved. She recalls these events in great detail, with a kind of clarity only a child can express. When that moment of liberation finally comes, it is almost hard to believe. After the years of uncertainty, not knowing if they would again be shipped off from the safety of Schindler's factory, to finally knowing they were free once more.

This is a must for any upper elementary/lower middle school classroom library, and especially important for teaching on the subject of the Holocaust. It would also make a great small-group book for study. Highly recommended.

Book Review | This is How I Lied

 

Rating NO STARS! NEGATIVE STARS! NOTHING!

This book was absolutely atrocious and an insult to everyone who read it. I do not understand how it has such high ratings because it is without a doubt one of the worst books I have ever read in my whole entire life.

There will be major spoilers from here on out to showcase what an absolute shit show this book was, so if you want to read it at any point, you should stop here.

********************************************

The premise was decent, intriguing even, although basic - small town, big secrets, unsolved murder of teen girl, a handful of (obvious) suspects, new evidence. I was looking forward to a quick read, a nice little thriller to cleanse my palette after some heavier non-fiction reads.

Things were going along decently, even if a bit tedious at times. The story is told from three points of view - Eve in 1995, the teen who was murdered; Eve's best friend Maggie in present day; and Nola, Eve's sociopathic sister also in present day.

Maggie was the absolute worst and I could not stand her narration because they were just painful and terribly written and nothing made sense. I don't know if the author meant for her to be unreliable early on due to her being heavily pregnant - blaming hormones or something? Whatever the reason, it totally did not work because no one could be that stupid and still make Detective, no matter how small a town, right? We are talking about a small town in Iowa though, and we all know what I.O.W.A. stands for... (If you are not from the US, we like to say it stands for Idiots Out Walking Around.)

Anyway, by 39% I was struggling. Like, I get she was emotional because this was her best friend, she is pregnant now, she is in charge of the case (how would this even be allowed, really? She's way too close to the case - and in more ways than one, but we will get to all THAT bullshit in a minute). I decided to keep going, against my better judgement.

So, I am trucking along from that 39% mark and BOOM! suddenly around 60% the book gets very, very stupid. Turns out not only is Maggie a moron, she is a BIG FAT LIAR. We find out that, "Oops, I left out key information in the first 60% of the book because I WAS THE ONE WHO HAD A FIGHT WITH EVE AND LEFT MY BEST FRIEND FOR DEAD INSIDE THE CAVE WHERE HER BODY WAS LATER FOUND...ALSO BY MEEEEEEEE!"

For fuck's sake, that is not a plot twist. That is lazy fucking writing. How are readers supposed to attempt to unravel anything if HUGE pieces of information are purposely withheld in a pathetic attempt to make them some sort of, "OmG i DiD nOt SeE tHaT cOmInG!"

Under normal circumstances, I LOVE unreliable narrators. But that nonsense the author pulled with Maggie's "big reveal" was so cheap. It did not make her unreliable, it made her a sociopath too, but low-key compared to the other sociopath in the story, Nola, who needed to be locked up. I mean, both should have been locked up, but we will get to that in a minute.

So much of the story was utterly bland and even when characters were described, there was only one thing that made them distinguishable from one another. For example, Maggie the pregnant detective. Nola is the sociopath. Eve's high school boyfriend is abusive. The pedophile is a pedophile. Maggie's husband is just there; I can not recall a single thing about him except that he is incredibly trusting to remain married to a low-key sociopath who left her best friend to die in a cave. I guess that was somehow supposed to make Maggie a complex character? It didn't. She's flat as a pancake, just like every other character in this book.

More on Maggie being awful: Somehow she never managed to have her gun when she needed it. I don't know how many times she went for it, but it was not there. Seriously? She also witnessed things that would potentially lead to the grooming and rape/molestation of a young teen girl by the pedophile. She literally watched from her car as her former abuser (who she was in love with when she was a teen, and was pregnant by - that's what the argument with Eve was about in the cave and what they fought over) singled out one of the girls on the softball team he coached, then DID NOTHING and DROVE AWAY. A POLICE OFFICER, who KNEW this man was a PEDOPHILE, DROVE AWAY. Probably because she was so pregnant and had to pee again, and she was just so uncomfortable, and she had to throw up again, and her belly was ginormous and blah blah fucking blah. Plus, don't forget about the times she trespassed by entering private property without a warrant. Hell, without probable cause even. Then there are also the parts of the story where she contemplated framing someone else to keep her role in Eve's death a secret. That was swell, too.

Let's talk specifically about Nola now, the incredibly NOT low-key sociopath. How this person was not institutionalized as a child is beyond me. She eventually holds Maggie hostage at the end in the cave (because she witnessed the fight Maggie and Eve had the night Eve died), where Maggie then gives birth. Prior to this point in the story, we also know that she planned to kill her mother but held off so the woman could suffer for a longer amount of time; she was constantly harassing/terrorizing Maggie's father, who had dementia. Maggie's brother Colin was another stupid, one-dimensional character who could never keep track of their dad and the poor man just wandered around most of the time; she became a veterinarian and was just as psycho to animals as she was to people - we see her meet with a patient (a horse), and gives it something to help speed death along, while telling the owner to bring the horse in to the clinic under the guise of  possibly being able to save the animal. She did fucked up things to animals and insects when she was a kid also, yet there she is, just out walking around as an adult. We also can't forget the part where Maggie discovered human bones in Nola's home, on one of her illegal walkabouts. Awesome. I'm totally sure the bones were not a trophy of some sort.

The ending was absolute bullshit. Maggie suffered no consequences for her role in Eve's death. Zip, zero, zilch, nothing. I get it that she was not the one who actually killed Eve, but she left out the fact that their fight left Eve severely weakened and she stood no chance against her actual murderer. Nola was charged with 'simple assault'. REEEEEEAAAALLLLLYYYYYY? Holding someone hostage in a cave while they're in labor and wanting to kill them and their baby is simple assault? Sure, okay.

But wait! It gets better!

Nola only had to spend a month in an institution so she could be stabilized, whatever that means. This bitch has been a sociopath her entire life and there are witnesses to this. But sure, a month will totally cure her. Not to mention you can't actually cure a sociopath but again, small details. Once she is out of the place that is supposed to stabilize her, Nola will have to follow the directives of a restraining order that says she must stay away from Maggie. Right. Because that will also be effective.

This book. So bad. So, so bad. Do not waste the brain cells.

NetGalley ARC | Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World

 

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

If you know your Norse mythology, you are already aware that Valkyries are supernatural beings who determined life or death in battle. They spared some, and guided the weapons that killed others. In this way, Viking warriors would not have died in vain, or survived by chance. Valkyries thus determined their fate, their destinies completely out of their own hands.

Through her extensive research then, the author shows just how important women actually were in medieval Iceland, showcasing a multitude of instances where real flesh-and-blood women wielded great power in various roles on top of also controlling the destinies of warriors in the supernatural world.

I was so excited to get a copy of this text, but in the end found myself a bit on the disappointed side. On the surface it looks like something I would love, and I so wanted to love it. The biggest issue for me remains that I much preferred when the author cited archaeological evidence as the basis for her conclusions. I don't mean to dismiss the various Sagas and the entirety of Norse mythology, but they will not give a complete and accurate picture and I feel the author at times relied more on those than the tangible evidence. Both are necessary, but I would have liked it to be more even in how each were addressed and incorporated into the text. There were definitely times I had to skim when it came to those Saga/mythology sections as the book went on.

In the end, my opinion is just that, opinion. There are plenty who will enjoy this incredibly detailed examination of the Sagas especially. The author has clearly spent much time in analysis of her subject and knows quite well what she is talking about. This informative text proves it.

Recommended for those with an interest in Vikings and the Sagas especially.

NetGalley ARC | A Short History of Russia: How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself, From the Pagans to Putin

 

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

So anyone who has been with me for a while knows I inherently dislike short histories of complex topics, people, and places. However, Kievan Rus calls loudly to me and I can never turn down a book that covers that period in Russia's history.

When the author says 'short history', this is no minimalistic exaggeration. This could easily be the shortest book ever written about such a massive and complex place that has no natural borders, holds two continents together, and has been invaded time and time again to the point where today we can truly say there is no one core identity of people.

I was truly surprised to see how well the author managed to pull everything together while remaining true to the title. He's managed to hit on the key ideas and events that have shaped Russia over the centuries, but also provides suggestions of resources for readers might turn next if they want more information about specific periods. This is done chapter by chapter and I feel it was an excellent approach, because this way readers are not becoming glossy-eyed over one massive bibliography at the end, trying to figure out where to go next.

All of this is done through the lens of how Russia became Russia - and continues to become - due to both the outside influence of long-ago invaders, as well as how the country frames those victories and defeats in the annals. As we know, those defeats are not taken lightly, and the propaganda machine is so good it practically erases those failures from Russia's history altogether.

You will not find in-depth analysis, but you will find a concise and well-written starting-off point if learning more about Russia is something that interests you. The timelines at the beginning of each chapter were also valuable in showing what big events contributed to a particular era. Russian history is so vast, the sheer volume of material available is overwhelming. If you already have a solid foundation in Russian history, you can skip this one.

BookSirens ARC: Sometimes When I'm Sad

 

I received a free digital ARC via BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book is absolutely stunning, incredibly beautiful, and exactly what our little ones need when they know/feel something is 'wrong', but they don't have the words yet to explain it.

I really hate when people say, "Don't worry, kids are resilient." While this is most often true, they shouldn't HAVE to be. Kids should not have to overcome trauma and bounce back from horrible events and circumstances. But they do, and far too often. So, unfortunately, we need books like this to help them cope.

Mental illness is very real, even among our youngest in our population. This book will do wonders in the right hands, letting children know their feelings are valid, whatever those feelings may be. Kids need strategies to deal with big emotions in a time when adults are needing the same things. If we can't cope, and overcome, we can not grow and move forward.

The book provides wonderful tools for adults as well, in how to help our children, to understand the difference between being sad and depression, and what we can do to make sure our children know we are here for them. Adults are given an overview of signs to look for when it might be something more than sadness. I feel like this is a must-have for any adults who work with children, especially psychologists, school counselors, and teachers. I will definitely be buying a copy for Eleanor, so she always knows that she can rest in whatever emotion she is feeling, feel it all the way through to the end, and then put it away once it has been dealt with properly.

What I really love about the book is exactly just what I envision and hope for for Eleanor. Sadness is a common, complex emotion. Telling kids to just smile and be happy is just about the worst thing one can do. Children internalize that, wonder what is wrong with them because they don't feel happy even when it looks like everyone else is, and those feelings of insecurity grow.

Sadness is completely embraced here, and given its space to just be. We need to learn how to also just sit and be with that sadness, or any other emotion. It is a hard skill to teach children, but is so critical for their emotional and mental health.

In the story, a young boy is dealing with some feelings and he doesn't yet know how to express those feelings in constructive ways. He hides often hides, or throws his toys. Treats and gifts do not help him deal with the emotions he is feeling. He then meets a counselor who gives the child different ways to help manage his sadness/depression and cope with this big, overwhelming feelings. He uses these throughout the remainder of the story. He says at the end that he still cries sometimes, but not for long because now he knows ways to help himself feel better. He is shown creative ways to create outlets for himself, and these are simple things that can be used by everyone, not just children - confiding in someone we know cares deeply for us, knowing they will not judge us or dismiss our feelings, is so so important for children especially.

BookSirens ARC | The "Supreme Gentleman" Killer: The True Story of an Incel Mass Murderer

I received a free digital copy via BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐

Ugh. This fuck-weasel doesn't even deserve this attention so I am going to keep this short and not-so-sweet.

I remember when these horrific events occurred. I saw his 'manifesto' videos and the entire time I watched it I could not help but think this pathetic little boy thinks he is big and bad, with his awkward and poorly timed laughs, 'educating' us on why this Day of Retribution was coming.

How about you just fuck all the way off, okay Elliot Rodger?

I mean, I get that he can't, on account of the being dead and all, but GOOD GOD! It was so easy to see in the first minute of the video why he had no friends and girls would not be interested - he is CREEPY AF.

I am not giving the book two stars merely because the subject is absolute garbage, but I struggled to get through it at times due to the repetition of certain facts that were CONSTANT.

I get it, dude was a budding psychopath who had no friends, and played a shit-ton of World of Warcraft. He thought he was owed something, and he wasn't, so he ranted and whined like a little bitch, then took the cowardly way out by killing himself before justice could be served.

But these things were obvious from the start and did not need to be repeated SO. MANY. TIMES.

At times I did feel like parts of the book were more filler, because honestly there is not a lot to be said about a fuckboy who thinks he deserves to have sex with all the beautiful women that he wants to, but can't figure out why they're not interested? So many times it was mentioned how he was out in public, sitting at a table or whatever, waiting for young women to approach him. Why would they do that? Why would he think he wouldn't have to make any effort? I mean, seriously.

A major issue here is that even if you did take out what I or other readers might consider filler, the short book becomes even shorter. I believe it is between 150-175 pages, though not sure of the exact number. There is simply not enough material, in my opinion.

The author states early on that basically no one wants to talk about Rodger. That would be another indication that perhaps there is not going to be enough material for a full-length book. Even interviews with those who knew him would have helped broaden the picture. All we really have of Rodger is his rambling manifestos about how boo-hoo women don't like him. I think interviews with survivors would have also been incredibly powerful and add another aspect to the story that seems to be missing.

it is clear from the start that Elliot Rodger has severe mental health issues. He would possibly have benefitted from consistent and intensive therapy, but he was such a good liar at a fairly early age, that we are talking intensive therapy+very young. Something was broken in his brain, and honestly maybe it was not fixable. But this kid never stood a chance because he was all but left to wallow in his misery. His family simply saw him as an extremely shy and awkward kid, but there was so much going on just below the surface that they either couldn't not see, or chose not to see.

Aside from having no perspective of others to give a more fair view of the situation as a whole, we instead only have Rodger's word to go on. Are we supposed to trust that he is reliable in relaying all the ways he has been wronged, when it is obvious how messed up he is? Was his life really so terrible and difficult? How would we really know? We already know he had an incredibly skewed sense of reality, what with all the entitlement oozing from his pores.

Overall the book was okay for me, but not great. I get there might not be nearly enough source material, but that would be an indication that maybe he could be part of a case study as a part of incel "culture" (eyeroll), instead of one volume dedicated to this one person who chose to murder in cold blood because he could not get laid.

Publisher Gift via NetGalley | The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. In this instance, the publisher contacted me by email to ask if I would be interested in reading the book.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As someone who takes great pride in their reading abilities, I nearly missed out on this fantastic book because I DIDN'T FULLY READ THE SUBTITLE.

I know, right?

When I receive the email from St Martin's Press inviting me to read the book, I saw 'The Battle of Athens' and my mind immediately went to Greece. I assumed it would have something to do with Greece's civil war that erupted in 1946, and that was not something I had much interest in. The book cover showed up rather small in the email as well, so I could not clearly see the cover.

THANK GOODNESS I CHECKED GOODREADS BEFORE DECIDING YAY OR NAY.

Turns out, this book is fucking brilliant and I am so glad I did not pass up the chance to read it.

DeRose has crafted a masterpiece that details little-known events in Athens, Tennessee. To say that local government officials in McGinn County were corrupt would be putting it mildly. The political machine hard at work in Tennessee did everything possible to ensure that their candidates remained in power. Voter intimidation was a constant, ballot box stuffing was the norm, and anyone who spoke out against it regretted their decision pretty quickly.

One can see then why returning WWII veterans might take offense to this chicanery and blatant law-breaking. These men fought in the worst of conditions all over Europe and the Pacific, only to return home to find their own local governments were not abiding by the very rules and laws set down by our founders. They could not abide this.

The non-partisan GI all-veteran ticket would make sure that Election Day, 1946 (August 1st) would be the dawning of a new era in politics in McGinn County. Naturally those in power had no intention of giving up their voter-intimidating, voter fraud-committing ways without a fight.

A fight is certainly what they got, as the literal battle waged long into the night, carrying over into the early hours of August 2nd before finally wearing itself out.

What occurred prior to that ending is one of the craziest stories I have ever read, and I am so glad that DeRose has brought these heroes into the light where they belong. Once I began reading, I could not put the book down.

As Election Day wore on, the GIs realized that they were not going to get a fair vote, no matter how much they lobbied for things to be done the right way. Polling places were randomly closed, ballot boxes were hidden from view when the counting began, and the all-veteran ticket found themselves and their supporters under assault in some instances. They were arrested, voter intimidation went on like crazy, and a few voters were shot. A small band of veterans decided to take matters into their own hands. Called the Fighting Bunch, this group took up arms and headed to the heart of the ballot-counting, to the town's jail. They demanded a fair and honest count and were immediately rebuffed. The Sheriff and his deputies refused. The battle was on.

It is a miracle that despite the battle waging on for hours as gunfire ricocheted off buildings downtown, not a single person was killed when things finally came to an end. Instead of gloating about their victory, the GIs and the Fighting Bunch in particular realized they might be in some major trouble. After all, they had just lead an armed rebellion that put dozens of people in danger. Criminal charges were possible, and would not have been a surprise. So, instead of glad-handing and celebrating in the streets, the young war-weary men quickly blended back into the crowds of citizens and the incident was rarely spoke of again. In fact, many children didn't even know their fathers had taken part in the event that they had heard whispers and bits and pieces of their entire lives. The veterans had accomplished their goal - a free and fair election. They could return their town and county to respectability again.

Had DeRose not undertaken this project when he did, the truth of that night might really have been lost forever. He conducted extensive interviews with those related to the men who fought just as valiantly for their town as they had their country in the years before. Few witnesses are left, making this book all the more crucial. Many artifacts also helped paint the picture, including radio broadcasts from that evening, previously recorded interviews, journals, letters, and more. It seems that for once, the second amendment did exactly as it was intended - saved democracy in this section of the country.

To be clear, those opposed to the corrupt government of Athens and McGinn County, lead by Boss Crump out of Memphis and Sheriff Paul Cantrell right there in town, tried to call attention to what had been happening for years. Cantrell and his deputies (some of whom were known murderers/criminals, deputized at certain times to 'help out') made sure that their party would always come out on top. Elections were rigged so their candidates won by large margins often - a feat almost unimaginable seeing as how there often ended up being far more votes cast for one of their men than there were eligible voters. They randomly closed polling places with no warning, harassed those who did not vote the way they wanted, threatened voters who asked (as was their right) to witness the vote-counting, and were not above assault and even murder. The corruption extended far beyond election day however, as the elected officials made sure to line their own pockets, as well as the pockets of the men above them that they owed their positions to. the sheriff and deputies often made false arrests and charged the supposed offenders exorbitant sums of money. They also targeted tourists and those passing through. Word got around rather quickly that it would be best to by-pass Athens altogether whenever possible, and in general to just stay out of McGinn County.

This is a fascinatingly comprehensive look at the lives of those involved and the events leading up to that fateful day where a group of residents decided that enough was enough. They would not live in fear, and they would make sure that every vote was counted as it was cast. This is a story of courage, grit, and determination. These men had spent significant portions of their young lives fighting in a war on the other side of the world, only to come home and find there was more fighting to be done.

DeRose is thorough in his research, including scores of footnotes (we all know I LOVE footnotes) and plenty of sources for further perusal. He truly brought this story to life and this is as timely as ever here on the eve of what I believe will be one of the ugliest elections in our nation's history.

I already have two people I will be giving this book to for Christmas. I can not recommend it highly enough. This is a must-read.

We Are Ruthless and Must Now Act Accordingly

 

Election Eve Jitters

I am at the point tonight where I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about tomorrow.

Please, please, please...

...if you have not voted yet, make sure you know where your polling place is in case it has change from midterms.

...be prepared for long lines.

...wear a mask and gloves; bring your own pen.

...if you are in line when the polls close, STAY IN LINE. This is so critical. They can not turn you away if you are in line before polling stations close.

...know the phone numbers you need to call in case there is any shady business, voter intimidation, etc. going on.

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.

Our constitutional democracy will not survive four more years of trump's law-flouting, divisive, and violence-inciting rhetoric. He is using our government for his own personal gain to enrich himself, his family, and his friends. He is using the Justice Department as his own private law firm, and repeatedly tries to intimidate agencies into doing what he wants.

This can not stand.

Vote him out.