Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Tackling the TBR Week 4: Jan 22-Jan 31, 2019


Each week I will be keeping track of books that I have read from my TBR. I have a huge backlog of books and often end up reading new books that are not even on my list, instead of trying to whittle down the list that continues to balloon up on Goodreads. Chuckles had the idea first, and we are going to use this as a chance to encourage each other to get those books read instead of always grabbing new ones and thus never making a dent in the physical and digital stacks we already have. It will also give us a chance to take a good look at our lists and see if there are ones we are no longer interested in. We will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month.

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Previous Week's TBR Total: 4,281

Books Added to TBR This Week: 44

Books Removed from TBR This Week: 105

Currently Reading: 11

Books Finished This Week: 9

Books DNF-ed This Week: 2

Duplicates Removed: 7

New TBR Total: 4,196



Something is a bit wonky with the numbers this week, because when I add and subtract everything I get 4,209. But I went with the number listed on Goodreads because that is where I keep track of everything, and it is entirely possible that I deleted some books, thought I recorded those numbers, but actually did not. Either way, I am making progress!

If you look at my 'Currently Reading' on Goodreads, you find the number much bigger, due to all the research materials I have listed there. The number here accurately reflects the books I am reading myself, as well as chapter books Eleanor and I are reading together. It also includes the chapter books I am reading with my students in guided reading small groups.


Is your TBR under control, or a hot mess like mine?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

State of the ARC #12


State of the ARC is a monthly feature hosted by Avalinah's Books. I am so glad I stumbled upon it, because it helped me so much in tackling my ARC list in 2018. Now things are under control, and this post doesn't cause me as much worry as it used to. Links go to Goodreads, unless I have finished the review, in which case it goes to that. All ARCs are from NetGalley or Edelweiss, unless otherwise noted.

Pending = One
Two Can Keep a Secret, 1-8-19

Not Started = None

Started = Three
Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom, 9-17-18 (received two days after publication, author request/digital from publisher)

The Invisible Emperor, 10-9-18 (hard copy from publisher)
DNF = Three
What Do Quakers Believe?, 3-29-19

The White Headhunter, 1-24-19 (gift from publisher)

The Great Wizards of Antiquity, 4-8-19

Finished/Review to Come = Four
Review or Feedback Sent = Three

The White Headhunter, 1-24-19 (gift from publisher)

How to Remove a Brain, 8-10-17 (gift from author/publisher, received 1-7-19)

There you have it! What does you ARC situation look like for this month?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Monday, January 28, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday #39



Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's topic is The Ten Most Recent Additions to My TBR. I know, I know, I am supposed to be Tackling the TBR with Chuckles, but it is completely impossible for me to not add books to my TBR. At least I am removing some, too. Baby steps here, people. Baby steps.

7125303 36236112 15731163 32809816 29467267 295024509912293  34564371 28668534 36525023 31450634 33932361 35135273 35013165 16144046 

What have you added recently? Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Friday, January 25, 2019

Stacking the Shelves #33


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. Never has my addiction been more obvious than when I am now keeping track of every single book I acquire.

Library Check-Outs
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38923643 37969760

What did you add to your stash this week?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Monday, January 21, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday #38



Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's topic is Books I Meant to Read in 2018 but Didn't Get To. If you have been following my for a while, you know that I began a reading goal in 2017 to read a book about each president. I have failed big-time and am now going into year three with this goal. As such, it is a given that pretty much every book on my TBR about a president is one that I meant to read last year. And the year before. So, here are some I am super excited to read but have yet to get my hands on. All of have been on my Kindle for ages, except Michelle Obama's book, which I have been on the wait-list for at my library for weeks and am only up to #86 on like, 112 copies. 

Here's to knocking a few of these out in 2019.

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19311682 32843367 6591420
42393634 10866205
7054123 38746485

So what's on your list? Leave a comment and a link to your TTT.

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Tackling the TBR Week 3: Jan 15-Jan 21, 2019


Each week I will be keeping track of books that I have read from my TBR. I have a huge backlog of books and often end up reading new books that are not even on my list, instead of trying to whittle down the list that continues to balloon up on Goodreads. Chuckles had the idea first, and we are going to use this as a chance to encourage each other to get those books read instead of always grabbing new ones and thus never making a dent in the physical and digital stacks we already have. It will also give us a chance to take a good look at our lists and see if there are ones we are no longer interested in. We will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Previous Week's TBR Total: 4,320

Books Added to TBR This Week: 18

Books Removed from TBR This Week: 55

Currently Reading: 5

Books Finished This Week: 8

Books DNF-ed This Week: 5

New TBR Total: 4,281

Note: I thought I could make it through the last cozy mystery boxed set, but the series really started to lose steam and it became so unbelievable. One of the reasons I liked the series initially was because she was not any kind of detective (though I am sooooo tired of the 'baker' trope). Gradually the stories were getting weaker because she was suddenly having all this insight and looking at evidence and such as though she was just magically discovering how things fit together. So, I DNF-ed the last three so I can get back around to the actual TBR.

If you look at my 'Currently Reading' on Goodreads, you find the number much bigger, due to all the research materials I have listed there. The number here accurately reflects the books I am reading for myself, as well as chapter books that I am reading to/with Eleanor (yes, my five year old loves chapter books).

Is your TBR under control, or a hot mess like mine?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The Hate U Give

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Rating: 5 Stars

I don't even know where to start. I have the sense, however, to recognize that nothing I say about this book, with all its accolades and honors, can even come close to expressing how amazing and beautiful and heartbreaking it is. We may only be twenty days into the new year, but it is easily my #1 book of 2019.

I read this one in a matter of a few hours and cried more than a few times. The end though, the list of names, and so many more not listed that we don't even know about, it's too much. Philando Castile's name especially, always gets me. I never thought that could happen in my city, my state. And I cried because I am a teacher in a school that is predominantly African-American, my room is part of the Behavior Skills Program where many of our students are African-American (and usually boys, though we have had a handful of girls as well) that my paraprofessionals and I can only protect for so long. Once they leave 5th grade and go on to 6th, in a different school - sometimes blocks away, sometimes miles - we can't keep them safe anymore.

When these cases of unarmed black men started receiving so much media attentions after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, we talked to our class multiple times about being in a situation where they might be stopped by an officer. Given that the majority of our kiddos are diagnosed with a behavior disorder/emotional disturbance, sometimes accompanied by a whole slew of acronyms like ADHD, ODD, OHI, ASD, SLD and on and on and on, these conversations are critical. One of my paraprofessionals grew up surrounded by gangs on the South Side of Chicago, and was very blunt about everything she saw and did growing up. Because of her life experience, the kids listened to her especially, and we told them so many of the same things, sometimes nearly word for word, that Starr was told by her father in the book. We all but begged them - no quick movements, always show your hands, shut your mouth and only talk when they ask you questions, yes ma'am/yes sir/no ma'am/no sir, do what you're told, don't talk back, don't argue, don't give them a reason.

Then Philando Castile was murdered, and we didn't know what to tell them anymore.

Despite my tiny naive hope that I coddled for about 2.5 seconds, I knew this one could not have a happy ending, because that is not the reality that men and women of color face when in potentially life-threatening encounters with the police. Please do not mistake my words, there are hundreds of thousands of good officers who do their jobs commendably and want to see this cycle end as much as anyone else. But there are also an unknown number of officers who have no business wearing a badge at all, carrying a firearm when they are not mentally and/or emotionally fit to do so.

I was angry of course, when the decision was announced, and as I went on the journey that night with Starr, Seven, DeVante, and Chris, I wanted to be there. I wanted to be right there with them, with Starr, lobbing the gas canisters right back at the officers who were throwing them in the first place. It wasn't fair that there was no justice served in the book, it ISN'T fair that justice is rarely served in real life. There is a war being waged right now, primarily against men of color. Police brutality continues to be a fact of life and it should not be. My paras and I shouldn't have to beg our kids to just be quiet and sit still if they're ever stopped. But we do, because art and life imitate one another, sometimes in the most horrific and heartbreaking of ways. This is why we protest, and this is why we kneel.

None of the words I used earlier, amazing...beautiful...heartbreaking...even come close to doing this book justice. There's nothing else I can say that has not already been said, but I can echo the sentiment of countless others and say it is a must-read. I can not recommend it highly enough.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Stacking the Shelves #32


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. Never has my addiction been more obvious than when I am now keeping track of every single book I acquire.

I haven't done one of these since August, mainly because I have banned myself from accumulating too many books - library or otherwise. I just have too many sitting here to read and there has to be some way to end the madness.

BUT...today I stopped at the library to pick-up my hold - The Hate U Give (YA, I know right?!) - and found a couple others in the new releases section. One was on my TBR already and three are new additions. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be Tackling the TBR, not helping it grow.

The books I ordered for my birthday thanks to the gift card from Momma have also arrived, hooray! Two I have already read, and one I have been dying to read FOR-EV-ER.

Library Check-Outs
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Birthday Purchases
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What did you add to your stash this week?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeee!

As of 5:50 this morning I am a newly minted mid-30s adult and that sounds so weird to me because sometimes a lot of times I am immature AF. I'm also impulsive, stubborn, quick to anger, and spoiled rotten. In short, I'm a peach 😘 But hey, I'm an only child so, it is what it is.

Anyway, my momma is awesome. One of my favorite things about my birthday is the fact that throughout the day leading up to January 17th, I get emails from her like, "It was about this time when I started having contractions", "This is when my water broke", and my personal fave, "This is about the time that Grandpa drove me to the hospital in the White Van and we didn't die".

(Side note about the White Van, this hunk of junk is one of my most treasured childhood memories. There were only two seats, one for the driver and one for the passenger. There was a freestanding chair in the back that was in no way secured and I LOVE RIDING IN THIS VAN whenever Grandpa and I had to go run errands for Grandma.)

And then The Call comes every January 17th at 5:50 AM without fail, my Momma telling me how this is when she was holding me in her arms for the first time. Still half-asleep, I listen while my Momma sings Happy Birthday, tells me she loves me, and to go back to sleep. I love this tradition and can't wait to carry it on with Eleanor when she is older (though right now she wants me to go to college with her, so I wouldn't have to email or call. I could just leave little Post-It notes around the dorm room she plans on us sharing.)

Naturally there are gifts to be had and this year I received a gift card with the amount of my age, because Momma knows I have to choose the books myself. Here is what I selected:

26196406 I've already read this, and absolutely loved it. It has all the kinds of history that I would want to know when I am finally plunked down smack-dab in the middle of NYC and have the luxury of exploring the boroughs for days on end. You can find my review HERE but it doesn't even do this gem justice. If you are going to NYC, I highly recommend using this as a guide book and you will find all the sights/sites you didn't even know you were looking for.

34312336 Now, if you know me but at all, you know that in September of 2017 I got to meet Dan Jones and before his US book tour for this particular treasure, I actually won a limited edition autographed proof (complete with my preferred UK cover). BUT, I had to snag this one because I need my collection to be complete (and in paperback. Yes, I am one of those who has some intense OCD tendencies about my books). You can check out my review HERE. Plus, he can sign this one AND his forthcoming book on the Crusaders book during his next visit to the US.

328032 This is one I have been wanting for a long time, and finally bought. I have this habit of totally forgetting any book I want to buy when I actually have a gift card to go buy them. I spent a looooooooooot of time going through my TBR to see what I really wanted, and this was it. I am super excited, because I love NYC and all the history contained on that tiny piece of real estate.

Have you read any of these? If so, which one(s)?

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Tackling the TBR Week 2: Jan 8-Jan 14, 2019


Each week I will be keeping track of books that I have read from my TBR. I have a huge backlog of books and often end up reading new books that are not even on my list, instead of trying to whittle down the list that continues to balloon up on Goodreads. Chuckles had the idea first, and we are going to use this as a chance to encourage each other to get those books read instead of always grabbing new ones and thus never making a dent in the physical and digital stacks we already have. It will also give us a chance to take a good look at our lists and see if there are ones we are no longer interested in. We will be posting on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and the last day of the month.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Previous Week's TBR Total: 4,334

Previous Week's Currently Reading Total: 62

Books Added to TBR This Week: 4 (ONE IS THE NEW DN JONES' BOOK AND I CAN'T STOP SHOUTING ABOUT IT!)

Books Removed from TBR This Week: 16

Books Finished This Week: 17

Books DNF-ed This Week: 34

New Currently Reading: 14

New TBR Total: 4,320

(Note: I am still whittling down the list of those cozy mystery boxed sets that I mentioned last week. I finally gave up on two of the sets because the writing was absolutely atrocious and I could no longer stomach the idiocy of the characters, and the fact that the stories made no sense - plus the crimes were solved as if by magic. Not actual magic, which would truly have helped the plot because the books were so awful, but the kind of magic involving lucky guesses and police officers spilling the beans on literally every piece of evidence gathered so far. That helped drop my Currently Reading quite a bit. I am not actually reading 14 books currently, but I add all the books in the sets to my Currently Reading list so I can get them read and removed speedy quick. There are also some NetGalley ARCs I am reading, as well as an ARC for a publisher and a couple I am reading with Eleanor. The actual total on my 'Currently Reading' Shelf is 60, but the remaining books are for research for my own book that I am writing about Eleanor of Aquitaine.)

Is your TBR under control, or a hot mess like mine?

Happy Reading!
Sarah