Stacking the Shelves #124

  

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.

Library Treasures

None! This has not happened in MONTHS!

Happy Reading!

Sarah

COVID Update!

 

So, lots of good news around here - mainly that Eleanor has yet to show any symptoms, so I think she is in the clear. I hope so anyway, because this is super stressful. Children's Hospital won't test kids unless they are showing symptoms. I could have her tested anywhere else, but I do not want to put her through that if I don't have to. It sucks. If you have yet to be tested for COVID, you are lucky. It is awful and anyone who says otherwise is a dirty liar, or impervious to pain.

As for me, I am not really sure. I started having some mild symptoms Friday and Saturday - mainly headaches and being very tired. The headache thing is weird because I have atypical migraines and as a result of my migraine meds, I don't typically get headaches. These have persisted since last weekend. I thought these two things might be reactions to the stress of it, seeing as how my migraines are typically stress-induced.

I was instructed to retest by my district contact tracers/nurses, since I tested within three days of last being in contact with Eleanor's dad so it was possible to test negative and still have it. I retested yesterday and got my second negative test of the week today, so yay.

Except I am STILL headachey and tired.

So, who knows at this point. Eleanor and I will keep wearing our masks at home together and stay six feet apart or more as often as possible, just in case.

Thank you everyone who has checked in on us.
Happy Reading!
Sarah and Eleanor

Tackling the TBR Week 45: Dec 1 - Dec 7, 2020

       

My TBR has been out of control for YEARS. Then in January of 2019 I started tracking weekly my true reading/acquiring habits, and voila! I have been able to keep on top of things a little bit better. I may never get below 1,000 books, but at least I won't be topping out over 5,000! When a book cover is linked, it goes to the review here on my blog.

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!

If a book is linked in the 'Books Read' section, you can click the cover to go to my review.

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

Previous Week's TBR Total: 3,008

Currently Reading

Books Added to TBR

Books Removed from TBR: 1

Books Read

Books DNF-ed: 

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 3,006

Any of these catch your eye? Have you already read any? Let me know!

Happy Reading!

Sarah

Well, Shit...

Eleanor's dad has tested positive for COVID-19, so guess who has to now quarantine because she has been exposed?

That's right.

Eleanor.

We would much appreciate prayers, positive thoughts, good vibes, and basically any and all things that could possibly help to keep my baby girl from testing positive for this virus.

On the plus side, we will get a TON of reading done in the next fourteen days.

Happy Reading!
Sarah and Eleanor

Stacking the Shelves #123

  

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.

Prime First Reads

Gift

Already finished it. Marvelous. A million stars.

Library Treasure

Happy Reading!

Sarah

NetGalley ARC | Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America's Golden Age

 

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

First let's take a moment and admire that cover, shall we? So simple and elegant, but very powerful. I don't even like martinis and the moment I saw this one I thought, "Sure why not?"

This gem of a book makes me want to through a Gilded Age themed dinner party and serve each and every one of these delicious treats. I can't of course, because of COVID, but some day, right? We can dream at least.

The books is divided into sections that touch on various aspects of life/society of the time, and the many drinks that went along with them. My personal favorite was the section related to signature drinks of the Ivy League schools. You don't have to go to an elite East Coats school to drink like it, as the recipes for each drink discussed is produced here for the reader.

One thing I really loved about this book was the history - big surprise. I thought it was so fascinating how the various drinks came to made, how bartenders' experimented with their craft in order to come up with new drinks to satisfy patrons. Seeing the evolution or creation of so many of the drinks we know and (sometimes) love today - such as the Manhattan - was a fun bit of history to read about.

I really love books like this, that focus on a specific micro history and encourage anyone with similar interests to give this one a read. You might just find a new favorite drink!

NetGalley ARC | The Abortion Caravan: When Women Took to the Streets, Shut Down the Government, and Battled for the Right to Choose

 

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

It kind of bothers me that I was not as hooked by this one as I thought I would be. I am not sure if it was the writing style or what. It was very dry, I felt. Maybe it was because it is the story of reproductive rights in a country other than the one I live in. I really don't know. The story is an important one though, and that is why I continued reading, even when it became more of a chore than anything else.

The idea for the caravan began in January of 1970 and the Vancouver Women's Caucus began putting together a plan for how best to petition the government to bring about the legalization of abortion in Canada. It is important to remember that this was, of course, long before social media was a thing. Even long-distance calls were not common - or cheap. Yet even with these challenges, a group of seventeen women left Vancouver, a collection of women from various walks of life all crammed into a convertible, a VW bus, and a truck. Over the course of their journey toward Ottawa, the women made stops in various towns and cities to get their message across, hold rallies and give speeches, to gather support, and to draw more attention to the cause they fought for - the fundamental right for a woman to have control over her own body.

The journey was not easy and there were squabbles among the women traveling, arguments sometimes that threatened to pull their mission apart. But even so, day after day and mile after mile, they continued on, knowing their purpose and their end goal was so important. Thousands of women died each year from botched abortions performed by back-ally doctors who were not often actual doctors. It had to end, and abortion had to become legal and SAFE.

After over 3,000 miles the Abortion Caravan reached its destination - Parliament Hill in Ottawa. There they staged their grandest performances yet, drawing the attention of the entire country. The women camped out on Pierre Trudeau's lawn in protest and managed to infiltrate the visitor galleries of parliament and chain themselves to their chairs, demanding that their voices be heard. Parliament was effectively shut down as a result, but their efforts worked in the long run. While the Abortion Caravan became a unifying symbol for women across the whole of Canada who believed in their right to be in charge of their own bodies, it would take another 18 years for reproductive rights laws to officially changed. In that time doctors were performing abortions, and were often charged with the 'crime', but were often also acquitted.

Over all the book was very informative, but simply not told in a very engaging way and I really had to force myself to finish reading it.

Book Review | The Cousins

 

Rating ALL THE STARS

I really love Karen McManus. She's an incredibly talented author and you can always count on that final line of the book to be a zinger (Especially Two Can Keep a Secret, holy shit that knocked me sideways.)

I have been basically harassing her on Twitter since One of Us is Next for another book set in Bayview because I love Nate and Bronwyn so much and I am completely ungrateful and ignorant of all the difficult work that actually goes into writing and publishing a book. (Okay, so I am really not, I know it is hard as hell. I just reeeeeeally love Nate. Probably an unhealthy amount, seeing as how he is 18 and not real. But I digress.)

Anyway, back to the book at hand. I have been waiting as patiently as possible, having pre-ordered it as soon as it was available. I got the notification from Amazon on Sunday that the book had shipped and would arrive December 1st. Lucky me, it actually came on November 30th and wouldn't you know, as soon as Eleanor was asleep I dove right in and didn't take a break for the next three hours until I had uncovered every last secret (though I bet there are more and maybe there will be some kind of 'quel' for this one too? Just like One of Us will hopefully become a trilogy? Right? RIGHT?!)

What I appreciate so much about the author's style is that even if it might feel like a slow-burn to those not as familiar with her work, there is truly nothing slow about it. It is all carefully planned and balanced to give the reader tons of little clues in the seemingly unimportant minutiae.

Let me straight up warn you right now, there IS NO minutiae, everything matters.

The problem is, I can't say a whole lot else because I definitely do not want to spoil this absolute treasure.

So, let's look at the premise instead, shall we?

The Story children were disinherited by their mother seemingly out of nowhere a couple decades prior to the opening scene. No explanation was ever given aside from a terse note proclaiming, "You know what you did." It seems that none of the Story children actually know what that means.

So, the next generation - Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah - have lived their entire lives not knowing their grandmother, and barely knowing one another. All three receive a strange summons, inviting them to come live on the family's resort and work there for the summer. Their parents make it quite clear that they have no choice, so the three end up together, getting reacquainted and learning that there is so much more going on than meets the eye.

I am happy to say that even though I had a few things kind of worked out in my head early on (Jonah) - I knew some of the 'whats' even though I did not yet know the 'whys', this novel is another work of art. Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah stumble along at times, unsure of their place and how they will go about accomplishing what their parents have tasked them with - regaining their inheritance. I finished the book and sat with it a moment, then went right back in, searching for passages that struck me as important at the time even though I was not sure exactly why it was important. Sure enough, the little signs were there.

I love that no matter how many novels I read, McManus will ALWAYS have a big surprise/reveal toward the end. What she does so masterfully is to make it all fit together seamlessly. Nothing feels like it is a stretch of the imagination, or that it couldn't really happen. The pieces all fit together quite nicely when all is said and done.

It is always hard to do a review like this of a highly anticipated work right at publication because I can't exactly show you WHY the book is so good. If I did that, there would be so many spoilers and that is not fair to those who have not read it yet. The book is classic McManus, full of twists and turns, some great surprises that I didn't see coming, and all tied together in the end when you were not sure how the hell she would end up doing so.

But she does.

Every. Single. Time.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Tackling the TBR Week 44: Nov 22 - Nov 30, 2020

       

My TBR has been out of control for YEARS. Then in January of 2019 I started tracking weekly my true reading/acquiring habits, and voila! I have been able to keep on top of things a little bit better. I may never get below 1,000 books, but at least I won't be topping out over 5,000! When a book cover is linked, it goes to the review here on my blog.

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!

If a book is linked in the 'Books Read' section, you can click the cover to go to my review.

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

Previous Week's TBR Total: 3,070

Currently Reading

Books Added to TBR

Books Removed from TBR: 60

Books Read

Books DNF-ed: 

Duplicates Removed: 1

New TBR Total: 3,008

I stayed up late to read The Cousins in its entirety and post on this #TacklingTheTBR, as it just arrived today, and HOLY SHIT! If you've never read a book by Karen McManus, I don't even know what you're doing with your life.

Any of these catch your eye? Have you already read any? Let me know!

Happy Reading!

Sarah