Eleanor Reads! April Edition

   

Each month Eleanor and I share the chapter books we've read in that period. 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.

Read

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

Happy Reading,
Eleanor and Sarah

Tackling the TBR Week 16: April 22 - April 30, 2021

         

I am now entering year three of Tackling the TBR. Slowly but surely I have made big strides in getting by TBR under control. When I first started in 2019, my TBR 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: 2,919

Currently Reading

Books Added to TBR

Books Removed from TBR: 0

Books Read

Books DNF-ed: 0

Duplicates Removed: 0

New TBR Total: 2,923

I went on a minor bender after reading When No One is Watching and found too many books of interest that the author listed in the back.

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

Happy Reading!

Sarah 

Stacking the Shelves #143

 

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.

NetGalley ARCs

Library Treasures

Happy Reading!
Sarah 

First Line Friday #127

  

First Line Friday is brought to you by Hoarding Books. Playing along is easy: open the book nearest you and share the first line. Then check out the link to see the other first lines posted this week.

"A husband and wife sit at their dining room table one evening, watching a crime report on the news, sipping tea, and lamenting the violent state of the world."

I have been waiting sooooooo long for this one. I loved Slay and with her debut novel Brittney Morris became a must-read author for me. This hold finally came in from the library this week and I will probably have the book done Thursday night (when I am putting the post together.)

Leave a comment and let me know what you think, and leave a link to your FLF so I can stop by to see what you've posted this week.

Happy Reading!
Sarah

Accountability, Not Justice

 

It has taken me a while to post about this, and honestly I still don't know if I have the right words. What I can tell you is that Tuesday's verdict was groundbreaking, while also heartbreaking. It does not bring George Floyd back to his family and friends, but it does give me hope that when we inevitably have to do this again (such as in the case of Daunte Wright), it will be possible for murderers to be held accountable for their actions.

I was with students all afternoon and in that 30-second slice of time between one group leaving and the next group arriving, I received a text from a friend saying the verdict was going to be read between 3:30 and 4. My last group was from 3:30-4, and 4 is when I have to be outside for bus duty. No worries though, because I was not the only teacher carrying her phone outside to try and hear the verdict. One of my good friends walked by my bus, her eyes wide, saying she could not quite hear but she thought it was guilty on all three counts. As soon as my bus was loaded, I ran over to where she was talking with another teacher. She confirmed guilty on all three counts and, I kid you not, I pretty much jumped on her and we hugged - but briefly because COVID is still a thing.

I received so many text messages confirming the verdict, it was hard to keep up. I left school to pick up Eleanor from her BFF's house and CNN was on, showing the scene outside the Hennepin County Courthouse. Had we been home (our true home IS Minnesota), you can be damn sure Eleanor and I would have been there to celebrate the fact that finally, finally, someone has been held accountable for their actions.

This does not mean the fight is over. There is still an entire system to dismantle and rebuild. But this is another first step in a long line of first steps taken since May 25th, 2020. I have faith that we can succeed and will do whatever I can in order to help bring about this change our country so desperately needs.

What will you do?

Tackling the TBR Week 15: April 15 - April 21, 2021

        

I am now entering year three of Tackling the TBR. Slowly but surely I have made big strides in getting by TBR under control. When I first started in 2019, my TBR 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: 2,919

Currently Reading

Books Added to TBR

Books Removed from TBR: 0

Books Read

Books DNF-ed: 0

Duplicates Removed: 1

New TBR Total: 2,919

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

Happy Reading!

Sarah 

Publisher Gift (via NetGalley) | Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

 

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

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

When I was contacted by the publisher via email with the offer of this book, I admit I hesitated quite a bit at first. The news of the world was already hard enough, and adding something even more awful to my life seemed like something I did not want to do.

Still, I dove in anyway and I am glad I did. I had a few stops and starts, and there were places I skimmed only because some descriptions of her sickness and treatments were graphic and I don't have the stomach for that. Even so, I recommend this read.

The author graduated from college and promptly moved to Pairs that summer. Her dream was to be a war correspondent, but not long after settling into her new life fate had other plans.

It started with a strange symptom - a constant itchiness on her feet and legs. Then came the fatigue and no amount of sleep could make it go away. Don't forget the sores in her mouth. The more she slept, the more tired she became. Just before the author turned 23 she received the diagnosis that I would not wish on my worst enemy - leukemia. Even worse, this version came with a 35% survival rate. Suddenly the world she had been slowly building for herself in Paris was gone, obliterated by that one terrifying word.

Jaouad returned home to New York and began her fight to survive - all of which she chronicled as an on-going story for the New York Times. For nearly four years she underwent all kinds of traumatic events - rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and then a bone marrow transplant. She made and lost friends who suffered as she did, and those stories are especially heartbreaking. I can't imagine going through something so life-altering, finding those who understand because they are in the same position, then losing them to the very thing you've beaten. Survivor's guilt would crush me.

When Jaouad is finally deemed cancer-free, she finds that in her fight to live, she has forgotten how to do that very thing - to live. This is understandable, having spent the last four years constantly stalked by death. To begin her journey of healing mentally and emotionally, she decides to crisscross the country on a 100-day journey to meet with people who had written to her while she was in the hospital and writing about her battle with the disease for the Times.

Jaouad's account is brutally honest. I can't imagine having to make some of the decisions she did, and so quickly. This is especially clear when it came to the issue of the clinical trial and whether she would do it if she was a candidate. Also the decisions made when it came to fertility and how any treatments could later impact her ability to become pregnant if she decided she wanted to have children. Jaouad had a solid support system there every step of the way. I can't imagine going through this alone and was glad that she did not have to.

Knowing the story has a happy ending did not make the hard stuff any easier. This is a powerful memoir of a life interrupted and the search for how to begin again.

Highly recommended.