Welcome to Litsy!

Whilst going through my read books list on Goodreads I realised I had missed these two books!
I loved both. The tagged book was obviously devastating, every mothers worst nightmare! I spent the whole book shaking my head in disbelief.
These precious days were essays on life, love and death. I enjoyed them all!

#AlphabetGame
#LetterM

A book on my TBR with a 92% pick rating on Litsy.

Going to start this.

After being so moved by the brilliant book Columbine by Dave Cullen I was really interested in reading this perspective.

This quote early on really hit me. Such a perfect way to capture the feeling of grief, shame and confusion.

What a powerful read. A much different look at Columbine, but I felt like she had so much to say that people need to hear.

Damn. This is a gut wrenching read.

A good start to my new year. Finished an emotionally tough read, got a cute picture of #atticus2016 , and 7 wild turkey's set of the doorbell cam.

First snowstorm of the year, you will find me reading and listening to my scanner app.

"For the first time I truly understood how 'heartbroken' had come to describe a sensation of terrible, terrible grief. The pain was actual, physical, as if my heart had been smashed to jagged fragments in my chest. 'Heartbroken' was no longer a metaphor, but a description."

A memoir of the mother of one of the Columbine shooters.
Eye-opening and honest. It was terrifying that she had no idea that her quiet, intelligent son was plotting such a rampage. There were no indications that Dylan was not just a regular teenager. I admire her post-Columbine crusade to raise awareness of mental illness and suicidality in teens. A must-read for parents.

Coming to terms with the aftermath took a long time. The son she knew and raised was not someone who could have done such a thing. Dylan hid his troubles well. Though the book started off well for me, and most of the book continued that way, the very end lagged a bit. Cont in comments...

I don‘t agree with all her conclusions (particularly some abdication of personal responsibility on her part and a tendency to blame mental health issues for violence), but a heartbreaking, compelling and provocative read for those looking for further insight about Columbine.

“When I hear about terrorists in the news, I think, ‘That‘s somebody‘s kid.‘ Columbine made me feel more connected to mankind than anything else possibly could have.” —Sue Klebold

#AyUpAugust #Day1 #CryMeARiver Sue Klebold certainly had every reason to cry rivers of tears after her son & his friend killed so many at Columbine before killing themselves. Instead of losing herself in grief & regret, though she certainly felt both, she started a Suicide Prevention charity & toured the country giving talks about what she learnt from her tragedy. I certainly cried rivers reading this.😢

I started reading this on Sunday evening and have just finished, helped along by Alexa narrating a good chunk of it while I was stitching last night. How cool that you can have Alexa read to you and alternate between reading and listening! A fascinating read, which led me to Google even more about this tragedy, though I never will understand it.

#MayMovieMagic #StarTrekSummerMay This recent read of mine is both Sue Klebolds #HighwayToHell & #AMatterOfPerspective In it, the mother of one of the Columbine killers, was drowning in guilt, anguish & grief until she made a decision to change the perspective & turn her tragedy into a positive by working with Suicide Prevention groups, Anti Bullying & trying to reach out to depressed kids & young adults, so Columbines hell never happens again. 🚫

Wow.
Listening to Sue Klebold narrate her book was heavy, difficult and heart wrenching - yet I didn't want to stop.
What an important story about brain health and suicide. This was a mom who had no clue her son was suffering. When he did what he did at Columbine, he left behind a reeling family whose search for answers continues to this day.
It could have been any of us. Sue Klebold makes no excuses. She tells her story honestly and truthfully

Started this audio and am not even through the introduction - it's already heartbreaking.

On a happier note, I enjoyed these flowers on my #audiowalk this morning.

#litsywalkers

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Columbine shooting is not an event we will #forget.


This is an important book for both parents & those looking to educate themselves on the details of the Columbine school shooting.

Full review: https://www.facebook.com/262384764521804/posts/270498187043795?sfns=mo

#springintoreading @vkois88 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I have the luxury of living in a country with strong gun laws so I probably will never know what it‘s like to live in fear after a mass shooting like Columbine. I do remember being unable to both fathom why the US is the way it is about guns, but also how the parents did not know. Reading this book has been very enlightening, plus raising boys of my own. My heart breaks for all involved. #NonFiction2019 #FromAnotherPointOfView #Pop19 #AboutAFamily

Audiobooks Versus Physical Books: Is One Better Than the Other?

Every so often I see these statements which lead to debate in some of the book groups I am in: “Audiobooks don‘t count as books!” “Audiobooks are cheating” “You‘re not really a reader if you listen to audiobooks!”

First off, I don‘t agree. To read the rest of my thoughts on this, click here: https://www.facebook.com/262384764521804/posts/267786910648256?sfns=mo

This was a heartbreaking memoir to read on 20th Anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. My heartbreaks for Sue, who had no idea her son was capable of committing such a horrific crime. She recounts their family life and the days and months leading up and following the shooting. She ends the memoir with a focus on mental health. It is definitely an eye opener for parents. She encourages parents to search deeper and ask harder questions.

#nonfiction2019
Something I saw on Litsy

Finished! I love reading non fiction and have enjoyed this challenge completely. Thank you @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

#ReadingUSA2019
Colorado

This was an excellent book written by one of the Columbine murder/suicide perpetrators. I am heartbroken for this mother and all the families that lost loved ones. She has come a long way from her disbelief that her child couldn‘t have to acceptance and working for suicide prevention. It‘s really written in a scientific, yet emotional way that simply will crush your soul.

This was a tough one.

Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, who worked with a peer to take the lives of thirteen others on the haunting morning in April of 1999 at Columbine High School.

What honestly surprised me was how conscientious Sue had been as a mother and what a shock this truly was to her family as well.

I have always had sympathy directed towards her family and cannot even begin to imagine the strength it takes to carry on.

#MarchIntoThe70s A memoir acknowledging her son‘s heinous act, making no excuses and accepting her hand in the tragedy yet a story of a mother‘s grief over the loss of her child, who will forever be seen as a monster. A difficult memoir to read and process.

I can‘t imagine being in this mother‘s shoes. How painful it must have been to write about her feelings of guilt, shame, and grief. She fully acknowledges Dylan‘s crimes. The most frightening thing is that her son was the typical “moody at times” teen. She didn‘t discover that he was severely depressed/suicidal until after the tragedy. She talks about her current work with suicide prevention. It will be 20 years since Columbine this April. 🖤

“Any dead child is some parents vanquished hope. (From the forward by Andrew Soloman)”

I am not going to rate this one because I honestly am not sure how I feel about it.
This ended up on my TBR from one of the podcasts I listen to but I can't remember now which one, so I decided to read it now for my #Booked2019 #relatedtoapodcast choice.
I am mostly happy to be done with it.
@Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

#BookMail Pt1 I‘m trying to make this year a #YearOfNonFiction not just for the challenges, but because sometimes it feels like my brain is turning to mush!🧠 This is the memoir of the mother of one of the Columbine killers. I‘ve read the book by Dave Cullen awhile ago, I‘ve always wondered how the parents coped with not just the death of their child, but the knowledge of the evil they had done & to bear the judgement & hatred of former friends.

A Monday off from work seems like the perfect time for an audiobook book walk. Since I don‘t have pets to post pictures of I decided to come visit the sea lions and snap a picture for @kaye I usually try to avoid Fisherman‘s Wharf but I am always happy to see these guys. Listening to tagged book which I never would have picked up without Litsy. #litsywalkers

This is a devastating memoir written by the mother of one of the Columbine shooters. It is honest, revealing, and heartbreaking. I never want to read it again - I can‘t imagine having to live it. This book will stay with me for a long time.

I just started reading this book. When I picked it up, I hesitated because I was picturing it trying to excuse her son for his crimes. Instead it explains how a mother is grieving not only for her loss of her son in a physical sense but much deeper; she didn't know how much pain he was in. She continues to love him just as much as any parent. The emotional turmoil she went through is magnified when compared to the other parents.

Just trying to get a nice picture of the new books I received as gifts.

Edgar Gets Ready For Bed by Jennifer Adams
Fierce Fairy Tales by Nikita Gill
A Mother‘s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

This is an important and powerful book. As well as it being well written, it gets the tone right with a mixture of truth, reflection and compassion.

#NoFemmeber #NonFictionNovember

I read this memoir last year & it wrecked me. I thought it would be difficult to have any #sympathy for the mother of a mass murderer but I did, in boat loads! Sue writes “To the rest of the world, Dylan was a monster, but I had lost my child.” And that‘s the heart of this memoir. A parent can‘t really KNOW their child, as much as we would like to believe we can. And this “monster” was still her son.👇🏼

Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the killers in the Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999. This is her attempt to describe what it's like to be the mother of a child who committed a horrible act, to give a portrait of her family, before and after the mass killing. It's her hope that it'll help someone see the signs of distress in their own child or help other parents who must face the wrong their children do. It's a powerful read.

1. Yes!
2. Pretty skewed towards fiction, tbh. Probably 98% fiction.
3. True crime and Indigenous stories
4. All Our Relations by Winona Duke
5. Yaaas.

30 | #ABBAInAugust #DoesYourMotherKnow

Throwback to when my heart hurt reading this - if only Sue Klebold had known 💔

Home with a sick kiddo 😷 that means cozy sweats, cinnamon sugar toast, and lots of reading.