pickSo, so depressing. It‘s weird that even though I know Haymitch survives, I still got stressed out when he was in danger. His character definitely makes more sense as not caring about anything or anyone when he lost every person he cared about. Not just friends he made at the Games, but his family was set on fire and died. And then Snow indirectly poisoned and killed his love, Lenore Dove. And such gruesome deaths for the Newcomers in the arena.
panI enjoyed this book for most of it until she agreed to have unprotected sex with Duke in a nuthouse bathroom after he cheated on and abandoned her two years earlier which resulted in a pregnancy and abortion. Idiot. Otherwise it was good writing with a lot of subtlety. But that ruined it for me. This was a new to me author. Doing well for this 2025 challenge!
panI read this series as a teenager and remembered that this was my least favorite. Holds true. Lestat is impossible. His lack of impulse control is ridiculous and not at all charming. The rape scene of his first foray into sex as a human again was awful. And then he basically did the vampire version of that at the end by making David Talbot a vampire without consent. His remorse after each was laughable. Completely led by his emotions.
pickGreat collection of classic American documents, speeches, poems, etc. George Washington‘s speeches had a lot of big words that didn‘t say a whole lot. I also didn‘t know that it used to be first choice was made President and second choice was made Vice President. Teddy Roosevelt liked long, run-on sentences. The pledge of allegiance didn‘t originally have “under god” in it! President Eisenhower insisted it be added by Congress in 1954.
pickFantastic, loved it. I‘ve been collecting as many Dorrie the Witch books as I can find. This one was elusive, so I resorted to eBay and had to get a little paperback edition. All the others I‘ve found are the hardcover school editions like I read in elementary school.
pickI felt intrusive by listening to this audiobook, but it must have been okay to share if his family was okay with publishing. Really great to get insight into the workings of his mind. Very smart and considerate with high standards for himself and others.
In America, the law is king. ⚖️👩🏻⚖️
“While eating is the custom of Europe” 🤪 Sassy, Thomas Paine, in Common Sense.
panIt got a little more interesting right toward the end, but most of the journal entries seem trivial. She also talks way too much about having to hide her diary. The most interesting part of it was the historical facts after the diary entries. Knowing that Queen Victoria did keep a diary starting at the age of 13 makes me want to read that instead! This was the newest book on my TBR.
@wanderinglynn
#2025offmyshelfreadingchallenge
pickReally well researched and interesting to read. There was too much scene-setting of historical markers that weren‘t relevant to Margaret‘s life. I was drawn to the book because I loved the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Debbie Reynolds, and I bought the book at the Titanic Museum in Missouri. She was never even called Molly, so that‘s just a small taste of how many things about her life and personality were incorrect.
pickA friend of the family gave me, my sister, and my mom this book after my dad died a year ago tomorrow. I‘ve been reading a page a day, as it is organized by calendar days. I do think it helped. There were some common themes that resurfaced throughout the year. It at least regularly gave me the space once a day to work through my grief. As the book mentioned, there is no set time for when it will feel better. A year later doesn‘t stop the hurt.
pickCounting this one as a book with a map—Scotland and France, that is. This was an excellent installment of the Royal Diaries. To me, the most effective historical fiction is one that makes me want to research what really happened! Which is why I appreciate that the authors of Royal Diaries put the history at the end of the story. After reading the Cleopatra Royal Diary, I thought maybe I just didn‘t like it because I‘m an adult now. Nope.
Thought it would be fun to go from the chunkster to the shortest book on my TBR. The Story of the Saxophone. Excellent story and illustrations, about the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax.
@wanderinglynn
#2025offmyshelfreadingchallenge
pickFantastic! Even as a music teacher, I didn‘t know all those things about Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. I think they should have put an illustration of Adolphe Sax on the cover, though, not Sidney Bechet, since the book was all about the inventor. Super cool that the inside covers of the book have illustrations of famous saxophonists!
pickThis one was the chunkster for me! 674 pages. And I‘ve had it for several years. Read it in order, which is probably not its intent. But lots of really useful information! Makes me realize that my parents raised me well and also makes me sad at how little people pay attention to good manners and etiquette these days 😓
@wanderinglynn
#2025offmyshelfreadingchallenge
Accomplished the poetry square with these Longfellow poems a year in the reading.
@wanderinglynn
#2025OffMyShelf
so-soWow, that took over a year to finish all of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow‘s poems! Reading intermittently, that is. I enjoy his style. It was old-fashioned in his time, but he had interesting subjects. I do think the hype about The Song of Hiawatha was justified. He did a lot of translations that I kind of skimmed through.
panThe author can certainly turn a beautiful phrase with philosophical musings. Not knowing the premise beforehand, I was really confused why the author went from one complete story to another. Obviously it all made sense at the third story when she explained the connection between Bonds and Bevel. It was cool that he ended with Mildred‘s actual diary, so we finally get to her truth. Ultimately, I didn‘t feel like the listen had all been worth it.
Words to learn if you‘re going to a country that speaks a different language!
panHaving read a biography of Cleopatra VII and watched documentaries and movies, this fictional diary was definitely a let-down. Can‘t tell if it‘s disappointing because I‘m an adult or because I know so much about her life. It was mostly being stuck in Rome waiting for a Roman army to come back with her and her father to Alexandria to quell the peasant and sibling rebellions. The ending part with all the facts was more interesting.
pickRead as a teenager, rereading as an adult. This one is still great! Not as brooding and moody as the first two. Plot moved along more. Really enjoyed Maharet and Jesse‘s stories. Didn‘t enjoy Daniel‘s part, Armand‘s fledgling and the one who wrote Interview for Louis. Akasha‘s plan to kill most of the male human population to save humans was intense.
so-soElla Fitzgerald is one of my favorite singers. I don‘t know much about Marilyn Monroe, so it was interesting and sad to learn more about her life. I was impressed with how strong Ella was. She stayed away from all alcohol and drugs, in contrast to Marilyn who struggled severely. She stood up for herself professionally and personally, despite race and attractiveness. Both struggled with difficult childhoods, men, and fertility.
so-soA lot of rough topics in this book. Even skipped through some parts of the audiobook. Geeta frequently frustrated me. Saloni and Karem were great. Infuriating how much crap the women of this village had to endure from men.
panWell, most of that book went over my head. I don‘t understand play calls and formations at all. I was hoping maybe for more general leadership/coaching wisdom. Some of the more interesting things to me were how different the NFL was in the 60s. Players had real jobs outside of football in the off-season. They referred to teams as clubs. The Packers used to share their field with high school teams. And “How to go!” was a supportive thing to say.
so-soWide variety of Christmas stories, lyrics, and poems collected here by Caroline Kennedy. The artwork felt like it was from the 1960s, so I had to keep reminding myself this was published in the 2000s. A nice collection to read around Christmastime, though. My dad got this signed by the author and kept the newspaper clipping saying when she came to town.
pickSo exciting to read a book of this genre by a Wisconsinite author!! I loved reading about cannibal sandwiches, a beloved staple for my German Milwaukeean family, Christkindlmarket, Door County cherries, and West Allis Candy Cane Lane. Loved the premise wondering what it would be like to live in never ending Christmas. The ending twists pleasantly surprised me. Jack was super romantic in how long he waited for Astra.
pickIt‘s not a book I would have picked up on my own, but I really enjoyed it, so thanks, Dad ❤️ It was impressively written by JFK but not about himself. Each chapter is a vignette of a courageous point of a Senator‘s career where he followed his own conscience despite his party or constituents or everyone disagreeing with him. Doing what you feel is the right thing doesn‘t win popularity contests.
panI loved Chandler and Friends, so I am disappointed to say that I really didn‘t enjoy this audiobook. Never meet your heroes, I guess. He had a bit of an ego; at least he acknowledged that he was selfish and narcissistic. Came off as very whiny. Used women. I wanted to hear more about his career versus his addiction, but it seems his addictions consumed him. The ending was overly sentimental and has a different flavor knowing that ketamine got him
pickTime was definitely not linear in the writing of this story. I enjoyed the concept of it, though it was nothing new, making a deal with a devil. And considering that she could live as long as she wanted, that was a pretty good deal compared to most of the others he made. I was hoping that she would end up with Luc anyway, I was just bummed that even though she did…she really didn‘t. I enjoyed how she inspired all those artists.
bailedI ended up getting about a third of the way through and stopped listening to the audiobook. I enjoy listening to her voice, but it‘s more memoir than scientific discovery for me.
pickVery insightful book about the death and life of Edgar Allan Poe. Draws on a lot of previous biographies and speculations. I didn‘t like that the book jumped around chronologically. Edgar Allan Poe didn‘t really intend on being known for horror, but poetry.
They suspected he had very low tolerance for alcohol and was perhaps allergic to it. Had a beloved cat called Catterina. Compelling arguments for latent tuberculosis causing his death.
🤨 Nobody reads Longfellow? Lies. I read Longfellow. And I read Poe.
The spooky side of the street 👻
so-soThis was a re-read for me about 20 years later. Didn‘t like it as much as when I was a teenager. It felt all over the place. Seemed like Rice was backtracking with Lestat‘s character as he seemed very different here and the rest of the series than in Interview with the Vampire. The history of the Theater of the Vampires makes more sense. Relationship with his mom after he makes her a vampire is super weird. Marius‘ story in here was 70 pages.
pickBernie Sanders is my favorite politician. As I listened to him read his own audiobook, I found myself nodding along with just about everything. He didn‘t stop working for the progressive movement after he dropped out of the presidential campaigns. His “Not me, us,” slogan lived on. Medicare for all sounds like an absolute dream. I believe criticizing our country doesn‘t mean you don‘t love it; it means you love it more to make it better.
1. Why yes, I certainly have. But not for trick-or-treaters 😂
2. Emo vampire adventures
#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView
pickI really enjoyed listening to Tom Felton read his own book! He is very animated, does funny accents and impressions of himself and others, and is a joy to listen to. He goes through his life and acting career pre, during, and post Harry Potter. Tom struggled through some addiction and behavior issues that he is candid about. He told many stories in the form of a film script. The best story was “Don‘t tread on my fucking cloak” from Alan rickman.
Louis‘ character growth
pickThe author and illustrator made this book of a real sanitation worker who made a museum of trash. Nice idea of reduce, reuse, and recycle. The artwork was really nicely done. I feel like that‘s illegal to do that, though? Also, sometimes we just need to get rid of clutter. If you turn it into something else, you still have the thing. But that‘s why you sell or donate instead of throwing it away.
pickThat was a fun, imaginative 1602 version of Marvel characters. I thought the plot was interesting, and there were fun surprises. The characters I was able to identify (there were some name and appearance changes) were Dr. Strange, Nick Fury, Angel, Daredevil, Wanda and Petros Maximoff, Cyclops, Iceman, Jean Grey, Beast, Professor X, Natasha Romanoff, Doom, Peter Parker, Magneto, Fantastic Four, Thor, Toad, and Captain America. Mutants=witch breed.
