Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Goodreads Review - "Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 4"

Oz, The Complete Collection, Volume 4: Rinkitink in Oz / The Lost Princess of Oz / The Tin Woodman of Oz (Oz, #10-12)Oz, The Complete Collection, Volume 4: Rinkitink in Oz / The Lost Princess of Oz / The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume was one of my favorites so far.

Rinkitink in Oz (4 stars)

I really liked this book in the series after that last few that I have read that I rated 3 stars. There's always an adventure and something to overcome. I'm a bit confused at why the title was about Rinkitink when he wasn't even the main character but the story was still good. The ending for King Gos and Queen Cor was not something I expected. And last, the story line for Bilbil, the goat, was a great twist at the end.

I really did love this quote about Zella who is Nikobob's daughter: "She was a brave little girl and poor people are often obliged to take chances that rich ones are spared."

Side note: It's extremely important to remember that this book was published in 1916 which means that some words are used in a different context like the word 'molest' which was used quite few times in the book. The older definition and the use for the word was: "to bother, interfere with, or annoy." It has since been updated in the dictionary to reflect the current definition.

The Lost Princess of Oz (4 stars)

This story was actually really good. There's always an adventure and something to overcome. Princess Ozma goes missing (along with other magical items) and the characters have to go on a journey to rescue her. I love that a lot of the main characters from the beginning were more present in this story. The Mysterious City was one of my favorites and how they (well it was Scraps) figured out how to get in was quite fun to read.

There was a section in the book where they were comparing beauty and who was the most beautiful and the Lion responded with the following and I loved this: "Were we all like the Sawhorse, we would all be Sawhorses, which would be too many of the kind; were we all like Hank, we would be a herd of mules; if like Toto, we would be a pack of dogs; should we all become the shape of the Woozy, he would no longer be remarkable for his unusual appearance. Finally, were you all like me, I would consider you so common that I would not care to associate with you. To be individual, my friends, to be different from others, is the only way to become distinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, that we differ from one another in form and in disposition. Variety is the spice of life and we are various enough to enjoy one another's society; so let us be content."

Another favorite part was when Toto lost his growl and said "But how about my lost growl?" and the Lion responded with, "The growl is of importance only to you. So it is your business to worry over the loss, not ours. If you love us, do not afflict your burdens on us; be unhappy all by yourself."

And lastly this quote from Ugu the Shoemaker said: "For many days of quiet thought have shown me that only those things one acquires honestly are able to render one content."


The Tin Woodman of Oz (4 stars)
This one was another favorite in this series. You would think that as many books as there are in this series, the creativity would run dry but it hasn't yet. This story follows the Tin Woodman's story about a munchkin he was suppose to marry before he got stuck in the woods until Dorothy came to his rescue in the first book. After encouragement from Woot the Wanderer, they go on a journey to find his first love and marry her.

I was not expecting how much would happen and how they linked a lot of it to the books before like the nine tiny piglets and where they came from originally before they now live with the Wizard of Oz. We get to find out what became of his body parts after the Wicked Witch had cursed his axe. And last, the ending to the story was not predictable as I thought it would be and I loved it. I won't say anymore because I don't want to spoil anything.

There were a few quotes that I loved in the book so I'll share them here: "When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight." - the Scarecrow

"I'm glad they didn't invite us in. I hope I'm not too particular about my associates, but I draw the line at pigs." - Captain Fyter

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Thursday, September 11, 2025

A Note on Empathy by Jeff Guenther, LPC

It makes sense if you don't feel a deep well of empathy for someone who made a career out of refusing to show it for others. 

I want to normalize that because sometimes when a public figure dies especially in a tragic way, people rush to say, you have to be compassionate right now. Don't speak ill of the dead but if that person spent their life dismissing other people's pain, mocking it, minimizing it, even actively contributing to it, it makes sense that your empathy tank might run dry. 

That doesn't mean you're celebrating. It doesn't mean you're cold hearted. It just means your compassion has limits and those limits are often shaped by how much compassion someone showed in their lifetime. 
There’s actually something psychologically healthy about noticing that boundary. You're not obligated to manufacture sorrow for someone who never extended any to you, your community, or people you care about. 

You can hold both I don't wish this on anyone and I don't feel sad about it either. That's not cruelty. That's honesty and it feels really weird and uncomfortable to hold both of those in your body at the same time. 

This isn't about telling you not to be compassionate. It's about giving you permission to notice whatever you honestly feel or don't feel and trust that it's valid. 

- Jeff Guenther, LPC

Monday, July 28, 2025

Goodreads Review - "The Devil at His Elbow"

The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern DynastyThe Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I highly recommend this book even if you've already seen documentaries about the Murdaugh family. This is the best book out there on this story. There's so much information on this family and the tragedies surrounding them. The writing was so good and it flowed very well.


There were a few quotes that stuck out to me:

"Alex had his secrets.  So did his forefathers.  Alex’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather could make secrets disappear, and they had taught Alex to embrace the family ethos: To live above the law, you must become the law."

"For more than a century, the Murdaughs had practiced the art of putting a polished sheen over the mess of reality.

"Waters pressed Alex on the magnitude of his success and influence. There was an absurdity to Alex's disputing something so plainly true, as if he were so accustomed to swimming in the water of privilege, he forgot it was water at all."

"A dominant impression, shared by many, was that Moselle felt like a place where the barrier between the living and the dead was very thin."

View all my reviews

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

2024 Reading Wrap Up - Ratings

                            






★★★★★

A Nearly Normal Family - M.T. Edvardsson
Ain't Burned All the Bright - Jason Reynolds
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle & Dante, #1) - Benjamin Alire Saenz
Barbie: The Screenplay - Greta Gerwig
Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones - Dolly Parton
Beyond the Gender Binary - Alok Vaid-Menon
Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) - Angie Thomas
Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters - Andrew Morton
Emotional Intelligence: Managing Your Anxiety - Harvard Business Review
Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them (Fantastic Beasts, #1) - J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald (Fantastic Beasts, #2) - J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore (Fantastic Beasts, #3) - J.K. Rowling
From Here to the Great Unknown - Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough
Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey
How Ya'll Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived - Leslie Jordan * 
It Ends with Us (It Ends With Us, #1) - Colleen Hoover
Karma - Boy George
Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #3) - Ransom Riggs
Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley
Lucille Bell Treasures - Cindy De La Hoz
Microjoys: Finding Hope (Especially) When Life Is Not Okay - Cyndie Spiegel
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit - John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker
Newtown: An American Tragedy- Matthew Lysiak
Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter
Sociopath - Patric Gagne
Taylor Swift is Life - Kathleen Perricone
The Blood of Emmett Till - Timothy B. Tyson
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, #1) - John Boyne *
The House of Hidden Meanings - RuPaul
The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1) - Freida McFadden
The Forgotten Chapter (Blaze Collection, #3) - Pam Jenoff
The Guncle Abroad (The Guncle, #2) - Steven Rowley
The Official Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book - Taylor Swift
The Queens' English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary - Chloe O. Davis
The Queens' English: The Young Readers' LGBTQIA+ Dictionary - Chloe O. Davis
The Woman In Me - Britney Spears
The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn
The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be - Joanna Gaines *
Where Was God? - Jennifer Dawn Turpin
We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngoni Adichie


★★★★☆ 

A Brilliant Life: My Mother's Inspiring True Story of Surviving the Holocaust - Rachelle Unreich
All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda
Amelia's Shadow (Blaze Collection, #1) - Marie Benedict
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
August: Osage County - Tracy Letts
Barriers to Entry (Blaze Collection, #7) - Ariel Lawhon 
Candace (The Fairer Sex Collection, #1) - Michelle Miller
Disney: Winnie the Pooh (Tiny Book) - Brooke Vitale
Eat Drink Nap: Bringing the House Home - Soho House
Fallen Grace (Blaze Collection, #6) - Sadeqa Johnson
for colored girls who have considered suicide - Ntozake Shange
Gray Malin: Coastal - Gray Malin
Great LGBTQ+ Speeches - Tea Uglow
GuRu - RuPaul *
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer - O.J. Simpson
In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Kline
It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2) - Colleen Hoover
Kill Joy (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #0.5) - Holly Jackson
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Name Drop - Ross Mathews
Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders - John Glatt
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Answer is No - Fredrik Backman
The Art of Drag - Jake Hall
The Beast Within (Villains, #2) - Serena Valentino
The Best Girls (Disorder Collection, #1) - Min Jin Lee
The June Paintings (Blaze Collection, #2) - Maggie Shipstead
The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1) - Liv Constantine
The One and Only Family (The One and Only Ivan, #4) - Katherine Applegate
the princess saves herself in this one - Amanda Lovelace
The Red Bandanna: A Life. A Choice. A Legacy. - Tom Rinaldi
Two Women Walk Into a Bar - Cheryl Strayed

★★★☆☆ 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Alicia (The Fairer Sex Collection, #3) - Michelle Miller
All in Good Taste - Kate Spade
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1) - Roald Dahl
Clara (The Fairer Sex Collection, #5) - Michelle Miller
Eleanor (The Fairer Sex Collection, #7) - Michelle Miller
Enemy of the People: The Untold Story of the Journalists Who Opposed Hitler - Terrence Petty
Fires to Come (Blaze Collection, #4) - Asha Lemmie
Fairest of All (Villains, #1) - Serena Valentino
Heartstopper: Volume 5 - Alice Oseman
Natural Selection - Elon Hilderbrand
Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 3 - L. Frank Baum
Poor Unfortunate Soul (Villains, #3) - Serena Valentino
The Deal of a Lifetime - Fredrik Backman
The Life of Christine Jorgensen - Jennifer Hopkins
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Oz, #7) - L. Frank Baum
The Raven - Edgar Allen Poe
The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler - William L. Shirer
The Scarecrow of Oz (Oz, #9) - L. Frank Baum
The Summer We Believed (Denim Days, #1) - Shel Delisle
The Texas Tower Sniper: The Terrifying True Story of Charles Whitman - Ryan Green
The World According to Mister Rogers - Fred Rogers
Tik-Tok of Oz (Oz, #8) - L. Frank Baum
Tune in Tomorrow (Blaze Collection, #5) - Melanie Benjamin
When We Were Friends - Jane Green

★★☆☆☆

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Heidi (The Fairer Sex Collection, #4) - Michelle Miller
Loam (Disorder Collection, #2) - Scott Heim
Lovers at the Museum - Isabel Allende
Meredith (The Fairer Sex Collection, #2) - Michelle Miller
On Enemy Ground (The Spy Who Vanished, #2) - Alma Katsu
Shaken, Not Stirred (The Spy Who Vanished, #3) - Alma Katsu
The Vanishing Man (The Spy Who Vanished, #1) - Alma Katsu

★☆☆☆☆ 

Anonymous (Disorder Collection, #4) - Uzodinma Iweala 
Cut & Thirst - Margaret Atwood
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Harry Potter Spells - Prince Vincent
Keridee (The Fairer Sex Collection, #8) - Michelle Miller
Lauren (The Fairer Sex Collection, #6) - Michelle Miller
Mermaid - Jodi Picoult
The Absent-Minded Gentleman - Frank Heller
The Beckoning Fair One (Disorder Collection, #5) - Dan Chaon
Ungirls (Disorder Collection, #3) - Lauren Beaks
Will Williams (Disorder Collection, #6) - Namwali Serpell


* Books that have been read 2 times
† Books that have been read 3 times

2024 Reading Wrap Up

Here’s my 2024 Reading Wrap Up. This year I managed to read 117 books and exceeded my goal of 60 books. This is my first year to ever read over a hundred books. 

The House of Hidden Meanings” by RuPaul was the overall winner and the non-fiction winner with “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey coming in second. On the fiction side I had “The Guncle Abroad” by Steven Rowley as the winner with “A Nearly Normal Family” by M.T. Edvardsson coming in second.





2024 Books Read:

Non-Fiction - Memoirs:
Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey
How Ya'll Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived - Leslie Jordan * 
From Here to the Great Unknown - Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough
Karma - Boy George
Sociopath - Patric Gagne
The House of Hidden Meanings - RuPaul
The Woman In Me - Britney Spears
Where Was God? - Jennifer Dawn Turpin

Non-Fiction - Audiobooks: 
GuRu - RuPaul *

Non-Fiction - Personal Growth:
Emotional Intelligence: Managing Your Anxiety - Harvard Business Review
Microjoys: Finding Hope (Especially) When Life Is Not Okay - Cyndie Spiegel

Non-Fiction - True Crime: 
If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer - O.J. Simpson
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit - John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker
Newtown: An American Tragedy- Matthew Lysiak
Tangled Vines: Power, Privilege, and the Murdaugh Family Murders - John Glatt

Non-Fiction - History: 
A Brilliant Life: My Mother's Inspiring True Story of Surviving the Holocaust - Rachelle Unreich
Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters - Andrew Morton
Great LGBTQ+ Speeches - Tea Uglow
The Art of Drag - Jake Hall
The Blood of Emmett Till - Timothy B. Tyson
The Red Bandanna: A Life. A Choice. A Legacy. - Tom Rinaldi
The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler - William L. Shirer

Non-Fiction: 
Ain't Burned All the Bright - Jason Reynolds
All in Good Taste - Kate Spade
Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones - Dolly Parton
Beyond the Gender Binary - Alok Vaid-Menon
Eat Drink Nap: Bringing the House Home - Soho House
Gray Malin: Coastal - Gray Malin
Lucille Bell Treasures - Cindy De La Hoz
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Name Drop - Ross Mathews
Taylor Swift is Life - Kathleen Perricone
The Life of Christine Jorgensen - Jennifer Hopkins
The Official Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book - Taylor Swift
The Queens' English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary - Chloe O. Davis
The Queens' English: The Young Readers' LGBTQIA+ Dictionary - Chloe O. Davis
The World According to Mister Rogers - Fred Rogers

Fiction: 
A Nearly Normal Family - M.T. Edvardsson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
August: Osage County - Tracy Letts
Barbie: The Screenplay - Greta Gerwig
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
for colored girls who have considered suicide - Ntozake Shange
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Kline
Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley
Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn

Fiction - Series: 
Kill Joy (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #0.5) - Holly Jackson
Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle & Dante, #1) - Benjamin Alire Saenz
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, #1) - John Boyne *
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1) - Roald Dahl
Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them (Fantastic Beasts, #1) - J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald (Fantastic Beasts, #2) - J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore (Fantastic Beasts, #3) - J.K. Rowling
The Guncle Abroad (The Guncle, #2) - Steven Rowley
Heartstopper: Volume 5 - Alice Oseman
The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1) - Freida McFadden
It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1) - Colleen Hoover
It Starts with Us (It Ends with Us, #2) - Colleen Hoover
Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #3) - Ransom Riggs
The Last Mrs. Parrish (Mrs. Parrish, #1) - Liv Constantine
Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 3 - L. Frank Baum
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Oz, #7) - L. Frank Baum
Tik-Tok of Oz (Oz, #8) - L. Frank Baum
The Scarecrow of Oz (Oz, #9) - L. Frank Baum
Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) - Angie Thomas
The One and Only Family (The One and Only Ivan, #4) - Katherine Applegate
Fairest of All (Villains, #1) - Serena Valentino
The Beast Within (Villains, #2) - Serena Valentino
Poor Unfortunate Soul (Villains, #3) - Serena Valentino

Poetry: 
the princess saves herself in this one - Amanda Lovelace

Short Stories - Fiction:
Cut & Thirst - Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter Spells - Prince Vincent
Lovers at the Museum - Isabel Allende
Mermaid - Jodi Picoult
Natural Selection - Elon Hilderbrand
The Absent-Minded Gentleman - Frank Heller
The Answer is No - Fredrik Backman
The Deal of a Lifetime - Fredrik Backman
The Raven - Edgar Allen Poe
When We Were Friends - Jane Green

Short Stories - Non Fiction:
Enemy of the People: The Untold Story of the Journalists Who Opposed Hitler - Terrence Petty
The Texas Tower Sniper: The Terrifying True Story of Charles Whitman - Ryan Green
Two Women Walk Into a Bar - Cheryl Strayed
We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngoni Adichie

Short Stories - Series: 
Amelia's Shadow (Blaze Collection, #1) - Marie Benedict
The June Paintings (Blaze Collection, #2) - Maggie Shipstead
The Forgotten Chapter (Blaze Collection, #3) - Pam Jenoff
Fires to Come (Blaze Collection, #4) - Asha Lemmie
Tune in Tomorrow (Blaze Collection, #5) - Melanie Benjamin
Fallen Grace (Blaze Collection, #6) - Sadeqa Johnson
Barriers to Entry (Blaze Collection, #7) - Ariel Lawhon 
The Summer We Believed (Denim Days, #1) - Shel Delisle
The Best Girls (Disorder Collection, #1) - Min Jin Lee
Loam (Disorder Collection, #2) - Scott Heim
Ungirls (Disorder Collection, #3) - Lauren Beaks
Anonymous (Disorder Collection, #4) - Uzodinma Iweala 
The Beckoning Fair One (Disorder Collection, #5) - Dan Chaon
Will Williams (Disorder Collection, #6) - Namwali Serpell
Candace (The Fairer Sex Collection, #1) - Michelle Miller
Meredith (The Fairer Sex Collection, #2) - Michelle Miller
Alicia (The Fairer Sex Collection, #3) - Michelle Miller
Heidi (The Fairer Sex Collection, #4) - Michelle Miller
Clara (The Fairer Sex Collection, #5) - Michelle Miller
Lauren (The Fairer Sex Collection, #6) - Michelle Miller
Eleanor (The Fairer Sex Collection, #7) - Michelle Miller
Keridee (The Fairer Sex Collection, #8) - Michelle Miller
The Vanishing Man (The Spy Who Vanished, #1) - Alma Katsu
On Enemy Ground (The Spy Who Vanished, #2) - Alma Katsu
Shaken, Not Stirred (The Spy Who Vanished, #3) - Alma Katsu

Children's Books:
Disney: Winnie the Pooh (Tiny Book) - Brooke Vitale
The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be - Joanna Gaines *

* Books that have been read 2 times
† Books that have been read 3 times

Goodreads Review - "From Here to the Great Unknown"

From Here to the Great UnknownFrom Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was so good and beautifully written. This was definitely a 5-star read for me. I’ve included my three favorite parts of the book. The first two are Lisa-Marie’s words and the last is Riley’s from a letter to her mom that was read at her funeral.

——————————————————————————————

AT SOME POINT I HAD A BRIGHT IDEA. THE FANS OUTSIDE ALWAYS WANTED ME TO TAKE THEIR CAMERA AND TAKE A PICTURE OF MY DAD. "GIVE ME TWENTY BUCKS, AND I'LL TAKE A PICTURE OF HIM," I'D SAY TO THE UBER FANS BY THE FENCE.
SURE ENOUGH, THEY WOULD GIVE ME TWENTY DOLLARS, THEN I WOULD GO INTO THE HOUSE AND TAKE A PICTURE OF THE FLOOR. I'D GIVE THE CAMERA BACK AND SAY, "HERE'S A PICTURE OF THE DOOR AND THE FLOOR." I STARTED DOING THAT REGULARLY.

- Lisa-Marie Presley

——————————————————————————————

I DON'T THINK MY SPARK WILL EVER COME BACK, TO BE PERFECTLY HONEST.
GRIEF SETTLES. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU OVERCOME. IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU LIVE WITH. YOU ADAPT TO IT. NOTHING ABOUT YOU IS WHO YOU WERE. NOTHING ABOUT HOW OR WHAT I USED TO THINK IS IMPORTANT. THE TRUTH IS THAT I DON'T REMEMBER WHO I WAS.

- Lisa-Marie Presley
——————————————————————————————

THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME STRENGTH, MY HEART, MY EMPATHY, MY COURAGE, MY SENSE OF HUMOR, MY MANNERS, MY TEMPER, MY WILDNESS, MY TENACITY. I AM A PRODUCT OF YOUR HEART. MY SISTERS ARE A PRODUCT OF YOUR HEART. MY BROTHER IS A PRODUCT OF YOUR HEART. WE ARE YOU, YOU ARE US, MY ETERNAL LOVE. I HOPE YOU FINALLY KNOW HOW LOVED YOU WERE HERE. THANK YOU FOR TRYING SO HARD FOR US. IF I DIDN'T TELL YOU EVERY DAY, THANK YOU.

- Riley Keough (from a letter to her mom that was read at her funeral)

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Date Read: 26 Oct - 5 Nov 2024

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Goodreads Review - "Oz, Complete Collection, Volume 3"

Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 3: The Patchwork Girl of Oz / Tik-Tok of Oz / The Scarecrow of Oz (Oz, #7-9)Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 3: The Patchwork Girl of Oz / Tik-Tok of Oz / The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Patchwork Girl of Oz (3 stars)
Another new adventure in the land of Oz. It was good but not too exciting. More characters were introduced. How the patchwork girl was created was very creative. On to the next adventure.

Tik-Tok of Oz (3 stars)
Each adventure is exciting to read with new and creative characters and places in the Land of Oz but this one was a bit boring for me. I'm still not sure why this was labeled after "Tik-Tok" because we barely got to see Tik-Tok and when we did, he didn't really do much but that's just my opinion. This review won't stop me from finishing the series because there are a lot of creative stories, characters, and places that I'm excited to see more of.


The Scarecrow of Oz (3 stars)
I love the fact that two new characters appeared from another one of L. Frank Baum's book outside of the Oz collection. The book is titled after the Scarecrow but he doesn't appear until the last half of the book. This books was okay but not one of my favorites. It's important to note that one of the chapter's title has the "m" word when referring to little people so it may be triggering for some.

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Date Read: 19 Apr - 15 Dec 2024

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

my bookshelf....



Goodreads Review - "The Texas Tower Sniper"

The Texas Tower Sniper: The Terrifying True Story of Charles WhitmanThe Texas Tower Sniper: The Terrifying True Story of Charles Whitman by Ryan Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

History that’s worth learning about…

I read this book in order to understand more about the shooting and the shooter.

I’m a bit disappointed in how the author filled in the story with information that would be impossible to know. He wrote a lot about what the shooter and the victims (those that died) were thinking during the shooting. How could he possibly know what Charlie’s mother was thinking when he got to the house to kill her. I understand that Charlie wrote a lot about what happened to him but he didn’t write about any of it during the shooting and neither did the victims that died.

It’s a book worth reading to get information on what happened so I would still recommend the book.

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Date Read: 12 - 23 Sep 2024

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Goodreads Reviews - "A Mother's Reckoning"

A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of TragedyA Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I actually read this book back in 2017 and forgot to add my review to Goodreads. This book was amazing and insightful, to say the least. I encourage anyone who ever faulted the parents of the Columbine shooting, to pick up this book with an open mind and read it. To anyone who has lost a child to suicide, read this book.


I'll never forget that summer after the shooting in 1999 when our youth group stood outside of the school to pray.


"The best way to eliminate the belief that people with mental illness issues are violent is to help them so that they're not violent" --Dr. Kent Kiehl

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Date Read: 26 Feb - 26 Aug 2017

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Goodreads Reviews - "Lucille Ball Treasures"

Lucille Ball TreasuresLucille Ball Treasures by Cindy De La Hoz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I grew up watching I Love Lucy and still love the show and Lucy to this day. This book was so lovely. The pictures in the book were so beautiful and the size of the book is perfect for using as a decoration piece on a coffee table.

The only minor issue I had with the book (which did not affect the overall rating) was on pg. 77 when it mentions Desi's military service. It inaccurately states that "...in May 1943, when Desi was drafted. He joined the Air Force and entered..." The Air Force was not created until September 1947 and Desi was released from the military in November 1945 (pg. 81 was correct when it said "Army") so it's not possible for him to have served in the Air Force. It's also somewhat obvious in the picture (pg. 77) that his uniform is an Army uniform by the rank he was wearing, if you're familiar with the military.

My favorite picture in the entire book is on pg. 97. It's just so beautiful! If you grab the physical copy, you get a collection of reprinted memorabilia in the back of the book to keep that includes photographs, movie and modeling advertisements, film stills, and more.

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Date Read: 13 - 18 Feb 2024

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Goodreads Review - "It Ends with Us" (It Ends with Us, #1)

It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wasn’t sure if I would like this book because I have been disappointed before when so many people hype up a book but not this time. Some parts were very hard to read but it had to be in there because people need to hear the raw and dark reality of domestic violence and what it can entail.

I always wonder where the naming of the book comes from while reading and when I finally read it, I loved the title even more.

“Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles, rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet. It Ends With Us.”

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Date Read: 5 - 13 Jan 2024

Friday, January 5, 2024

Goodreads Review - "The Guncle" (The Guncle, #1)

The GuncleThe Guncle by Steven Rowley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love seeing more and more books with LGBTQ+ storylines because representation matters and I wish I would have seen more of these when I was a child.

When I read books I like to put a face to the person that I'm reading about. If it's already on the screen, then I look up the actors/actresses on iMDB. If it's not on screen yet, I just figure out which person would play the part if it did become one.

I just could not help myself while I was reading this novel. I was able to figure out who Patrick (the guncle) was from the very beginning because Steven Rowley did such a good job with it. I figured out exactly who would be perfect for this role and that's Dan Levy. I kept thinking that Patrick's character was somewhat close to David's character on Schitt's Creek. By doing this, I fell in love with the book even more.

If they make this a movie, I really hope it's Dan Levy as Patrick!! I can't wait for the next book in this series, The Guncle Abroad.

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Date Read: 13 - 17 Jul 2024

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Goodreads Review - "The Winners" (Beartown, #3)

The Winners (Beartown, #3)The Winners by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great ending to an amazing series!!! I would still rank Us Against You as my favorite of the series. This is my favorite quote from the book.

“All children are victims of their parents' childhoods, because all adults try to give their kids what they themselves enjoyed or lacked. In the end everything is either a revolt against the adults we encountered or an attempt to copy them. That's why someone who hated their own childhood often has greater empathy than someone who loved theirs. Because someone who had a hard time dreamed of other realities, but someone who had it easy can hardly imagine that things could be any different. We take happiness so easily for granted if we've had it from the start.” - Pg. 461 (paperback)

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Date Read: 12 Sep - 1 Nov 2023