Tiffany Clarissa

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

my bookshelf....

Goodreads Review - "The Texas Tower Sniper"

The 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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Saturday, July 27, 2024

Goodreads Reviews - "A Mother's Reckoning"

A 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.
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I'll never forget that summer after the shooting in 1999 when our youth group stood outside of the school to pray.
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"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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Thursday, February 29, 2024

Goodreads Reviews - "Lucille Ball Treasures"

Lucille 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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Saturday, January 13, 2024

Goodreads Review - "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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Friday, January 5, 2024

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

The 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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Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Goodreads Review - "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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Monday, January 1, 2024

2023 Reading Wrap Up - Ratings

★★★★★

Acres - Kendra Barnes

And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

As Good as Dead (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #3) - Holly Jackson

A Place for Us: A Memoir - Brandon J. Wolf

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1) - Holly Jackson

Carrie Soto Is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion & Death in the Suburbs - John Bloom & Jim Atkinson

Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2) - Holly Jackson

Hearstopper: Volume 2 - Alice Oseman

Hearstopper: Volume 3 - Alice Oseman

Home Body - Rupi Kaur

How Ya'll Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived - Leslie Jordan

I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

I Snoop On My Anxiety - Melissa Winn

Milk & Honey - Rupi Kaur

Odder - Katherine Applegate

Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

Reminders of Him - Colleen Hoover

Spare - Prince Harry

The Diary of a Young Girl, 75th Anniversary Edition - Anne Frank *

The Guncle - Steven Rowley

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country - Amanda Gorman

The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Kline

The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave

The Lightmaker's Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy - Karen Walrond

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories - Marina Keegan

The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder

The Sun and Her Flowers - Rupi Kaur *

The Winners (Beartown, #3) - Fredrik Backman

Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 - Lynn Spencer

Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Kline

Walking in My Joy: In These Streets - Jenifer Lewis

What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love - Carole Radziwill †

★★★★☆

A Night at the Tropicana - Chanel Cleeton

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0) - Suzanne Collins

Call Us What We Carry - Amanda Gorman

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics - Dolly Parton

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (Oz, #4) - L. Frank Baum

Hearstopper: Volume 1 - Alice Oseman

Hearstopper: Volume 4 - Alice Oseman

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (Pottermore Presents, #3) - J.K. Rowling

I Am Not Your Negro - James Baldwin

I've Loved You Since Forever - Hoda Kotb

Identity Thief (This Can't Be Happening Collection, #2) - Rachel Rosenthal

Oz, the Complete Collection, Volume 2 - L. Frank Baum

Please Love Me at My Worst - Michaela Angemeer

salt. - Nayyirah Waheed

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (Pottermore Presents, #1) - J.K. Rowling

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists (Pottermore Presents, #2) - J.K. Rowling

Straw into Gold: A Rumpelstiltskin Faerie Tale Retelling - Carol Beth Anderson

The Emerald City of Oz (Oz, #6) - L. Frank Baum

The Road to Oz (Oz, #5) - L. Frank Baum

The Sour Grape (The Food Group, #6) - Jory John & Pete Oswald

The Third Man (This Can't Be Happening Collection, #3) - Mani Sheriar

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides *

Trayvon: Ten Years Later - Sybrina Fulton

Uncaged Wallflower - Jennae Cecelia

★★★☆☆

Black Sheep (This Can't Be Happening Collection, #4) - Rory School

Butcher, Baker: The True Account of an Alaska Serial Killer - Walter Gilmour

Everything My Mother Taught Me (Inheritance, #1) - Alice Hoffman

fluid. - Renaada Williams

For You and Only You (You, #4) - Caroline Keynes

healing for no one but me - Jennae Cecelia

If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, & the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood - Gregg Olsen

Leap to Love (International Sports Romance, #0.5) - Johana Gavez

Resting Scrooge Face - Meghan Quinn

Stupid History: A Collection of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Through the Ages - Leland Gregory & John Mitchinson

Sutherland Springs: God, Guns, and Hope in a Texas Town - Joe Holley

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

The Book of General Ignorance - John Lloyd

The Bookstore Sisters - Alice Hoffman

The Flower That Went Mad: Bipolar Poetry - Yogesh Chandra

The One and Only Ruby (The One and Only Ivan, #3) - Katherine Applegate

The Rise: A Short Story - Ian Rankin

The Scenic Route - Christina Baker Kline

The Smart Cookie (The Food Group, #5) - Jory John & Pete Oswald

Two Henrys (This Can't Be Happening Collection, #1) - Kevin Allison

you are safe here. - AVA.

You'll Come Back to Yourself - Michaela Angemeer

★★☆☆☆

2am Thoughts - Makenzie Campbell

A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein

If the Fates Allow - Rainbow Rowell

Innocent (Pen Pals and Serial Killers, #5) - Jo Michaels

The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams

★☆☆☆☆

Falling Up - Shel Silverstein

Frozen - Ann Sleeves

Model Home - J. Courtney Sullivan

* Books that have been read 2 times

† Books that have been read 3 times

Sunday, December 31, 2023

2023 Reading Wrap Up

Here's my 2023 Reading Wrap Up. This year I managed to read 90 books and exceeded my goal of 50 books. I surprised myself when I realized that I read more non-fiction books this year than fiction. I did make a goal to read more non-fiction, but didn't expect that I would have read more of them than fiction.

I also decided this year to participate in the book bracket challenge but I thought it would be interesting to split it up between non-fiction and fiction as well as the overall.

"The Lightmaker's Manifesto" by Karen Walrond was the overall winner and the non-fiction winner with "The Diary of Anne Frank - 75th Anniversary Edition" coming in second. On the fiction side I had "The Good Girl's Guide to Murder" by Holly Jackson as the winner with "The House in the Cerulean Sea" by T.J. Kline coming in second.

2023 Books Read:

Non-Fiction - Memoirs: