A to Z Reading Challenge - Completed

I finished the A to Z Reading Challenge a few weeks ago. I did a mixture of Fiction and Non-Fiction. 

A to Z Reading Challenge 

A -- Ain't Burned All The Bright - Jason Reynolds ‡

B -- The Bell Jar (50th Anniversary) - Sylvia Plath ‡

C -- Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

D -- The Devil At His Elbow - Valerie Bauerlein

E -- Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters - Andrew Morton

F -- From Here to the Great Unknown - Lisa Marie Presley & Riley Keough

G -- The Guncle Abroad (The Guncle, #2) - Steven Rowley

H -- The House of Hidden Meanings - RuPaul

I -- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou ‡

J -- Journey Into Darkness (Mindhunter, #2) - John Douglas & Mark Olshaker,

K -- Karma - Boy George

L -- The Lightmaker's Manifesto: How to Work For Change Without Losing Your Joy - Karen Walrond

M -- Microjoys: Finding Hope (Especially) When Life is Not Okay - Cyndie Spiegel

N -- Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice - Virginia Roberts Giuffre

O -- The Opposite of Loneliness - Marina Keegan

P -- Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter

Q -- The Queen's English: The Young Reader's LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases - Chloe O. Davis

R -- Radiant Rebellion: Reclaim Aging, Practice Joy, and Rase a Little Hell - Karen Walrond

S -- Sociopath: A Memoir - Patric Gagne, PhD

T -- The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1) - Richard Osman

U -- Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune

V -- The Virgin Suicides (25th Anniversary Edition) - Jeffrey Eugenides ‡

W -- What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing - Oprah Winfrey & Bruce D. Perry, MD. PhD

X -- Anxious People - Fredrik Backman

Y -- You (You, #1) - Caroline Kepnes ‡

Z -- Zero Days - Ruth Ware

One Word Title -- Acres - Kendra Barnes

Color on the Cover -- The Color Purple - Alice Walker ‡

Number in the Title -- 11/22/63 - Stephen King

Animal on the Cover -- Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley

Template can be found on Pinterest via @the.readindraven

* Books that have been read 2 times

† Books that have been read 3 times

‡ Books that are Banned

Goodreads Review - "Apollo 8"

 

Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Informative. Engaging. Inspiring.

“Round the moon and back…”

Apollo 8
Mission Type: Lunar Landing Preparation
Crew: Frank Borman, James Lovell Jr., William Anders
Launch: Dec. 21, 1968
Splashdown: Dec. 27, 1968

This is a very insightful book about how we made it to the Moon by the end of the 1960s. It provides valuable background on the early space program, including the experiences of the Mercury missions in low Earth orbit and the Gemini program, which astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell were part of before the Apollo 8 mission. Each program pushed humanity farther from Earth, building toward that historic achievement.

This mission is also known for the iconic “Earthrise” photograph taken by William Anders.

We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the space program, and it’s exciting to think about what lies ahead.

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Here’s a bonus content for my review. It’s not much but as a veteran, I really loved this part.

During the first rendezvous flight where Gemini 7 and 6 (yes, it’s in that order because of when they lifted off) were orbiting around each other, there was a playful moment between the two crews. It’s an “inside joke” with the military involving the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy that dates back to 1972. The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is awarded to each season’s winner of the US collegiate football series but it can only be awarded to one of the three military academies; Army, Navy, and Air Force. After Gemini 6 completed another pirouette around Gemini 7, the right-hand window of Gemini 6 was covered with a sign. Wally Schirra had smuggled aboard a piece of blue cardboard bearing bright white letters that read, BEAT ARMY. When one of the academies play another academy there’s a saying that is used that ’s become so popular. If you’re a fan of the Air Force, you would say “GO AIR FORCE, BEAT NAVY” or ARMY. Borman was Army. Lovell, Schirra, & Thomas Stafford were all Navy so he was outnumbered on this one.

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Quotes to remember from the book:

“But death was always a part of the piloting calculus, and this time would be no different.”

“Our rockets can fly from place to place, but only the mind of man can cross the new frontiers of space.” - Lyndon B. Johnson

“There was the ongoing problem of how a man preserves his last scrap of privacy—to say nothing of dignity—in a spacecraft with no proper toilet facilities. Urinating in space was not a problem, and the doctors, it turned out, had decided that they would need only occasional samples. This meant the men could usually relieve themselves into a tube and then vent it through a small port on the exterior of the spacecraft, where it would instantly burst into a shower of glittery crystals, a phenomenon Wally Schirra had dubbed the constellation Urion."

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Apollo 8 Astronaut and commander Frank Borman leads the way as he and James Lovell, Command Module (CM) pilot; and William Anders, Lunar Module (LM) Pilot head out to the launch pad for the historical first manned Apollo mission to travel to the lunar vicinity, and first manned mission launched via the Saturn V vehicle. Photo Credit: NASA

"Earthrise" photograph by William Anders

Apollo 8 Mission Patch

Rainbow Reading Challenge - Completed

I finished the Rainbow Reading Challenge a few months ago. I did a mixture of Fiction and Non-Fiction. 

Rainbow Reading Challenge 

Red -- Radiant Rebellion - Karen Walrond 

Orange -- The Diary of a Young Girl (75th Anniversary - The Definitive Edition) - Anne Franke * ‡

Yellow -- Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid

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

Dark Blue -- Somebody's Daughter - Ashley C. Ford

Light Blue -- Summer Sisters - Judy Blume

Purple -- Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games #0.5) - Suzanne Collins 

Pink -- Let's Call Her Barbie - Renee Olson

White -- The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas ‡

Black -- Newtown: An American Tragedy - Matthew Lysiak 

Brown -- Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey

Grey -- Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty

Template can be found on Pinterest via @emilyreads15

* Books that have been read 2 times

† Books that have been read 3 times

‡ Books that are Banned

Goodreads Review - "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism & Disaster on the Edge of Space"

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Haunting. Revealing. Powerful.

The history behind NASA and space exploration is one of my favorite subjects to read about or watch a documentary of. I’ve seen the “Challenger: The Final Flight” documentary on Netflix at least four times. This book was released after that documentary and includes most of the info from it; however, it also provides even more details. Adam Higginbotham has delivered us with an extensively researched and well written story of what really happened.

This disaster should have never happened. It wasn’t an accident and I refuse to ever call it that. This was prideful negligence on the part of NASA leaders who strong-armed others to agree with them to continue the launch despite the recommendations not to. You would think that NASA would have learned their lesson after the Apollo 1 fatal fire. They didn’t. They allowed their hubris to take front and center stage.

We owe a lot to Al McDonald and his bravery for standing up & speaking the truth at the Rogers Commission of what really happened the night before in a meeting between NASA and Thiokol. It’s even more disturbing that NASA officials didn’t inform the astronauts of the risk of launching that morning. General Donald Kutyna said to Larry Mallory during the hearings, “Larry, if this were an airplane, an airliner, and I just had a two-hour argument with Boeing on whether the wing was going to fall off or not, I think I would tell the pilot.”

Dr. Judy Resnik’s last words were hauntingly beautiful. Before she entered the front cabin, she looked at Christa McAuliffe and said, “The next time I see you, we’ll be in space.”

The last part of President Reagan’s address to the nation (which includes a couple lines from the poem “High Flight”): “The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.”

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Goodreads Review - "Poems & Prayers"

Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book of poems & prayers and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves poetry. I saved a few poems and quotes and this one was my favorite:

"The American dream is a promise for the opportunity to at least fail, and possibly succeed. Seems like the path to this dream is more undefined now than it's ever been. To those among us who don't believe in it and say, "It's not real," I say to you: "At least America's still trying." That's simply not true in so many other countries. So, whether you think it's a dream or an illusion, if nothing else, it's the best nightmare available.

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Goodreads Review - "In Defense of Dabbling"

In Defense of Dabbling: The Brilliance of Being a Total Amateur by Karen Walrond
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve said it before and I say it again, there are less than 5 authors that I will preorder a book from and Karen is one of them. I haven’t been dissappointed yet. This book was the one that I was most excited for because in the last couple of years, I’ve been pretty bored and wanting to try new hobbies. I love how she writes her books which includes not just her talking about her experience or knowledge on any subject matter, she includes conversations she has with other people on the same subject. She talks about the 7 attributes of intentional amateurism and dives even further with each one: curiosity, mindfulness, self-compassion, play, stretch zone, connection, and wonder & awe. I love that she talks about dabbling in past hobbies as well as discovering new ones. I’ve been cross stitching for almost 3 decades now and I don’t plan to stop but I’m eager to branch out into other crafts involving needle & thread.

“Given that leisure is our birthright and that the practice of leisure activities in a ritualistic way can be a spiritual practice, intentional amateurism has the potential to be a powerful form of self-care.  And the beauty of this is that any activity we choose as a potential avocation—whether it involves returning to a past passion or dabbling in something new—could be a perfect candidate for this restful, restorative practice. Dusting off those roller skates, or grabbing the violin from the attic, or reaching for those oil paints after a long hiatus, especially when your moves don’t come as easily as they used to: These things are hard.”

I used a lot of sticky tabs for this book but here’s a couple of quotes from the book I loved:

“As for me, I’ll never have the virtuosity of say, Billy Joel.  But I’ve learned that it takes grit to return to something I used to do well.  It requires showing myself compassion by releasing the idea of perfection I’d held in my youth and embracing the evolution of my current capabilities.”

“When we talk about ‘perfectionism’ or constantly attempting to be right, we’re concerned about what other people think of our performance….. Your goal isn’t about the end result so much as it is an inquiry into your activity and your reaction to it.  It’s about disconnecting yourself from the quality of your results as defined by other people.  And to an extent, it’s also about disconnecting yourself from your own expectations of yourself.” – Jeff Harry

I’ve decided to compile a list of new, current, and old hobbies that I want to dabble in a little more.

New Hobbies: Book Binding | Thread Painting | Macre-Weaving (Macrame Weaving) | Diorama/Book Nook building | Ukulele | Kalimba | Oboe | Mandala Rock Paintings | Gypsum Art
Current Hobbies: Cross stitching | Reading | Embroidery | LEGO | Macrame | Running/Walking | Music | Diamond Painting | Epoxy/Resin Art | Beading | Candle Making
Old Hobbies: Bowling | Archery | Flute | Piccolo | Alto Saxophone | Yoga | Tennis | Pickleball | Roller Skating | Kite Flying | Poetry/Writing | Sewing | Traveling | Baking

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Goodreads Review - "The Devil at His Elbow"

The 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."

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Goodreads Review - "From Here to the Great Unknown"

From 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.

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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

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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
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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

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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Date Read: 12 - 23 Sep 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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Date Read: 26 Feb - 26 Aug 2017

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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Date Read: 13 - 18 Feb 2024

Goodreads Review - "The Perfect Father"

The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder by John Glatt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Best author for true crime stories!!

This book was written really well and I would definitely recommend this author for other true crime stories. Such a sad story but I believe (in my opinion) it was written from an unbiased view and told both sides of the story.

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Date Read: 16 - 18 Apr 2023

Goodreads Review - "Walking In My Joy"

Walking in My Joy: Stories from on My Way to Happy by Jenifer Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book and it was a quick read for me. She writes exactly how to she talks.

Here’s a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Laughter is a great life preserver when you feel like the world is drowning.”

and

“I saw the living proof that our secrets connect us. Our secrets heal us.”

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Date Read: 12 - 14 Feb 2023

Goodreads Review - "What Happened to You?"

What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My two word description of this book:

transformative and profound.

“What happened to you can be your power.” - Oprah

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Date Read: 10 Jun 2021 - 27 Nov 2022

Goodread Reviews - "What's The T?: The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Non Binary"

What's the T? The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Nonbinary by Juno Dawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"You are perfectly you."

This is another Juno Dawson book that I really loved and found useful & valuable. I wished it would have come out in my teen years (1990s). I marked this book up with so many sticky tabs that I found relatable or helpful.

This book is great for "in the closet", "out of the closet", straight allies, parents of LGTBQ+ kids/adults, teachers, mental health workers, etc. It's good for everyone to read, just to get more information on what we go through or experience. This book may be advantageous to parents or carers of transgender or gender non-conforming kids.

I found a few quotes from the book that I loved but this one stuck out the most:

"Anyone challenging the gender they were assigned at birth is astonishingly brave, but it takes real courage to live as a non binary person in our very binary world."


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Date Read: 8 - 14 Nov 2022

Goodreads Review - "This Book Is Gay"

This Book Is Gay by James Dawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this book and found it useful and valuable. Most of the stuff I already knew but I wish I would have read this book when it first came out or wished it would have come out in my teen years (1990s). I marked this book up with so many sticky tabs that I found relatable or helpful.

This book is great for "in the closet", "out of the closet", straight allies, parents of LGTBQ+ kids/adults, teachers, mental health workers, etc. It's good for everyone to read, just to get more information on what we go through or experience.

While reading this book, I found it to be like one big group therapy where a lot of things in it were validating or helpful information for future decisions to make, ie. dating, marriage, kids, resources, etc.

There's also a section at the end called, "Build a Bridge: Guidance for Parents and Carers of LGBTQ+ Youth" that may be advantageous to those parents or carers.

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Date Read: 26 May - 11 Jun 2022

Goodreads Review - "WOLFPACK: How To Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game"

WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by Abby Wambach
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! If you want to read a book about women empowerment in leadership, this is the one.

My favorite quote from the book is this one:

"There is a wolf inside of every woman. Her wolf is who she was made to be before the world told her who to be. Her wolf is her talent, her power, her dreams, her voice, her curiosity, her courage, her dignity, her choices--her truest identity."

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Date Read: 14 - 16 Feb 2022

Goodreads Review - "Somebody's Daughter"

 

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Never in my life have I ever been so connected to another human being after reading Ashley's memoir. It took me a while to read it since I had to take a lot of breaks to process what I read and bookmark the parts that were relatable. I had marked the book with so many sticky tabs but there were two quotes that I marked that weighed the heaviest on me:

"When you don’t grow up with a certain kind of affection, even if you know you’re worthy of it, it can be hard to accept in adulthood."

and...

"I felt like someone’s little girl. And I’d been waiting a long time to feel like somebody’s daughter."

Loved the book and appreciated her vulnerability in sharing her true story.

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Date Read: 2 - 13 Nov 2021