After a year and a half hiatus from my reading journey. I am back at my original challenge of trying to read all the books I own. I put all 119 unread book titles into an antique teapot and I draw each book. It‘s been working except I keep buying more. 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
pickHere is another audiobook from the haze that was February. It‘s a gritty tale of two brothers who have been surviving on their own since their teens. Everything gets turned upside down early one morning when one of them has an accident. The book walks a fine line by making the reader empathize with everything the main characters have been through while not hiding how absolutely stupid and horrible some of their decisions are.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mount Everest is a concept indicative of achievement, yearning, and enormous audacity. And such is life, and disaster. Dixon and brother Nate set out to become the first Black American males to summit. Through alternating timelines, Outen lays out the Everest story and what follows. Dixon‘s literal, and figurative, descent was much more than expected. A very thoughtful debut!
so-soI have Torres‘ Blackouts on my TBR shelf, but first I wanted to start with one of his earlier novels. Three brothers are raised in near poverty by the parents and have a close, but brutal relationship to each other borne out of love and violence. The chapters are short set pieces and some work better than others, but the book races to a climax that in some ways felt forced and unnecessary. Torres lacked finesse and subtlety in this volume.
Totally not crying while reading this middle grade novel in verse for work.
This book might be better for parents/the home than in the classroom, but would still be a cute book for the classroom library!
“It was nice to have someone there in the dark when the scaries were around.“
pickElmore Green gets a new sibling after being an only child. A book about sibling jealousy, adjusting to a new sibling, and realizing they can be your best friend!
pick4⭐
An interesting look at the rise of Van Halen through the eyes of Alex Van Halen (the drummer). This wasn‘t too much of a deep dive, more like a skimming of the surface. Mostly though, this was a homage to his brother and his talent, I felt the immense love he has for his brother, Eddie.
His narration would've been better if he told his story rather than “reading“ it, and yet, I'm still glad he narrated it, himself.
