1. In Cold Blood, by Capote and listening to Imaginary Friend, by Chbosky

2. Hillbilly Elegy (a reread to see if I want to teach it next year)

3. The Passengers by John Marrs

❤️ Colorado Springs, Colorado
🧡 45
💛 High School Teacher, English
💚 Married
💙 She/Her
💜 Totally boring--it's my first name and last initial. I'm not very creative!

This book was okay. It was a little too sappy for me--especially at the end. Everything was tied up with nice, neat bows. The characters were pretty flat, too. ⭐⭐⭐/5

I am not the right audience for this book, as I don't care for thrillers. I like character driven novels better. That being said, this book was pretty good for not having a lot of character development. I like thrillers for listening to when I work out, and this was perfect for that. ⭐⭐⭐.75/5

Mental illness--such an important topic, and this book captures what it is like to be tormented by inner demons that require hospitalization, therapy and medication to be vanquished. Shusterman compares mental illness to a tempestuous ocean with beasts that require confrontation. It took me three times of starting this book to figure out where he was going, but once I got it, it was worth the ride. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

An excellent story and beautifully told! ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I listened to this on Audible after hearing about it on the podcast Currently Reading, and it was soooo good! It has a full cast and takes place in the future, in Britain, where driverless cars are made mandatory. A hacker hijacks 8 cars and says that in 2 and a half hours each will be dead. The hacker then live streams each passenger's journey, and forces a jury to pick one passenger to save. This was a great one to listen to while working out!

Pretty excited for these! #botm

Not as tight as Handmaid's Tale, but still a damn good story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Reading time📖

Full disclosure: I am not the right audience for this kind of book, so I have an #unpopularopinion. The best thing about this book was the setting, which was almost like a character, itself. I felt the book was too plot driven and not character driven enough for my taste. The writing didn't stand out for me--very much a typical thriller read, and I am not a fan. I thought I'd give it a try, but it was more #mehthanyeah ⭐⭐⭐/5

A group of misfit kids function as a family and "adopt" Vic, who is dealing with the death of his father and the impending marriage of his mother. Vic and the "Kids of Appetite" run around town to fulfill Vic's dad's last wishes for the spreading of his ashes, and they end up getting involved in situation that lands them getting questioned by the police. An endearing read. I will definitely check out Arnold's other books! ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Against popular opinion...I'm bailing at about 180 pages. I just am not connecting with the main character...don't know if I'll come back to it. I have too many waiting for me on my TBR, including The Testaments.

Thank you @OriginalCyn620 for the wonderful package! It's been sitting on my counter for days and I saved it for when I got home from work! I love the books you chose, and I've almost bought the socks several times. The earrings are the perfect size and the mug will hole plenty of coffee! And you remembered my favorite candy and Starbucks and bookmarks--oh my! I love it all! Thank you!

This book had a great premise but it fell flat for me by the end. I was captivated by it in the beginning, but as I continued to read I just lost interest and I had a really hard time picturing the ending, which was frustrating. I don't know that I will read the rest of the series. ⭐⭐⭐/5

I really enjoyed this book and loved the tenacity of the main character. Some people were bothered by the fact that there were no quotation marks, but I got quickly past that. Trigger Warning: domestic violence. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 #botm

My picks for September plus If Only I Could Tell You...and it's my birthday month, so one is free! 👍😁 #botm

Barnes and Noble Book Haul!

Absolutely loved this one! ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Book haul/mail! I've been wanting to read Annihilation, and I found it in the bargain section at Barnes and Noble--I like the original cover better but couldn't pass up the price. Neither Wolf Nor Dog was from Thriftbooks--and recommended by a dear friend. I'm thinking of using parts of it for my AP Language and Composition kids.

While I enjoyed the book for the most part, I didn't like the non-linear plot. Maybe that is because I just read another book in the same vein, I don't know. If the author would have titled the sections with dates, I think I would have not been as annoyed. The best, most touching part was the last section, told from the father to his estranged, grown son. Despite the problem with plot, I still recommend this book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This book was great fun! I loved the fiesty Veronica and the mysterious Stoker, and the tension and witty banter between them was perfect. I felt that the end was a tad anti climactic, but not enough for me to feel disappointed. The narration of this on Audible was also well done. I have the next one in the series already downloaded and ready to go! ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Had a hard time getting into this one and the multiple timelines threw me a bit, but it picked up enough for me to finish it. By the end I was totally engrossed. A good summer read and another one knocked off of my #MountTBR and botm backlog. ⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Wow! I couldn't put this one down! Whitehead weaves together a tale very succinctly yet creates rich characters. I will definitely be reading his other works! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Current read! (Did they HAVE to put two stickers on this lovely book?!)

A very satisfying read with well-developed characters!

I liked Dark Matter better. I am not science-minded, and a lot of this book went over my head. Then I got frustrated that I wasn't understanding it, so I would read more slowly, and when I still didn't understand I just moved on, so then I just felt like I missed a lot of what was going on. #unpopularopinion I know. I only gave it ⭐⭐⭐/5. Although, I do understand why people have liked it, so I don't think it is a bad book; just not for me.

Another great mystery by Tana French! I love that her mysteries have such development of characters--they are not at all only plot driven.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

A very compelling story. I loved the multiple pov's and the story kept me guessing until the end. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

@Mynameisacolour Is this book one you are good with? #LMPBC #GroupB

LMPBC Round 6 #GroupB @Mynameisacolour @Kaila-ann @suvata Here are some titles I'm considering. What do you think?

This is the third book I have read by this author, and it just doesn't hold up to Station Eleven. I didn't like any of the characters, and I wasn't really invested in the plot. I did finish it because I felt like I wanted to know what happened, but more out of obligation than true curiosity. Station Eleven is definitely this author's best book, in my opinion. ⭐⭐⭐/5

I loved this book! Well-written, and great character development. I enjoyed having the news stories thrown in throughout the book, too. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I needed a pallete cleanser, and this served that purpose. I wasn't enthralled by it--the plot was predictable and not very substantive, the ending wrapped up too fast, and the characters were pretty surface level. Buuuut, it was a nice, quick read that got me out of the intense feels that The Huntress brought on.⭐⭐⭐/5

⭐⭐⭐.5 /5 I was really into the first half and then my interest wanted as Manson seemed to drift from talking about how not to give a f*ck, which is what I was interested in. I will go back and re-read the first half again before my school year starts again, as it had some very helpful advice, and as that is the time of year when I give too many f*cks and need to rein it in.

Great book! I felt it was better than The Alice Network, and I really liked Alice Network. The characters were more developed in this one. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

After a bittersweet day of finishing the school year (sweet) and saying goodbye to my two closest teacher friends, one with whom I have taught for 21 years (bitter), and now I am taking on a new position as faculty leader of the English Department (daunting), I stopped on the way home for some book therapy.

A nice light read--very endearing.⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

📖 Pride and Prejudice
📖 Great Gatsby
📖 Litsy and Goodreads
Picture : My son took me to a new coffee shop this weekend!
Tagged: @cathysaid @EclecticBookLover @sprainedbrain

Read this for my high school book club where I teach. I liked it...it was very different from Condie's Matched trilogy. It takes place in a dystopian future but not much is done in terms of world building, which I kind of missed. Action packed and you don't know who is a traitor and who are the good guys. A quick, fast-paced read. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What an incredible giveaway! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win! @Kayla.Adriena #springhassprunggiveaway

This book was ok for me. I didn't like how much it jumped in time. One chapter it is fall and the characters are at West Point and then all of a sudden it's summer in the next chapter. I also wasn't expecting all of the Christian references. #botm called it inspirational, but I didn't take that to mean religiously inspirational. Not that I have a problem with religion, but I am not a fan of Christian "inspirational" fiction. ⭐⭐⭐/5

Finished this in a few sittings! Ready to pass it on! #lmpbc #groupt @sprainedbrain @cathysaid @EclecticBookLover

This was my second Tana French book and I was not disappointed. This felt like more than just a mystery because the characters were so developed and the writing was so good. It had some hints of The Secret History by Donna Tartt for me with the tight knit group of friends who are intellectuals and exclusively close. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I DE-voured this book in practically one sitting. So compelling and for a book about a court case, there was a lot of character development in the back stories of the characters, so it didn't just feel like a "courtroom thriller." Highly recommend ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Book Haul! 20% off with 20% off coupons on Lost Roses and The Huntress, and Lost Girls 9.99 at Costco.

#UnpopularOpinion I didn't love this book. I think I was comparing it to Nickel and Dimed, which seemed to take on in wider scope living in poverty. While the inner look at life as a maid was interesting, I felt that it almost got in the way of the story the author was trying to tell about her life with her daughter and their struggles. I'd still recommend it, as it was interesting, but I just wasn't blown away by it ⭐⭐⭐/5.

Told in seven sections starting with the Authoritarianism rule in Syria, going through the Arab Spring, and ending with the flight of the millions of refugees, and told from the voices of over 40 Syrians in different times and places during the war, this book is gut-wrenching and eye-opening. I had NO idea what was really going on in Syria, nor did I understand the repercussions of the war on those who stayed and those who escaped. A ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5.

1. The 80's because of the music
2. Hardback or Kindle
3. Older...44
4. Nope--born in Illinois, live in Colorado
5. Will do!

#moremehthanyeah on this one. A fast read of interconnected stories that have one story which is threaded throughout the book. That is the story I probably liked the most because I felt like I got to know the characters the most. I feel like a lot of the stories had narration that was too similar in voice, and because I have not been to Houston, and this book has stories that reference different areas of Houston, I couldn't relate.⭐⭐⭐/5 #botm