Links I love

 

Last weekend, I ran the Reach the Beach Ragnar sprint here in NH.  It was amazing and exhausting and I loved it.  It had been on my bucket list for about a decade!  This weekend, we're headed to King Richard's! I'm still slogging through Anna Karenina but I've added an additional book to my reading life for a book club I'm in! I will hopefully have another review up soon.  Have a great week!

1. For some odd reason, I really enjoy True Crime. Here is a list of books about serial killers. :)
2. Why helping people is good for your health.
3. When Wizards and Orcs came to death row.
4. 10 most popular book lists of the summer.
5. 50 years ago, two teens hitchhiked to a concert and didn't come home.
6. Bear cam helps rescue a hiker.
7. Woman has the world's longest mullet.
8. Drew Barrymore dropped as Book Awards host after show begins taping.
9. Trader Joe's fall favs are back
10. Highest rated books from each country.
11. Bob Ross has a new painting - newly found that is - and it could be yours if you have millions lying around.
12. If you're interested in the OG celebrity book club, here is a full list of Oprah's!
13. Supporting vs. enabling - what's the difference?
14. Levar Burton is leading banned books week as its official chair.

Links I love!

I hope that everyone had a good week. :) The picture above is one of my favorite places - the White Mountains of NH. This weekend, I will be working on getting more 4000 footers.  I'm about halfway through. 

Reading wise, I'm reading Anna Karenina so it may take a while.

1. Jimmy Buffett had rare skin cancer.
2. Texas bookstores are fighting more laws.
3. Alabama and its voting woes.
4. Storm doubles windspeed in record time.
5. Danny MAsterson gets 30-life for rape.
6. Ten facts about David Lynch.
7. Pumpkin spice frosty
8. Galactic Senate built out of Legos.

REVIEW: Women we Buried, Women we Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder

 

Up until the age of 8, Rachel Snyder was living a typical and somewhat happy life.  She grew up in a warm home, with a Jewish mother and Christian father eating brie and hummus. But then her mother died of cancer, pretty much in front of her.  Rachel was there the day her mother drew her last breath and the EMT's took her away. That's when Rachel's life was turned upside down and her father transported her to an evangelical lifestyle, a new mother, and casseroles with mini hotdogs in it for food. It also included beatings with a paddle (one of which was so hard the paddle broke), a new "mom," and no life outside of the Church, such that no music but Christian music was allowed type of no life. The author is kicked out of her home at 16 and forced to support herself. Snyder eventually gets her GED and a college education, during which time she does a Semester at Sea, paid in part by her mother's brother. 

Snyder's descriptions are harrowing to be sure and I would not recommend reading this if that triggers you, even though Snyder's way of describing her abuse has a degree of serenity and tranquility that implies much therapeutic work on her part.  She has obviously achieved a deep sense of peace with her past. I did wish that she confronted and pushed her father more and held him more accountable for the absolutely horrific way that he treated her and the other children in the family. Somehow, though, she's gracious while at the same time being angry.  It's as if she's sad for him while also being mad as hell. 

The one complaint that I had about the book was that it seemed to end too neatly. Lives are messy, even when they're not as complicated as Snyder's. I wonder if she truly felt that way or if she was just struggling to end the book and couldn't figure out how.  Having said that though, if that's my only complaint, then it was still a pretty damn good book! Highly recommended. 

Links I love

 We made it through another week!  Here are some of my favorite stories from the week!  Enjoy!

1. 1. WTF Spanish Soccer coaches?
2. Make your own Funko Pop! Here is the actual site.
3. Bob Barker passes away at 99
4. I'm obsessed with Wegman's and here's an article that explains!
5. These true crime books look good. 
6. The mommy vlogger accused of child abuse.
7. The Goonies are coming back to theaters!
8. WOmen's sports attendance broken
9. Summer snow on Mount Washington - I'm working on my 4000's and I'm hopefully getting three more next week.
10. Bill Richardson and Jimmy Buffett have left the building.
11. The average wait times at disney rides

I owe you at least one review which I will get to this week!  :)  I'm currently reading The Last Chairlift by John Irving.