Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

I love Cyra and how she sees herself, because I understand it so deeply. She is me and I am her. I see myself the way she sees herself, or at least I used to (and I still do sometimes). She is fierce and I love her. I love the chemistry between Akos and Cyra.

Honestly Akos is husband goals... Gentlemen, take notes. I am not kidding. There are passages I want you to repeat back to me.

I didn't expect myself to love this book, and I actually listened to it first in my pile of audiobooks because I wanted to get it out of the way... ha ha. But my heart. I can't even right now. I have so many feelings...And I feel like I can't trust Veronica Roth for reasons which will not be named (as in I'm afraid something is going to happen, not that something has happened--because no spoilers).
I may or may not have texted my Hufflepuff at least twenty text messages detailing my feelings in both word and gif form...

As a side note, Austin Butler's voice is beautiful, and I would marry it.

512 Pages

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

I recently had occasion to re-read ‘The Giving Tree’ when our Youth Services Librarian discovered it was not available to our patrons as an audio book.  We decided to record it, and I monitored the recording.

Even though it was written 50 years ago, it is still relevant – maybe even more so today in our ‘me, me, me’ society.

In this case, a lovely apple tree gives and gives and gives of itself to a little boy who grows into an old man, still accepting the gifts of life given by the tree.

The themes of self-sacrifice, of taking, and of giving should make readers of all ages think deeply about what it means to love, and whether love requires us to deplete ourselves for others.

64 pages