en-US Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:53:35 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 17383994
Divergent One choice can transform you. Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling debut is a gripping dystopian tale of electrifying choices, powerful consequences, unexpected romance, and a deeply flawed "perfect society."

Insurgent One choice can destroy you. Veronica Roth's second #1 New York Times bestseller continues the dystopian thrill ride. As war surges in the factions all around her, Tris attempts to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Divergent #3: The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.]]> 1556 Veronica Roth 0062278789 Sam 3 4.35
author: Veronica Roth
name: Sam
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/18
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 47212 HARRY DRESDEN � WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks.

So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic - it can get a guy killed.]]> 372 Jim Butcher 0451457811 Sam 4 3.99 2000
author: Jim Butcher
name: Sam
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2017/06/08
date added: 2017/06/08
shelves:
review:
What a fun read! Everyone kept saying I had to read these books and I'm glad I saved them for summer. They are quick and easy reads with a great story.
]]> 15745753 "So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we're 16."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
"I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I'm not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.]]> 328 Rainbow Rowell 1250012570 Sam 0 to-read 3.92 2012
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Sam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25893582
It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to liveĚýwith her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?]]> 328 Julie Buxbaum 0553535641 Sam 0 to-read 4.00 2016
author: Julie Buxbaum
name: Sam
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25868918 Reader, I murdered him.

A Gothic retelling of Jane Eyre.

Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors.

A fugitive navigating London's underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate's true heir, Jane takes the position and is soon caught up in the household's strange spell. When she falls in love with the mysterious Charles Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him - body, soul and secrets - and what if he discovers her murderous past?]]> 432 Lyndsay Faye 1472217551 Sam 0 to-read 3.86 2016
author: Lyndsay Faye
name: Sam
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23492661
From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.]]> 342 Taylor Jenkins Reid Sam 0 to-read 3.77 2015
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Sam
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25817531
Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.Ěý

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...]]> 512 Gilly Macmillan 0062413864 Sam 0 to-read 3.81 2015
author: Gilly Macmillan
name: Sam
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16151178 I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.]]> 449 Katja Millay Sam 0 to-read 4.26 2012
author: Katja Millay
name: Sam
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29243722 “What if what you did mattered more because life happened again and again, consequences unfolding across decades and continents?…A relentlessly paced page-turner and a profound meditation on the meaning of life.�
―Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Train

What happens to us after we die? What happens before we are born? At once a riveting mystery and a testament to the profound connection between a child and parent, The Forgetting Time will lead you to reevaluate everything you believe�

What would you do if your four-year-old son claimed he had lived another life and that he wants to go back to it? That he wants his other mother?

Single mom Janie is trying to figure out what is going on with her beloved son Noah. Noah has never been ordinary. He loves to make up stories, and he is constantly surprising her with random trivia someone his age has no right knowing. She always chalked it up to the fact that Noah was precocious―mature beyond his years. But Noah’s eccentricities are starting to become worrisome. One afternoon, Noah’s preschool teacher calls Janie: Noah has been talking about shooting guns and being held under water until he can’t breathe. Suddenly, Janie can’t pretend anymore. The school orders him to get a psychiatric evaluation. And life as she knows it stops for herself and her darling boy.

For Jerome Anderson, life as he knows it has already stopped. Diagnosed with aphasia, his first thought as he approaches the end of his life is, I’m not finished yet. Once an academic star, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, a professor of psychology, he threw everything away to pursue an obsession: the stories of children who remembered past lives. Anderson became the laughing stock of his peers, but he never stopped believing that there was something beyond what anyone could see or comprehend. He spent his life searching for a case that would finally prove it. And with Noah, he thinks he may have found it.

Soon, Noah, Janie, and Anderson will find themselves knocking on the door of a mother whose son has been missing for eight years. When that door opens, all of their questions will be answered.

Gorgeously written and fearlessly provocative, Sharon Guskin’s debut explores the lengths we will go for our children. It examines what we regret in the end of our lives and hope for in the beginning, and everything in between.]]> 368 Sharon Guskin 1250118719 Sam 0 to-read 3.78 2016
author: Sharon Guskin
name: Sam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 23125266 A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .]]> 371 Clare Mackintosh 0751554154 Sam 0 to-read 4.04 2014
author: Clare Mackintosh
name: Sam
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25733990
Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history's most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?]]> 320 Sylvain Neuvel 1101886692 Sam 0 to-read 3.82 2016
author: Sylvain Neuvel
name: Sam
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 29975458 273 Amy Gentry 0544920953 Sam 0 to-read 3.42 2016
author: Amy Gentry
name: Sam
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 27833670 A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy.

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

"Are you happy with your life?"

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend."

In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that's the dream?

And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human--a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of.]]> 342 Blake Crouch 1101904224 Sam 0 to-read 4.13 2016
author: Blake Crouch
name: Sam
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 18114142 A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....

September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries …and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?Ěý

September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers …the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?
]]> 370 Susan Meissner Sam 0 to-read 4.06 2014
author: Susan Meissner
name: Sam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10054335 335 Amor Towles Sam 0 to-read 4.06 2011
author: Amor Towles
name: Sam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6469165
Alice is twenty-nine. She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house. She’s newly engaged to the wonderful Nick and is pregnant with her first baby.

There’s just one problem.
All that was ten years ago �

Alice has slipped in a step aerobics class, hit her head and lost a decade. Now she’s a grown-up, bossy mother of three in the middle of a nasty divorce and her beloved sister Elisabeth isn’t speaking to her. This is her life but not as she knows it.

Clearly Alice has made some terrible mistakes.
Just how much can happen in a decade?

Can she ever get back to the woman she used to be?]]> 487 Liane Moriarty 0141043768 Sam 0 to-read 4.06 2010
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Sam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25251757 You Will Know Me is a breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of desire, jealousy, and ambition.]]> 345 Megan Abbott 031623107X Sam 0 to-read 3.42 2016
author: Megan Abbott
name: Sam
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26025989 The last book from beloved Hollywood icon Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist is an intimate, hilarious, and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time, the first Star Wars movie.

When Carrie Fisher discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved--plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Before her passing, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon was indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford.

With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher's intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time--and what developed behind the scenes. Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity, and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.]]> 257 Carrie Fisher 0399173595 Sam 4 3.70 2016
author: Carrie Fisher
name: Sam
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2016/12/30
date added: 2016/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 17333324
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.]]> 386 Ann Leckie Sam 5 3.98 2013
author: Ann Leckie
name: Sam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/05/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 23380120 298 Louise G. White 0993081738 Sam 0 to-read 3.78 2013
author: Louise G. White
name: Sam
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16156292
For to the west, another, wider conflagration looms. Napoleon has turned on his former ally, the emperor Alexander of Russia, and is even now leading the largest army the world has ever seen to add that country to his list of conquests. It is there, outside the gates of Moscow, that a reunited Laurence and Temeraire—along with some unexpected allies and old friends—will face their ultimate challenge...and learn whether or not there are stronger ties than memory.]]> 432 Naomi Novik 0345522893 Sam 4 3.96 2013
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 91989 365 Naomi Novik 0345481305 Sam 4 3.90 2006
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 12069434 Ěý
For Laurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part in the war has come to an end just when they are needed most. But perhaps they are no longer alone in this opinion. Newly allied with the powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain and brought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain’s last desperate hope to defeat Napoleon.
Ěý
And now the government that sidelined them has decided they have the best chance at negotiating a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio—and thus offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one’s country do not always run on parallel tracks.
Ěý
Nonetheless, the pair embark for Brazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that force them to make an unexpected landing in the hostile territory of the Incan empire, where they face new unanticipated dangers.
Ěý
Now with the success of the mission balanced on a razor’s edge, and failure looking more likely by the minute, the unexpected arrival of an old enemy will tip the scales toward ruin. Yet even in the midst of disaster, opportunity may lurk—for one bold enough to grasp it.]]> 325 Naomi Novik 0345522869 Sam 4 3.95 2012
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 7038489
Convicted of treason despite their heroic defense against Napoleon’s invasion of England, Temeraire and Laurence—stripped of rank and standing—have been transported to the prison colony at New South Wales in distant Australia, where, it is hoped, they cannot further corrupt the British Aerial Corps with their dangerous notions of liberty for dragons. Temeraire and Laurence carry with them three dragon eggs intended to help establish a covert in the colony and destined to be handed over to such second-rate, undesirable officers as have been willing to accept so remote an assignment—including one former acquaintance, Captain Rankin, whose cruelty once cost a dragon its life.

Nor is this the greatest difficulty that confronts the exiled dragon and Instead of leaving behind all the political entanglements and corruptions of the war, Laurence and Temeraire have instead sailed into a hornet’s nest of fresh complications. For the colony at New South Wales has been thrown into turmoil after the overthrow of the military governor, one William Bligh—better known as Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty. Bligh wastes no time in attempting to enlist Temeraire and Laurence to restore him to office, while the upstart masters of the colony are equally determined that the new arrivals should not upset a balance of power precariously tipped in their favor.

Eager to escape this political quagmire, Laurence and Temeraire take on a mission to find a way through the forbidding Blue Mountains and into the interior of Australia. But when one of the dragon eggs is stolen from Temeraire, the surveying expedition becomes a desperate race to recover it in time—a race that leads to a shocking discovery and a dangerous new obstacle in the global war between Britain and Napoleon.]]> 274 Naomi Novik 0345496892 Sam 4 3.74 2010
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 891593
It is a grim time for the dragon Temeraire. On the heels of his mission to Africa, seeking the cure for a deadly contagion, he has been removed from military service - and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death for treason. For Britain, conditions are grimmer still: Napoleon's resurgent forces
have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil. Napoleon's prime objective: the occupation of London.

Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon's forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war and to aid the resistance against the invasion before Napoleon's foothold on England's shores can become a stranglehold.

If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain's scattered forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before - for king and country, and for their own liberty. But can the French aggressors be well and truly routed, or will a treacherous alliance deliver Britain into the hands of her
would-be conquerors?]]> 352 Naomi Novik 0007256752 Sam 4 4.07 2008
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 129510 Bonaparte’s dragons are already harrowing Britain’s ships at sea. Only one recourse remains: Temeraire and his captain, Will Laurence, must take wing to Africa, whose shores may hold the cure to the mysterious and deadly contagion. On this mission there is no time to waste, and no telling what lies in store beyond the horizon or for those left behind to wait, hope, and hold the line.]]> 416 Naomi Novik 0345496876 Sam 4 3.98 2007
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 14069
Now China has discovered that its rare gift, intended for Napoleon, has fallen into British hands–and an angry Chinese delegation vows to reclaim the remarkable beast. But Laurence refuses to cooperate. Facing the gallows for his defiance, Laurence has no choice but to accompany Temeraire back to the Far East–a long voyage fraught with peril, intrigue, and the untold terrors of the deep. Yet once the pair reaches the court of the Chinese emperor, even more shocking discoveries and darker dangers await.]]> 398 Naomi Novik 0345481291 Sam 4 3.89 2006
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 28876 356 Naomi Novik 0345481283 Sam 4
These books are such a fun blend of fantasy and history - a different look at the world if dragons had been at many major events. And the dragons themselves are amazing characters!

I would recommend these books to anyone. ]]> 4.06 2006
author: Naomi Novik
name: Sam
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/02
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves:
review:
I read the first 8 books of this series in a row - one after another. I just couldn't get enough of this story and I anxiously await book 9!!

These books are such a fun blend of fantasy and history - a different look at the world if dragons had been at many major events. And the dragons themselves are amazing characters!

I would recommend these books to anyone.
]]> 18007564
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error� are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills � and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit � he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

]]> 384 Andy Weir 0804139024 Sam 4
Mark is such an awesome character - I enjoy his sense of humor. I loved the balance between what is going on with Nasa and back on earth with the journal of Mark's adventure on Mars. I found myself wanting to know what happened next, waiting impatiently for the work day to end so I could see the next stage in the story.

Weir does an amazing job at making you feel as though you are part of the rest of the world, waiting to see what happened next to Mark Watney -- waiting for the next episode of the Watney report.

This is a great book. Well written, not so technical I couldn't follow it, but very realistic. ]]> 4.41 2011
author: Andy Weir
name: Sam
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2015/11/13
date added: 2015/11/19
shelves:
review:
I kept hearing I HAD to read this book - and I am glad I gave it a shot. Be sure you have time to sit and read this one - it isn't one you are going to want to put down!

Mark is such an awesome character - I enjoy his sense of humor. I loved the balance between what is going on with Nasa and back on earth with the journal of Mark's adventure on Mars. I found myself wanting to know what happened next, waiting impatiently for the work day to end so I could see the next stage in the story.

Weir does an amazing job at making you feel as though you are part of the rest of the world, waiting to see what happened next to Mark Watney -- waiting for the next episode of the Watney report.

This is a great book. Well written, not so technical I couldn't follow it, but very realistic.
]]> 21936510
Septimus Heap Wizard Apprentice Series Collection

Angie Sage 7 Books Collection

Titles in This Set

Fyre (Hardcover), Darke, Syren, Queste, Physik, Flyte, Magyk.]]> 0 Angie Sage 178048884X Sam 5
I have to admit, I am a little sad to leaving this world behind and moving on the next book series. ]]> 4.52
author: Angie Sage
name: Sam
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2015/11/03
date added: 2015/11/05
shelves:
review:
I got lost in this world -- and loved every minute of it. I read all 7 books in a row because I just didn't want to leave the magic place that Angie Sage created for me. The style and descriptions in her writing transports you to her world, the characters are well developed, and the stories are wonderful. I am glad I didn't have to wait for the next book and could read them one at a time.

I have to admit, I am a little sad to leaving this world behind and moving on the next book series.
]]> 6940978 2230 Angie Sage 0747597367 Sam 5 4.15 2009
author: Angie Sage
name: Sam
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 13335037
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.]]> 487 Veronica Roth 0062024035 Sam 3 4.13 2011
author: Veronica Roth
name: Sam
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/04
date added: 2015/08/04
shelves:
review:
This book is a good story and I enjoyed the concept of the faction in the dystopian society. The story isn't particularly unique and the main character isn't the strongest. It is a good read but not one of the greatest books of all time. I will continue to read the rest of the series as the story is interesting.
]]> 769483
The 7th son of the 7th son, aptly named Septimus Heap, is stolen the night he is born by a midwife who pronounces him dead. That same night, the baby's father, Silas Heap, comes across a bundle in the snow containing a newborn girl with violet eyes. The Heaps take this helpless newborn into their home, name her Jenna, and raise her as their own. But who is this mysterious baby girl, and what really happened to their beloved son, Septimus?

The first part of this enthralling new series leads readers on a fantastic journey filled with quirky characters, clever charms, potions and spells, and a yearning to uncover the mystery at the heart of this story...who is Septimus Heap?

Angie Sage writes in the tradition of great British storytellers. Her inventive fantasy is filled with humor and heart: Magyk will have readers laughing and begging for more.]]> 564 Angie Sage 0060577312 Sam 4 3.85 2005
author: Angie Sage
name: Sam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/08/04
shelves:
review:
In the same style as Harry Potter, this book is a easy read that allows you to escape reality for awhile. Good story - well written, great characters, and an adventure that makes you want to keep reading.
]]> 13241166 ―BRENT RASMUSSEN, President of CareerBuilder North America “Caesars brings our brands to life through the attitude of our team members. In Hiring for Attitude , Mark Murphy combines the science of selecting for attitude with the wisdom of how to apply it to your business. The tools in this book are clever and unique and will immediately enhance your culture. Attitude is the new front in the war for talent, and this book positions you to win.�
―TERRY BYRNES, Vice President of Total Service, Caesars Entertainment “In the global high-tech world, attitude is critical. But how do you discover whether someone is both technically brilliant and a perfect fit with your culture? Moving way beyond standard hiring approaches, Hiring for Attitude has deepened our talent pool, shown us how to discover untapped talent, reduced the risk of hiring the wrong person, and cut turnover substantially.�
―MITCH LITTLE, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Applications, Microchip “Who’s getting hired this year? People with great attitudes who can fit a particular culture. But traditional hiring approaches don’t help you discover who is (and isn’t) the perfect fit. Hiring for Attitude will reveal exactly what attitudes you need to succeed. Whether you’re hiring from outside, or choosing the right internal people for a new project, this book gives you unparalleled insight into people’s attitudes.�
―SAM HOLTZMAN, President and CEO, LifeGift About the In a recent groundbreaking study, the training firm Leadership IQ found that 46 percent of all new hires fail within their first 18 months. But here’s the real 89 percent fail for attitudinal reasons―not skills. Most hiring managers are getting it wrong. Of course skills are important, but a particular skill set is about the easiest thing to test in an interview. Although much harder to recognize, attitude should be your number-one focus during the hiring process. Don’t suffer from poor chemistry―even one employee with the wrong attitude could cause years of suffering for your other employees and customers. Whether you’re hiring new employees, choosing existing employees for a new team, or upgrading your current talent pool, you need people with the right attitude! Attitude is what makes employees give 100 percent effort and turns customers into raving fans. Attitude sets your company apart from the competition. In Hiring for Attitude , top leadership strategist Mark Murphy shows ]]> 240 Mark Murphy 007178585X Sam 0 to-read-management 4.03 2011
author: Mark Murphy
name: Sam
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/24
shelves: to-read-management
review:

]]> 24817626 To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch�"Scout"—returns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise's homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in a painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can be guided only by one's conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor and effortless precision—a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context and new meaning to an American classic.]]> 278 Harper Lee 0062409859 Sam 0 to-read, to-read-fiction 3.28 2015
author: Harper Lee
name: Sam
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/07/15
shelves: to-read, to-read-fiction
review:

]]> 7081
A sheep.

That's right, a sheep. And if you think that's the most surprising thing about this book, wait until you read Chapter One. Welcome to The Android's Dream.

For Harry Creek, it's quickly becoming a nightmare. All he wants is to do his uncomplicated mid-level diplomatic job with Earth's State Department. But his past training and skills get him tapped to save the planet--and to protect pet store owner Robin Baker, whose own past holds the key to the whereabouts of that lost sheep. Doing both will take him from lava-strewn battlefields to alien halls of power. All in a day's work. Maybe it's time for a raise.

Throw in two-timing freelance mercenaries, political lobbyists with megalomaniac tendencies, aliens on a religious quest, and an artificial intelligence with unusual backstory, and you've got more than just your usual science fiction adventure story. You've got The Android's Dream.]]> 396 John Scalzi 0765309416 Sam 4 3.97 2006
author: John Scalzi
name: Sam
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/14
date added: 2015/07/15
shelves:
review:
This is not a serious read with deep fundamental questions -- it is a fun book that takes you out of the craziness of our lives and into the fun world of Scalzi. Scalzi isn't tackling anything too complex in this book but it is a fun adventure that will keep you wanting to read what comes next.
]]> 20696430 The exclusive, official story of the survival, faith, and family of Chile’sĚýthirty-three trapped miners

When the San JosĂ© mine collapsed outside of CopiapĂł, Chile,Ěýin August 2010, it trappedĚýthirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breakingĚýsixty-nine days. Across the globe, we sat riveted to television and computer screensĚýas journalists flocked to the Atacama desert. While we saw what transpired above ground during the grueling and protracted rescue, the story of the minersâ€� experiences below the earth’s surface—and the lives that led them there—hasn’t been heard until now.
ĚýĚýĚýĚý In Deep Down Dark, aĚýmaster work by a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, HĂ©ctor Tobar gains exclusive access to the miners and their stories. The result is a miraculous and emotionally textured account of theĚýthirty-three men who came to think of the San JosĂ© mine as a kind of coffin, as a “caveâ€� inflicting constant and thundering aural torment, and as a church where they sought redemption through prayer while the world watched from above. It offers an understanding of the families and personal histories that brought “los 33â€� to the mine, and the mystical and spiritual elements that surrounded working in such a dangerous place.]]> 14 HĂ©ctor Tobar 1427244502 Sam 4 3.94 2014
author: HĂ©ctor Tobar
name: Sam
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/01/02
date added: 2015/05/29
shelves:
review:
Although this isn't a life altering book -- It is very well written and I found myself wanting to pick it up again to see what was going on in the mine -- and what happened to each of them once they were out. It was also interesting how the world surrounded and supported them -- and how that wasn't always a good thing.
]]> 22609418
We're all part of the animal kingdom, appearing in what Darwin called 'endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful'. In this breathtakingly audacious book Simon Barnes has brought us all together, seeking not what separates us but what unites us. He takes us white-water rafting through the entire animal kingdom in a book that brings in deep layers of arcane knowledge, the works of Darwin and James Joyce, Barnes's own don't-try-this-at-home adventures in the wild, David Attenborough and Sherlock Holmes.]]> 480 Simon Barnes 1476730350 Sam 0 to-read-non-fiction, to-read 3.94 2013
author: Simon Barnes
name: Sam
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/12
shelves: to-read-non-fiction, to-read
review:

]]> 17934530 Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.]]> 195 Jeff VanderMeer 0374104093 Sam 0 3.79 2014
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Sam
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/12
shelves: to-read-sword-and-laser, to-read
review:

]]> 1758199 351 James M. Kouzes 0787984914 Sam 0 to-read, to-read-management 4.01 1987
author: James M. Kouzes
name: Sam
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/05
shelves: to-read, to-read-management
review:

]]> 163106 352 Daniel Goleman 157851486X Sam 0 to-read, to-read-management 3.92 2002
author: Daniel Goleman
name: Sam
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/05
shelves: to-read, to-read-management
review:

]]> 334176 419 Mary Doria Russell 0449912558 Sam 4
I loved this book and the complexity religion plays for each of the different characters. I enjoyed exploring Rakhat and watching as the new world kept changing for them and how the exploration is painted through the eyes of the missionaries.

The only complaint is the end felt rushed. I feel as though she spent a very large amount of time building up to a finale that is already foreshadowed leaving you wanting to know what happened. Then when we finally get to the part you have been waiting for and anticipating since the beginning chapters, Russell rushes through the climax leaving me (at least) feeling a bit disappointed.

Overall though a great book and I would recommend it. ]]> 4.13 1996
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: Sam
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2015/01/26
date added: 2015/02/05
shelves:
review:
Russell is a powerful writer who develops characters that are real and are easy to connect with in this book. It is the first time I have read anything by Russell and although there is no way the "science" in this book could ever work, if you don't take this as a hard core Science Fiction book and instead appreciate it as a fantasy book that explores religion and humanity, it is really a book to enjoy.

I loved this book and the complexity religion plays for each of the different characters. I enjoyed exploring Rakhat and watching as the new world kept changing for them and how the exploration is painted through the eyes of the missionaries.

The only complaint is the end felt rushed. I feel as though she spent a very large amount of time building up to a finale that is already foreshadowed leaving you wanting to know what happened. Then when we finally get to the part you have been waiting for and anticipating since the beginning chapters, Russell rushes through the climax leaving me (at least) feeling a bit disappointed.

Overall though a great book and I would recommend it.
]]> 1215032 There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.�

My name is Kvothe.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view � a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived ... until Kvothe.

In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

]]> 994 Patrick Rothfuss 0756404738 Sam 4 4.55 2011
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Sam
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/12/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Sam 4 4.52 2007
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Sam
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/12/17
shelves:
review:
I loved this book -- There is nothing truly amazing about it that makes it a piece of literary ingeniousness ... but it is a good story, an easy read, and a fun adventure. I found myself wanting the adventure not to end and waiting anxiously for the next time I could pick the book up!
]]> 60934 Human and Oankali have been mating since the aliens first came to Earth to rescue the few survivors of an annihilating nuclear war. The Oankali began a massive breeding project, guided by the ooloi, a sexless subspecies capable of manipulating DNA, in the hope of eventually creating a perfect starfaring race. Jodahs is supposed to be just another hybrid of human and Oankali, but as he begins his transformation to adulthood he finds himself becoming ooloi—the first ever born to a human mother. As his body changes, Jodahs develops the ability to shapeshift, manipulate matter, and cure or create disease at will. If this frightened young man is able to master his new identity, Jodahs could prove the savior of what’s left of mankind. Or, if he is not careful, he could become a plague that will destroy this new race once and for all.]]> 220 Octavia E. Butler 0446603635 Sam 5
Well written book as always with wonderful imagery. An addictive read. ]]> 4.20 1989
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Sam
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2014/08/04
date added: 2014/08/04
shelves:
review:
I love this world and hate to leave it behind! This book is written from the 1st person point of view of one construct child. We get to see what the world has become, what the long term plan for earth is, and the Oankali and Humans come full circle.

Well written book as always with wonderful imagery. An addictive read.
]]> 6031229 403 Isabel Abedi 3401029088 Sam 0 3.52 2006
author: Isabel Abedi
name: Sam
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 116249
Nuclear war had nearly destroyed mankind when the Oankali came to the rescue, saving humanity—but at a price. The Oankali survive by mixing their DNA with that of other species, and now on Earth they have permitted no child to be born without an Oankali parent. The first true hybrid is a boy named Akin—son of Lilith Iyapo� and to the naked eye he looks human, for now. He is born with extraordinary sensory powers, understanding speech at birth, speaking in sentences at two months old, and soon developing the ability to see at the molecular level. More powerful than any human or Oankali, he will be the architect of both races� intergalactic future. But before he can carry this new species into the stars, Akin must decide which unlucky souls will stay behind.

At once a coming-of-age story, science fiction adventure, and philosophical exploration, Butler’s ambitious and breathtaking novel ultimately raises the question of what it means to be human.]]> 277 Octavia E. Butler 0446603783 Sam 5 4.20 1988
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Sam
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2014/07/25
date added: 2014/07/25
shelves:
review:
I am loving the world that Octavia Butler has created for me -- and although the character of Akin is a very different character than Lilith -- I still found myself relating to him and his struggles. I actually enjoyed this story more than Dawn. I enjoyed seeing the ways in which the generation are changing -- I now feel invested in the world, the races, and their struggles. On to the third (and sadly last) book. This is a series everyone should read -- it has in depth themes and human struggles but creates a beautiful imagery that will engulf you.
]]> 60929
The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.]]> 248 Octavia E. Butler 0446603775 Sam 4 4.15 1987
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Sam
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2014/07/18
date added: 2014/07/18
shelves:
review:
There are so many complex but fascinating things about this book. Butler throws us head first into a world where we are wondering what is the choice of the main character and how much of it is being done to her without her knowing. It is hard to write a true review of this book without giving away the entire plot -- so we will just say that the purposeful manipulation of the last of humankind after the apocalypse but an alien species will keep you reading and wishing that the book did not end.
]]> 6493208
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored� ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia � a land of wooden quarters for enslaved people, faith healings, and voodoo � to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality� until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family � past and present � is inextricably connected to the history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?

Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.]]> 370 Rebecca Skloot 1400052173 Sam 5
Ms. Skloot takes us on an adventure through time and many interviews as she discovers the truth behind HeLa cells and the family behind them. Her conversational tone makes the science understandable and makes you feel like by the end the Lacks family is your old friends. You feel with them, and her, as they discover and come to piece with the importance of a mother they never knew. ]]> 4.12 2010
author: Rebecca Skloot
name: Sam
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2014/07/09
date added: 2014/07/09
shelves:
review:
This book is a must read for everyone I think. HeLa cells are known but the story behind them and the Lacks family is one that I was unaware of. This story told me more than my college level text books.

Ms. Skloot takes us on an adventure through time and many interviews as she discovers the truth behind HeLa cells and the family behind them. Her conversational tone makes the science understandable and makes you feel like by the end the Lacks family is your old friends. You feel with them, and her, as they discover and come to piece with the importance of a mother they never knew.
]]> 88072 286 John Scalzi 1596060204 Sam 4 3.91 2004
author: John Scalzi
name: Sam
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2014/06/26
date added: 2014/06/26
shelves:
review:
Scalizi is the perfect author when you need an enjoyable read. Agent to the Stars is full of the Wit and captivating characters we expect from Scalizi, but is a lot more lighthearted and fun then some of his heavier sci-fi books. It is a great read with characters that I enjoyed. Perfect for summer reading.
]]> 16130549
On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless - mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky 12-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the "steam" that children with the "shining" produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep."

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.]]> 531 Stephen King 1476727651 Sam 4 4.11 2013
author: Stephen King
name: Sam
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/02/09
date added: 2014/02/10
shelves:
review:
This is a very well written book (which isn't surprising considering who the author is). It is fun to re-visit Danny from the shinning and even some of the ghost from his past but with an entirely new story. It is not particularly scary so much as psychologically odd.
]]> 61179 288 Larry Niven 0575077026 Sam 4 3.96 1970
author: Larry Niven
name: Sam
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/20
date added: 2014/02/05
shelves:
review:
This book.is just okay. The story is very enjoyable until about half wag through when you are told the reason why everything is happening. It was a decent read and I may read the other books but this book didn't put the author at the top of my list.
]]> 76740
Ben Reichs heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system. He is also an obsessed, driven man determined to murder a rival. To avoid capture, in a society where murderers can be detected even before they commit their crime, is the greatest challenge of his life.

]]> 250 Alfred Bester Sam 3 3.98 1953
author: Alfred Bester
name: Sam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1953
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 13324841
Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver, as well as Gathering Blue and Messenger where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.]]> 393 Lois Lowry 0547887205 Sam 4 3.98 2012
author: Lois Lowry
name: Sam
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/02/02
date added: 2014/02/02
shelves:
review:
Except for the Lois Lowry's ending of and the story ends NOW. Abruptly with no real conclusiveness which is actually seems to be a reoccurring theme in these four books (I am going to have to re-read a few more of her books to see if this is a thing with her -- maybe all her books just sort of end.) This is a great book as well. Ties in the two communities and the two worlds beautifully through the telling of a new character. Re-visits characters that have been lost and ends in a way where you believe that their world will be safe.
]]> 12930 Ěý
Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man known for his special sight. Village once welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must risk everything to make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.]]> 169 Lois Lowry 0385732538 Sam 5 3.90 2004
author: Lois Lowry
name: Sam
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/02/02
shelves:
review:
This is my favorite book of the four giver books, which surprised me because I LOVE the Giver! But I love the character of Matty as well and seeing his growth and transformation in this book is a great one. It also ties Gathering Blue back to the Giver. These are children books and you have to read them as such. The stories are simple, the writing is simplistic as well but the story they tell is a great one.
]]> 12936
As she did in The Giver, Lowry challenges readers to imagine what our world could become, and what will be considered valuable. Every reader will be taken by Kira's plight and will long ponder her haunting world and the hope for the future.

]]> 240 Lois Lowry 0385732562 Sam 4 3.82 2000
author: Lois Lowry
name: Sam
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/02/02
shelves:
review:
Gathering Blue is the second book in the Giver Quartet although it is not readily obvious as to the connection to the giver. I actually really enjoyed this book and after re-reading the giver may have enjoyed it more than the giver itself. The characters are very likable and the story is a little faster moving making this a much lighter read.
]]> 3636 208 Lois Lowry 0385732554 Sam 5 4.12 1993
author: Lois Lowry
name: Sam
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/15
date added: 2014/01/16
shelves:
review:
This was my favorite book as a child -- the theme of a world without color or feeling shocked and amazed me. As an adult -- re-reading this book before the movie comes out -- it was like visiting an old friend. While unquestionably a children's book -- The Giver is still a good story to be told and a must read.
]]> 1137215
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.]]> 416 Cherie Priest 0765318415 Sam 1 3.53 2009
author: Cherie Priest
name: Sam
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2014/01/09
shelves:
review:
This had all the makings of a book I would like -- Zombies, Victorian time period, and a cool post war world -- but really I could not get into the book. I think this is the first book that I have put down unfinished in close to 10 years if not longer. I always finish a book -- and this one after fighting with it for almost two months I just couldn't get into it enough to finish it. Others have loved it but it was moving too slow and just wasn't something I was enjoying.
]]> 12974372 You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.]]> 334 Marie Brennan 0765331969 Sam 3 3.83 2013
author: Marie Brennan
name: Sam
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/01/09
date added: 2014/01/09
shelves:
review:
This book isn't the best book but it isn't a horrible book either. It is a light and enjoyable read. The dragon scenes are great as all dragon scenes should be but the main character isn't the smartest women and really makes the story somewhat enjoyable. I found the ending sort of weak too like they didn't know where the book was going so lets just end it like this--- but overall not a bad read.
]]> 13320466
In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented.Ěý Hattie gives birth to nine more children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave.Ěý She vows to prepare them for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their later lives, to meet a world that will not love them, a world that will not be kind. Captured here in twelve luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation.

Beautiful and devastating, Ayana Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is wondrous from first to last—glorious, harrowing, unexpectedly uplifting, and blazing with life. An emotionally transfixing page-turner, a searing portrait of striving in the face of insurmountable adversity, an indelible encounter with the resilience of the human spirit and the driving force of the American dream, Mathis’s first novel heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.Ěý]]> 243 Ayana Mathis 0385350287 Sam 3
The individual stories are very well written and the imagery is vivid.

The book wraps up beautifully and honestly as a almost 30 year old women, this book makes me reflect on my own mother and how difficult it must have been on her.

Overall, a great book. It challenges your view of the world as most books Oprah chooses do and is very well written.]]> 3.47 2012
author: Ayana Mathis
name: Sam
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/07/30
shelves:
review:
This book is odd -- it describes the life of Hattie through the stories of her children. Each chapter is a different child and you get the picture of her life through their individual stories.

The individual stories are very well written and the imagery is vivid.

The book wraps up beautifully and honestly as a almost 30 year old women, this book makes me reflect on my own mother and how difficult it must have been on her.

Overall, a great book. It challenges your view of the world as most books Oprah chooses do and is very well written.
]]> 13055592 Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:
(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces
(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations
(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues� understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.]]> 320 John Scalzi 0765316994 Sam 4
Red shirts is no different. The challenges of the characters and the way they approach those challenges make the book one you just don't want to put down. And the trekkie in me more than a little enjoyed it. ;)]]> 3.85 2012
author: John Scalzi
name: Sam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/07/20
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book and I am quickly learning just how much I enjoy Scalzi's writing. His writing makes for a light and enjoyable read while still having a great plot and fun characters.

Red shirts is no different. The challenges of the characters and the way they approach those challenges make the book one you just don't want to put down. And the trekkie in me more than a little enjoyed it. ;)
]]> 1656001
As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1 - ACE #2 ]]> 619 Stephenie Meyer 0316068047 Sam 3 3.85 2008
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Sam
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/30
date added: 2013/06/30
shelves:
review:
I actually enjoyed this book. I still don't appreciate Meyer's attempt at romance stories...they read a little like a teenage girl wrote them. But the rest of the story is very good and the love story is very minimal. It was a great story over all!
]]> 8706185 Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and science fiction, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment.

Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. As a child growing up in Wales, she and her twin sister played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins, but her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. When her mother tries to bend the spirits to dark ends with deadly results, Mori is sent away and must try to come to terms with what has happened without falling prey to the darkness.]]> 304 Jo Walton 076532153X Sam 3
On the other hand, the author does a great job writing this book in the diary like style. That isn't always easy to do. Usually you lose something when they choose to write in this method and that is not the case here. ]]> 3.69 2011
author: Jo Walton
name: Sam
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/17
date added: 2013/06/17
shelves:
review:
I am still not 100% sure what to make of this book. I found myself wanting to know what happens and reading it at every chance I got.... but I also seemed to not really love it. I wanted something more to happen I think -- It is one of those books though that the more you think about it and the more you dissect it, the more it makes you think. I don't know that i love it but I would recommend it to people to read.

On the other hand, the author does a great job writing this book in the diary like style. That isn't always easy to do. Usually you lose something when they choose to write in this method and that is not the case here.
]]> 264158 This volume reprints all 26 of Doré's detailed, masterly engravings from a rare 19th-century edition of the poem. Relevant lines from the poem are printed on facing pages and the complete text is also included. Admirers of Doré will find ample evidence here of his characteristic ability to capture the mood and meaning of a work of literature in striking imagery; lovers of The Raven will delight in seeing its mournful musing on love and loss given dramatic pictorial form.]]> 64 Edgar Allan Poe 0486290727 Sam 4 4.31 1845
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Sam
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1845
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 1622 298 William Shakespeare 0743477545 Sam 5 3.95 1595
author: William Shakespeare
name: Sam
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1595
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:
My favorite Shakespeare play.
]]> 30474
Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the worldview Marx and Engels developed during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration. Formulating the principles of dialectical materialism, they believed that labor creates wealth, hence capitalism is exploitive and antithetical to freedom.

This new edition includes an extensive introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones, Britain's leading expert on Marx and Marxism, providing a complete course for students of The Communist Manifesto, and demonstrating not only the historical importance of the text, but also its place in the world today.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 288 Karl Marx 0140447571 Sam 5 3.67 1848
author: Karl Marx
name: Sam
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1848
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:
A must read for everyone (Especially those interested in political science). Although Marx was severally flawed in his logic- the original goals and concepts of the Communist party are very interesting ones that will make you think and challenge your views on society.
]]> 18135 Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.

In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers� final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers.]]> 281 William Shakespeare 0743477111 Sam 3 3.74 1597
author: William Shakespeare
name: Sam
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1597
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:
My first Shakespeare book but not my favorite.
]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Sam 5 4.29 1937
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Sam
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:
One of my favorite books and one I have read several times over. It is a classic and a light read. The best part about Tolkien's books is that they are complex and not complex at the same time. You can read into them as little or as much as you want. (Okay not sure that made sense...)
]]> 33 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.]]> 1216 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618640150 Sam 4 4.52 1955
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Sam
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/06/12
shelves:
review:

]]>