en-US Sun, 23 Mar 2025 14:52:22 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 859887 652 Noah Gordon 0751500828 Kurt 0 to-read 4.15 1992
author: Noah Gordon
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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]]> 4692 714 Noah Gordon 0751503894 Kurt 0 to-read 4.39 1986
author: Noah Gordon
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> 64207
For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is.

Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun!]]> 326 Patricia C. Wrede 015205300X Kurt 0 to-read 4.02 1988
author: Patricia C. Wrede
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> 32533 Ěý
John Gardner was almost as famous as a teacher of creative writing as he was for his own works. In this practical, instructive handbook, based on the courses and seminars that he gave, he explains, simply and cogently, the principles and techniques of good writing. Gardner’s lessons, exemplified with detailed excerpts from classic works of literature, sweep across a complete range of topics—from the nature of aesthetics to the shape of a refined sentence. Written with passion, precision, and a deep respect for the art of writing, Gardner’s book serves by turns as a critic, mentor, and friend. Anyone who has ever thought of taking the step from reader to writer should begin here.]]> 240 John Gardner 0679734031 Kurt 0 to-read 3.99 1984
author: John Gardner
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> 33571159 Odyssey seminar his son teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist this return to the classroom is his "one last chance" to learn the great literature he'd neglected in his youth--and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son, a writer and classicist. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that the two men explore Homer's great work together--first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son's interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus's famous voyages--it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: Jay's responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last.]]> 302 Daniel Mendelsohn 0385350597 Kurt 0 to-read 4.24 2017
author: Daniel Mendelsohn
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/11
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]]> 200982339
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Age Range: 12-18]]> 480 Libba Bray 0374388946 Kurt 0 to-read 4.22 2025
author: Libba Bray
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/24
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]]> 2325713 Book by 274 Stephan Beyer 0822101270 Kurt 5 3.67 1974
author: Stephan Beyer
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/12/03
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]]> 210365571 “We love rainy days, don’t we, baby?�

Dominic King doesn’t want or need anything . . . except his freedom.

The key to his cage is tucked in the suit pocket of his overbearing, overprotective, older brother, Tobias—the leader of a secret vigilante group Dominic helps govern.

Their mission? Destroy Roman Horner. And what better way to start than with their target’s daughter?

The problem is, the moment Cecelia Horner arrives in Triple Falls, plans and motivations change. For Dominic, she’s a potent reminder that there’s still good in the world. With Tobias away for the summer, things start to quickly heat up until she’s not just a want, she’s a need. With the Ravenhood’s fate on his shoulders, Cecelia becomes Dom’s only solace, and a light for his tortured soul. Because he knows, better than anyone, that a choice is coming. And once the decision is made, there’ll be no coming back . . .]]> 480 Kate Stewart 1496754646 Kurt 0 to-read 4.66 2023
author: Kate Stewart
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/09
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]]> 75252218 140 KALI J. BANKS 166788042X Kurt 5 5.00
author: KALI J. BANKS
name: Kurt
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/20
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]]> 23995368 An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.]]> 336 Emily St. John Mandel 0804172447 Kurt 0 to-read 4.14 2014
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/15
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]]> 28359691 198 Noel Biderman 0692005730 Kurt 1 1.00
author: Noel Biderman
name: Kurt
average rating: 1.00
book published:
rating: 1
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date added: 2024/09/05
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Noel is the definition of a garbage human being who will undoubtedly be reincarnated as a sentient, public toilet for everyone to shit into his mouth for all time to come.
]]> 23214265
The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease. But in The Biology of Desire , cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing.

Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do-seek pleasure and relief-in a world that's not cooperating. As a result, most treatment based on the disease model fails. Lewis shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. This is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.]]> 256 Marc Lewis 1610394372 Kurt 5 4.06 2015
author: Marc Lewis
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> 62369554
In the heart of the Samtoy Nation during the pre-colonial era of Philippine history, the world of Filipino heroes, deities and mythological monsters collide in an ambitious re-telling of a classic Filipino epic.

Our story begins with Namongan, a healer and midwife from an isolated village in the Ilocos Region who discovers that she is destined to bear a child blessed by the Poon deities. This child is Lam-ang and he is the first Lakandian. Maturing at a rate unheard of amongst mere mortals, Lam-ang also possesses the strength of a hundred men and was trained to be the greatest warrior for good the mortal realm has ever seen.

Together with Mangmankik, an anito spirit assigned to look after him by the Poons, Lam-ang sets out on a quest to find the missing pieces of the Gayaman Amulet and rescue his father who was abducted by the insidious night creatures on the night that he was born.

This book covers the first half of the life of Lam-ang, derived from the Ilocano epic Biag ni Lam-ang. The story follows the adventures of our hero as he uncovers the truth about himself as well as the truth about his role in the war between the forces of good and evil that threatens not just the fate of the world of men but all the realms of the spirit world as well.]]> 458 Herbert De Leon Kurt 5 4.67 2022
author: Herbert De Leon
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/07/17
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]]> 15719706 497 A.J. Campbell 0615596096 Kurt 5 4.50 2012
author: A.J. Campbell
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/05/07
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]]> 20353 He Holed Up With a Helpless Lush

Prowling the grimy streets of San Francisco low-life, Helen is a beautiful, sensuous drunk - and a pathetically easy pick-up. Harry just wants to help, but before long he and Helen are both adrift in a sea of alcohol - until Harry conceives the ultimate crime...]]> 191 Charles Willeford 1596542241 Kurt 0 to-read 4.01 1955
author: Charles Willeford
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1955
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/27
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]]> 65149 120 Lois Lowry 0440219175 Kurt 0 to-read 4.04 1977
author: Lois Lowry
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/11
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]]> 24812 Box Set | Book One | Book Two | Book Three ]

Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger was first syndicated in 1985 and appeared in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996. The entire body of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons published in a truly noteworthy tribute to this singular cartoon in The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Composed of three hardcover, four-color volumes in a sturdy slipcase, this New York Times best-selling edition includes all Calvin and Hobbes cartoons that ever appeared in syndication. This is the treasure that all Calvin and Hobbes fans seek.]]> 1456 Bill Watterson 0740748475 Kurt 5 4.80 2005
author: Bill Watterson
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.80
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
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]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Kurt 5 4.34 2011
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
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]]> 40651883 Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous� you'll recognize it immediately.]]> 559 Neal Stephenson Kurt 5 4.02 1992
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1992
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
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]]> 28815475 A celebrated anthropologist whose bestselling Genghis Khan & the Making of the Modern World radically transformed our understanding of the Mongols & their legacy, Weatherford has spent 18 years exploring areas of Mongolia closed until the USSR's fall & researching The Secret History of the Mongols, an astonishing document written in code that was only recently discovered. He pored thru archives & found groundbreaking evidence of Genghis� influence on the founding fathers. Now, with this masterpiece of historical erudition & religious insight, he's written his most resonant work.]]> 435 Jack Weatherford 0735221154 Kurt 5 4.02 2016
author: Jack Weatherford
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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]]> 40718726
Fighting his way to power on the remote steppes of Mongolia, Genghis Khan developed revolutionary military strategies and weaponry that emphasized rapid attack and siege warfare, which he then brilliantly used to overwhelm opposing armies in Asia, break the back of the Islamic world, and render the armored knights of Europe obsolete. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongol army never numbered more than 100,000 warriors, yet it subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans conquered in four hundred. With an empire that stretched from Siberia to India, from Vietnam to Hungary, and from Korea to the Balkans, the Mongols dramatically redrew the map of the globe, connecting disparate kingdoms into a new world order.

But contrary to popular wisdom, Weatherford reveals that the Mongols were not just masters of conquest, but possessed a genius for progressive and benevolent rule. On every level and from any perspective, the scale and scope
of Genghis Khan’s accomplishments challenge the limits of imagination. Genghis Khan was an innovative leader, the first ruler in many conquered countries to put the power of law above his own power, encourage religious freedom, create public schools, grant diplomatic immunity, abolish torture, and institute free trade. The trade routes he created became lucrative pathways for commerce, but also for ideas, technologies, and expertise that transformed the way people lived. The Mongols introduced the first international paper currency and postal system and developed and spread revolutionary technologies like printing, the cannon, compass, and abacus. They took local foods and products like lemons, carrots, noodles, tea, rugs, playing cards, and pants and turned them into staples of life around the world. The Mongols were the architects of a new way of life at a pivotal time in history.

In Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford resurrects the true history of Genghis Khan, from the story of his relentless rise through Mongol tribal culture to the waging of his devastatingly successful wars and the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed. This dazzling work of revisionist history doesn’t just paint an unprecedented portrait of a great leader and his legacy, but challenges us to reconsider how the modern world was made.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 352 Jack Weatherford Kurt 5 4.08 2004
author: Jack Weatherford
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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]]> 236511 An ambitious, perceptive portrayal of a complex man, this best-selling biography broke new ground in its exploration of Jefferson's inner life.

Here for the first time we meet Jefferson as a man of feeling and passion. With a novelist's skill and meticulous scholarship, Fawn M. Brodie shows Jefferson as he wrestled with issues of revolution, religion, power, race, and love-ambivalences that exerted a subtle but powerful influence on his political writing and his decision making. The portrait that results adds a whole new depth to those of the past.]]> 608 Fawn M. Brodie 0393317528 Kurt 5 3.95 1974
author: Fawn M. Brodie
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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]]> 22590
Esta mordaz comedia metafísica de muerte y salvación (que podrá llevar un cómodo envase) es un tour de force de amenaza paranoica y comedia absurda, en la cual los muertos ofrecen consejos comerciales, compran su siguiente reencarnación y corren el riesgo continuo de volver a morir.]]> 288 Philip K. Dick 8498000831 Kurt 5 4.11 1969
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 5
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]]> 321596 Essays in Idleness reflects the congenial priest's thoughts on a variety of subjects. His brief writings, some no more than a few sentences long and ranging in focus from politics and ethics to nature and mythology, mark the crystallization of a distinct Japanese principle: that beauty is to be celebrated, though it will ultimately perish. Through his appreciation of the world around him and his keen understanding of historical events, KenkĹŤ conveys the essence of Buddhist philosophy and its subtle teachings for all readers. Insisting on the uncertainty of this world, KenkĹŤ asks that we waste no time in following the way of Buddha.

In this fresh edition, Donald Keene's critically acclaimed translation is joined by a new preface, in which Keene himself looks back at the ripples created by KenkĹŤ's musings, especially for modern readers.]]> 235 Yoshida KenkĹŤ 0231112556 Kurt 5 3.94 1332
author: Yoshida KenkĹŤ
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1332
rating: 5
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]]> 3283869
John Churchill is, by any reasonable analysis, Britain’s greatest ever soldier. He mastered strategy, tactics and logistics. His big four battles � Blenheim (which saved the Holy Roman Empire), Ramilies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet � were events at the very centre of the European stage. He captured Lille, France’s second city, overran Bavaria and beat a succession of French marshals so badly that one, the squat and energetic Bofflers, was rewarded by Louis XIV for only losing moderately.

A coalition manager long before the phrase was invented, he commanded a huge polyglot army with centrifugal political tendencies and bending it to his will by sheer force of personality.

He was also a politician on the domestic stage, intimate with two monarchs, James II and Queen Anne, and the prop of successive cabinets. He had extraordinary strength and durability. His family connections wove him into the fabric of Europe: his sister Arabella was James II’s mistress and their son, James, Duke of Berwick, was one of Louis XIV’s most successful commanders. Although the Marlboroughs lost their only son Jack to smallpox, both their daughters married Whig grandees, and their descendants include Sir Winston Churchill and Earl Spencer.

Yet John Churchill was also deeply controversial. He accepted a pension from one of Charles II’s mistresses for services vigorously rendered. He owed his rise and his peerage to James II yet, determined to be on the winning side, he deserted him in his hour of need in 1688. He maintained regular correspondence with the Jacobites while serving William and Mary and with the French while fighting Louis XIV. He made money on a prodigious scale, but was notoriously tight-fisted, long regretting an annuity given to a secretary whose quick-wittedness saved him from capture. But in the age when commissions were bought and sold, and commanders often owed their position to the hue of their blood, he never lost his soldiers� confidence.]]> 512 Richard Holmes 0007225717 Kurt 5 3.83 2008
author: Richard Holmes
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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]]> 15839976 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 382 Pierce Brown 0345539788 Kurt 5 4.26 2014
author: Pierce Brown
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 77661 206 Josephine Tey Kurt 5 3.89 1951
author: Josephine Tey
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1951
rating: 5
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]]> 522525 Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take a compelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification.

Why is it so hard to say “I made a mistake”—and really believe it?

When we make mistakes, cling to outdated attitudes, or mistreat other people, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so, unconsciously, we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right—a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong. Backed by years of research, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-justification—how it works, the damage it can cause, and how we can overcome it.

This updated edition concludes with an extended discussion of how we can live with dissonance; learn from it; and perhaps, eventually, forgive ourselves.]]> 292 Carol Tavris 0151010986 Kurt 5 4.01 2007
author: Carol Tavris
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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]]> 18693771 A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.]]> 464 Bessel van der Kolk 0670785938 Kurt 5 4.36 2014
author: Bessel van der Kolk
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> 573601 528 Ivan Morris 0374521204 Kurt 5 The best! My favorite book! 4.23 1975
author: Ivan Morris
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1975
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
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The best! My favorite book!
]]> 1845 Librarian's Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, a party of moose hunters found his decomposed body. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw away the maps. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.]]> 207 Jon Krakauer 0385486804 Kurt 5 4.01 1996
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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]]> 16282857 Karl Ove KnausgĂĄrd Kurt 5 not-sure 4.13 2009
author: Karl Ove KnausgĂĄrd
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
shelves: not-sure
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]]> 253984 A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary. It is a book of compelling glimpses—not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic. First published to enormous acclaim, it confirmed Fermor's reputation as the greatest living travel writer, and has, together with its sequel Between the Woods and the Water (the third volume is famously yet to be published), been a perennial seller for 25 years.]]> 321 Patrick Leigh Fermor 1590171659 Kurt 5 4.06 1977
author: Patrick Leigh Fermor
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1977
rating: 5
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]]> 70401 307 Jack Kerouac 0140042598 Kurt 5 3.63 1957
author: Jack Kerouac
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1957
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/04/13
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]]> 19501
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want—a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world—all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way—unexpectedly.

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.]]> 368 Elizabeth Gilbert 0143038419 Kurt 5 3.64 2006
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> 27161156 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062300546.

Hillbilly Elegy recounts J.D. Vance's powerful origin story...

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's white working class.

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.'s grandparents were "dirt poor and in love," and moved north from Kentucky's Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.]]> 264 J.D. Vance Kurt 5 3.81 2016
author: J.D. Vance
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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In Nate's 21st-century literary world, wit and conversation are not at all dead. Is romance? Novelist Adelle Waldman plunges into the psyche of a flawed, sometimes infuriating modern man--one who thinks of himself as beyond superficial judgment, yet constantly struggles with his own status anxiety, who is drawn to women, yet has a habit of letting them down in ways that may just make him an emblem of our times. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. is a tale of one young man's search for happiness--and an inside look at how he really thinks about women, sex and love.]]> 256 Adelle Waldman 0805097457 Kurt 5 3.28 2013
author: Adelle Waldman
name: Kurt
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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]]> 12262741 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State � and she would do it alone.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.]]> 336 Cheryl Strayed 0307592731 Kurt 5 4.06 2012
author: Cheryl Strayed
name: Kurt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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