Nikita's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 24 Feb 2025 00:30:15 -0800 60 Nikita's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Someone Like You (A Roald Dahl Short Story)]]> 19893109 Someone Like You is a short, gripping story of life in wartime from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale.



In Someone Like You, Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors, tells of two wartime pilots arguing over the fickle hand of fate (and the airman) . . .



Someone Like You is taken from the short story collection Over to You, which includes nine other dramatic and terrifying tales of life as a wartime fighter pilot, and is drawn from Dahl's own experiences during the Second World War.



This story is also available as a Penguin digital audio download read by Julian Rhind-Tutt.



Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.

]]> 15 Roald Dahl Nikita 5 3.77 1953 Someone Like You (A Roald Dahl Short Story)
author: Roald Dahl
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/13
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Night Sky with Exit Wounds 33861439 Winner of the 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize‘Reading Vuong is like watching a fish he manages the varied currents of English with muscled intuition.� New YorkerAn extraordinary debut from a young Vietnamese American, Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a book of poetry unlike any other. Steeped in war and cultural upheaval and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most profound subjects � love and loss, conflict, grief, memory and desire � and attends to them all with lines that feel newly-minted, graceful in their cadences, passionate and hungry in their tender, close ‘…the chief of police/facedown in a pool of Coca-Cola./A palm-sized photo of his father soaking/beside his left ear.� This is an unusual, important both gentle and visceral, vulnerable and assured, and its blend of humanity and power make it one of the best first collections of poetry to come out of America in years.‘These are poems of exquisite beauty, unashamed of romance, and undaunted by looking directly into the horrors of war, the silences of history. One of the most important debut collections for a generation.� Andrew McMillan Winner of the 2017 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection A Guardian / Daily Telegraph Book of the YearPBS Summer Recommendation]]> 96 Ocean Vuong 1473548020 Nikita 4 3.88 2016 Night Sky with Exit Wounds
author: Ocean Vuong
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The World's Wife 34734095 The Boy Next Door. The Paramour. The Je t'adore.

Behind every famous man is a great woman—and from the quick-tongued Mrs. Darwin to the lascivious Frau Freud, from the adoring Queen Kong to the long-suffering wife of the Devil himself, each one steps from her counterpart's shadow to tell her side of the story in this irresistible collection. Original, subversive, full of imagination and quicksilver wit, this is Carol Ann Duffy at her beguiling best.]]> 96 Carol Ann Duffy 1509852662 Nikita 5 4.05 1999 The World's Wife
author: Carol Ann Duffy
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who: The Angel of Redemption: a 2010s story]]> 157495604
The Weeping Angels are an ancient race of terrible power.

With the ability to propel their victims backwards in time, their true form is a mystery - they turn to stone on sight. So they wander the universe, cursed never to see one another.

But they see everything the whole course of time and space - even the journey of their deadliest enemy, the Doctor.

In this extraordinary, epic poem, the Weeping Angels sing the story of the years they've battled the Doctor, and everything in between, as - like a Greek Chorus - they tell the world their tragic tale.]]> 168 Nikita Gill 1405957042 Nikita 5 4.64 2023 Doctor Who: The Angel of Redemption: a 2010s story
author: Nikita Gill
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/31
date added: 2023/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Guest List 52656911
The bride � The plus one � The best man � The wedding planner � The bridesmaid � The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley Nikita 4 3.82 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Poems 17186498 Christina Rossetti -was the one woman of the young "Pre-Raphaelite" company. When their little short-lived "Germ" was published, in 1850, three notable poets were associated-Coventry Patmore, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Christina. She was one of that band; but little, indeed, do we hear of her in the many histories and recollections of the times and the men. She lived in close affection with her family, in slight intercourse with a few friends, but much aloof from the world. Her seclusion was not in the service of herself or of her muse. We are told that during fifty-six years she was hardly a night absent from her mother. To that mother, to her two aged aunts, to the services of her churchy to the succour of the poor - in a word to duty, she dedicated herself informally. Her brother, Mr. W. M. Rossetti, has written: "One thing which occupied her to an extent one would hardly credit was the making-up of scrapbooks for hospital patients or children So far was this woman of genius from the rebelliousness and self-seeking not unknown among women-writers of a little talent.
Christina Rossetti was London-born in 1830, of an Italian father and a mother partly Italian partly English, and was brought up to be almost completely an Englishwoman, albeit her childhood was passed within hearing of the vehement conversations of her father's Italian political friends. She travelled extremely little; we read of but one tour in Italy. Her great devotion to the Anglican Church seemed to fix her yet more firmly as English.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.]]> 428 Christina Rossetti Nikita 4 3.83 1876 Poems
author: Christina Rossetti
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1876
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/08/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Girl A 55271524 352 Abigail Dean Nikita 0 3.54 2021 Girl A
author: Abigail Dean
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/01
date added: 2021/12/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion]]> 43126457 Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly in a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Jia writes about the cultural prisms that have shaped her: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the American scammer as millennial hero; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the mandate that everything, including our bodies, should always be getting more efficient and beautiful until we die.]]> 303 Jia Tolentino 0525510540 Nikita 5 4.04 2019 Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
author: Jia Tolentino
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)]]> 28187230 341 Ruth Ware 1501132938 Nikita 0 3.73 2016 The Woman in Cabin 10 (Lo Blacklock, #1)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The House We Grew Up In 18764826
Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they've never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.]]> 388 Lisa Jewell 1476702993 Nikita 0 3.73 2013 The House We Grew Up In
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The Night She Disappeared 55922299
Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah's friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

'DIG HERE' . . .

A cold case, an abandoned mansion, family trauma and dark secrets lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's remarkable new novel.]]> 416 Lisa Jewell 1982137363 Nikita 5 4.05 2021 The Night She Disappeared
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom]]> 49814602 Bestselling poet, writer, and Instagram sensation Nikita Gill returns with a collection of poetry and prose exploring Hindu mythology and legend.

Let her be a little less human, a little more divine
Give her heart armor so it doesn't break as easily as mine

Meet Paro. A girl with a strong will, a full heart, and much to learn. Born into a family reeling from the ruptures of Partition in India, we follow her as she crosses the precarious lines between childhood, teenage discovery, and realizing her adult self. In the process, Paro must confront fear, desire and the darkest parts of herself in the search for meaning and, ultimately, empowerment.

Nikita Gill's vivid poetry and beautiful illustrations have captured hearts and imaginations--but in The Girl and the Goddess, she offers us her most personal and deeply felt writing to date: an intimate coming-of-age story told in linked poems that offers a look into the Hindu mythology and rich cultural influences that helped her become the woman she is today.]]> 352 Nikita Gill 0593085663 Nikita 0
EDIT: MAJOR NEWS: LENA HEADEY IS PRODUCING A TV ADAPTATION OF THIS BOOK!!

]]> 4.43 2020 The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom
author: Nikita Gill
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/10
shelves:
review:
My first ever novel in verse. Still cannot believe it is out in the world finally. ❤️

EDIT: MAJOR NEWS: LENA HEADEY IS PRODUCING A TV ADAPTATION OF THIS BOOK!!


]]> Zig-Zag Girl 36396001
Widely known for her performance poetry, author Brenna Twohy offers an intimate portrait of loss, abuse, and the messy ways that we heal. Often funny and always honest, Zig-Zag Girl is about grief, strength, and the magic of holding on.]]> 50 Brenna Twohy Nikita 0 to-read 4.11 Zig-Zag Girl
author: Brenna Twohy
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Every Dark Waning (Celestial Bodies Poetry Series Book 3)]]> 30843674
�

CELESTIAL BODIES is the study of poetry as body; of gleaning words from stars. The series aims to entice and encompass, to invite the reader to enter their orbit, to begin anew.]]> 60 A. Davida Jane Nikita 0 4.25 2016 Every Dark Waning (Celestial Bodies Poetry Series Book 3)
author: A. Davida Jane
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2018/08/09
date added: 2021/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Helium 36537305 Helium is the debut poetry collection by internet phenom Rudy Francisco, whose work has defined poetry for a generation of new readers. Rudy's poems and quotes have been viewed and shared millions of times as he has traveled the country and the world performing for sell-out crowds. Helium is filled with work that is simultaneously personal and political, blending love poems, self-reflection, and biting cultural critique on class, race and gender into an unforgettable whole. Ultimately, Rudy's work rises above the chaos to offer a fresh and positive perspective of shared humanity and beauty.]]> 113 Rudy Francisco 1943735352 Nikita 0 4.38 2017 Helium
author: Rudy Francisco
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2021/08/26
date added: 2021/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (Kindle Single)]]> 32516609 173 Malika Booker Nikita 0 3.73 The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (Kindle Single)
author: Malika Booker
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2018/08/22
date added: 2021/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Kingdom of Exiles (Outcast #1)]]> 37584808
Serena Smith is unusual.

Growing up in a backwoods village, her life is lonely and dull. Then, on her eighteenth birthday, she's gifted a magical heirloom only to be snatched by fae and condemned to a lifetime in chains.

Dragged to Aldar, a fae kingdom ruled by a tyrant witch, Serena discovers a forbidden love, and meets fellow outcasts, each with their own dark secrets.

As the lives of warriors, rebels, and witches clash, they find a shared destiny. For only together, and with Serena's unique gifts, can they survive long enough to build the flames of a revolution. Only together can they go to war ...
]]> 600 S.B. Nova Nikita 0 4.14 2017 A Kingdom of Exiles (Outcast #1)
author: S.B. Nova
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/22
date added: 2021/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Zimbabwe 24906102 86 Tapiwa Mugabe Nikita 0 4.12 2013 Zimbabwe
author: Tapiwa Mugabe
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2018/08/22
date added: 2021/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> The Death of Mrs. Westaway 36373481
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it.]]> 368 Ruth Ware 1501156217 Nikita 0 3.79 2018 The Death of Mrs. Westaway
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/13
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Girls in the Garden 27276357
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.

You think your children are safe.

But are they really?

Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?]]> 320 Lisa Jewell 1476792216 Nikita 0 3.51 2015 The Girls in the Garden
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/11
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (Persepolis, #2)]]> 9517 Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day," Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Here is the continuation of her fascinating story. In 1984, Marjane flees fundamentalism and the war with Iraq to begin a new life in Vienna. Once there, she faces the trials of adolescence far from her friends and family, and while she soon carves out a place for herself among a group of fellow outsiders, she continues to struggle for a sense of belonging.

Finding that she misses her home more than she can stand, Marjane returns to Iran after graduation. Her difficult homecoming forces her to confront the changes both she and her country have undergone in her absence and her shame at what she perceives as her failure in Austria. Marjane allows her past to weigh heavily on her until she finds some like-minded friends, falls in love, and begins studying art at a university. However, the repression and state-sanctioned chauvinism eventually lead her to question whether she can have a future in Iran.

As funny and poignant as its predecessor, Persepolis 2 is another clear-eyed and searing condemnation of the human cost of fundamentalism. In its depiction of the struggles of growing up--here compounded by Marjane's status as an outsider both abroad and at home--it is raw, honest, and incredibly illuminating.]]> 187 Marjane Satrapi 0375714669 Nikita 5 4.22 2001 Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (Persepolis, #2)
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/30
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)]]> 9516
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.]]> 153 Marjane Satrapi 037571457X Nikita 5 4.27 2003 Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/30
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. It reminded me of my childhood.
]]> Blankets 25179 A young man comes of age and finds the confidence to express his creative voice.

Craig Thompson's poignant sequential-art memoir plays out against the backdrop of a Midwestern winterscape: finely hewn linework draws together a portrait of small town life, a rigorously fundamentalist Christian childhood, and a lonely, emotionally mixed-up adolescence.

Under an engulfing blanket of snow, Craig and Raina fall in love at winter church camp, revealing to one another their struggles with faith and their dreams of escape. Over time though, their personal demons resurface and their relationship falls apart. It's a universal story, and Thompson's vibrant brushstrokes and unique page designs make the familiar heartbreaking all over again.]]> 582 Craig Thompson 1891830430 Nikita 0 4.05 2003 Blankets
author: Craig Thompson
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> The Park Bench 32951507
Through Chabouté's elegant graphic style, we watch people pass, stop, meet, return, wait and play out the strange and funny choreography of life. Fans of The Fox and the Star, The Man Who Planted Trees and Richard Linklater's Boyhood will find this intimate graphic novel about a simple park bench - and the people who walk by or linger - poignant, life-affirming and brilliantly original.]]> 336 Christophe Chabouté 0571332307 Nikita 5 4.20 2012 The Park Bench
author: Christophe Chabouté
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Third Wife 22430311 A tragic accident? Or suicide? Her grief-stricken husband, Adrian, is determined to find out.

Maya had a job she enjoyed; she had friends. They'd been in love. She even got on with his two previous wives and their children. In fact, they'd all been one big happy family.

But before long Adrian starts to identify the dark cracks in his perfect life.
Because everyone has secrets. And secrets have consequences. Some of which can be devastating.]]> 337 Lisa Jewell Nikita 0 3.44 2014 The Third Wife
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/01
date added: 2021/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Maidens 45300567
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.]]> 337 Alex Michaelides 1250304458 Nikita 0 3.61 2021 The Maidens
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/27
date added: 2021/06/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Wytches, Volume 1 25243735
Collecting: Wytches 1-6]]> 192 Scott Snyder 1632153807 Nikita 0 3.79 2014 Wytches, Volume 1
author: Scott Snyder
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/24
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Through the Woods 18659623 'It came from the woods. Most strange things do.'

Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss.

These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.

Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there...]]> 208 Emily Carroll 1442465956 Nikita 5 3.94 2014 Through the Woods
author: Emily Carroll
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/24
date added: 2021/06/24
shelves:
review:
Really enjoyed these dark, beautifully illustrated short stories. A chilling and well made graphic novel.
]]> Then She Was Gone 35297426 She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?]]> 359 Lisa Jewell 1501154648 Nikita 0 4.02 2017 Then She Was Gone
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/23
date added: 2021/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Graveyard Book 2213661
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.

But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.

A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.]]> 312 Neil Gaiman 0060530928 Nikita 0 4.15 2008 The Graveyard Book
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/22
date added: 2021/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> I Found You 30753651 'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel.]]> 352 Lisa Jewell 1501154591 Nikita 0 3.89 2016 I Found You
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/19
date added: 2021/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lessons in Love and Other Crimes]]> 57137052 **Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2022** Tesya has reasons to feel hopeful after leaving her last job, where she was subjected to a series of anonymous hate crimes. Now she is back home in London to start a new lecturing position, and has begun an exciting, if tumultuous, love affair with the enigmatic Holly. But this idyllic new start quickly sours. Tesya finds herself victimized again at work by an unknown assailant, who subjects her to an insidious, sustained race hate crime. As her paranoia mounts, Tesya finds herself yearning for the most elemental of love, acceptance, and sanctuary. Her assailant, meanwhile, is recording his manifesto and plotting his next steps. Inspired by the author’s personal experiences of hate crime and bookended with essays which contextualize the story within a lifetime of microaggressions, Lessons in Love and Other Crimes is a heartbreaking, hopeful, and compulsively readable novel about the most quotidian of crimes. ‘A story you won’t be able to get out of your head.� —� Cosmopolitan]]> 272 Elizabeth Chakrabarty 1911648225 Nikita 5 3.66 Lessons in Love and Other Crimes
author: Elizabeth Chakrabarty
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.66
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/02
date added: 2021/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1)]]> 56978089
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.]]> 374 Judy I. Lin 1250767083 Nikita 0 to-read 3.81 2022 A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, #1)
author: Judy I. Lin
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Invisible Girl 50542147
In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.

Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.

Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
]]> 404 Lisa Jewell 1982137339 Nikita 0 3.74 2020 Invisible Girl
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/12
date added: 2021/06/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)]]> 43822820 here.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

The can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.]]> 352 Lisa Jewell 1501190105 Nikita 0 3.93 2019 The Family Upstairs (The Family Upstairs, #1)
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/16
date added: 2021/06/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rules of Payne 2: Electric Boogaloo (Cake Love, #1.1)]]> 25594587 Morgana Drake has had a taste of Payne and find she likes it in more ways than one, but she still has a few problems. Here are just a few:
Morgana’s Problem: Her Big Idea
Morgana’s Problem: Slut Hands
Morgana’s Problem: Letting Go

Henrik Payne knows what he has to do. In the process he realizes he is too selfish for his own good, and the good of others. He’s also discovers his rules suck balls. He has made a new list. Here is just a few of his anti-rules:
Payne’s Anti-Rule: Make Mistakes and Then Learn from Them
Payne’s Anti-Rule: Be Careful when Looking the Devil Directly in it's Eyes
Payne’s Anti-Rule: Observe and Learn but Stay and Play

Henrik and Morgana have gotten caught. Now what?
Many readers asked: Do they get fired? Do they stay together? Where does cake fall in all of this?
All will be revealed with this final book of Rules of Payne.]]> Elizabeth Lynx Nikita 0 to-read 3.70 2015 Rules of Payne 2: Electric Boogaloo (Cake Love, #1.1)
author: Elizabeth Lynx
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Remixed Classics)]]> 53185340 Two intrepid girls hunt for a legendary treasure on the deadly high seas in this YA remix of the classic adventure novel Treasure Island.

1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet, the scourge of the South China Sea, is no more. Its ruthless leader, a woman known only as the Head of the Dragon, is now only a story, like the ones Xiang has grown up with all her life. She desperately wants to prove her worth, especially to her mother, a shrewd businesswoman who never seems to have enough time for Xiang. Her father is also only a story, dead at sea before Xiang was born. Her single memento of him is a pendant she always wears, a simple but plain piece of gold jewelry.

But the pendant's true nature is revealed when a mysterious girl named Anh steals it, only to return it to Xiang in exchange for her help in decoding the tiny map scroll hidden inside. The revelation that Xiang's father sailed with the Dragon Fleet and tucked away this secret changes everything. Rumor has it that the legendary Head of the Dragon had one last treasure—the plunder of a thousand ports—that for decades has only been a myth, a fool's journey.

Xiang is convinced this map could lead to the fabled treasure. Captivated with the thrill of adventure, she joins Anh and her motley crew off in pursuit of the island. But the girls soon find that the sea—and especially those who sail it—are far more dangerous than the legends led them to believe.]]> 425 C.B. Lee Nikita 0 to-read 4.01 2021 Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Remixed Classics)
author: C.B. Lee
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea]]> 56978100
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…]]> 325 Axie Oh 1250780861 Nikita 0 to-read 4.10 2022 The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
author: Axie Oh
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)]]> 53457092
Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear--no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.]]> 454 Elizabeth Lim 0593300939 Nikita 0 to-read 4.19 2021 Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1)
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> My Sister, the Serial Killer 38819868
My Sister, the Serial Killer is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water...]]> 226 Oyinkan Braithwaite 0385544235 Nikita 5 3.65 2018 My Sister, the Serial Killer
author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/15
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> When No One Is Watching 49398072 Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning...

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she's known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community's past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block--her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo's deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other--or themselves--long enough to find out before they too disappear?

Featured in Parade, Essence, Bustle, Popsugar, Elle, Shondaland, Marie Claire, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Good Housekeeping, Brit + Co, Real Simple, Lit Hub, Crime Reads, Blavity, Ms. Magazine, Hello Giggles, The New York Times, Town & Country, Newsweek, New York Post, Refinery29, Woman's World, Washington Post, the Skimm, Book Riot, Bookish, Huffington Post, and more!
]]> 352 Alyssa Cole 0062982656 Nikita 5 3.45 2020 When No One Is Watching
author: Alyssa Cole
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> My Dark Vanessa 44890081
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.]]> 373 Kate Elizabeth Russell 006294150X Nikita 3 4.09 2020 My Dark Vanessa
author: Kate Elizabeth Russell
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> I'm Thinking of Ending Things 40605223 Now a Netflix original movie, this deeply scary and intensely unnerving novel follows a couple in the midst of a twisted unraveling of the darkest unease. You will be scared. But you won’t know why�

I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.�

And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here.

In this smart and intense literary suspense novel, Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, I’m Thinking of Ending Things pulls you in from the very first page…and never lets you go.]]> 241 Iain Reid Nikita 3 3.53 2016 I'm Thinking of Ending Things
author: Iain Reid
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Grownup 26025580
“The Grownup,� originally appeared as “What Do You Do?� in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.]]> 64 Gillian Flynn 0804188971 Nikita 4 3.55 2014 The Grownup
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 50523477 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]> 533 Tasha Suri 0356515648 Nikita 0 to-read 4.12 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Home Before Dark 50833559 What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?]]> 389 Riley Sager 1524745170 Nikita 0 to-read 4.05 2020 Home Before Dark
author: Riley Sager
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Vanishing Half 51791252
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.]]> 343 Brit Bennett 0525536299 Nikita 0 to-read 4.12 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Guest List 51933429
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 330 Lucy Foley Nikita 4 3.64 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Lying Game 32895291 New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel.

On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister...

The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.�

The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other—ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).]]> 370 Ruth Ware 1501156004 Nikita 5 3.51 2017 The Lying Game
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/01
date added: 2021/05/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Mermaid of Black Conch 49869087
Now David must work to win Aycayia's trust while she relearns what it is to be human, navigating not only her new body but also her relationship with others on the island--a difficult task after centuries of loneliness. As David and Aycayia grow to love each other, they juggle both the joys and the dangers of life on shore. But a lingering question remains: Will the former mermaid be able to escape her curse? Taking on many points of view, this mythical adventure tells the story of one woman's return to land, her healing, and her survival.]]> 187 Monique Roffey 184523457X Nikita 5 3.86 2020 The Mermaid of Black Conch
author: Monique Roffey
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/03/11
shelves:
review:
This is one of my favourite books of all time. A mermaid story unlike any other!
]]> In a Dark, Dark Wood 27834600
Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself.

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.]]> 352 Ruth Ware 1501112333 Nikita 0 3.76 2015 In a Dark, Dark Wood
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves:
review:

]]> The Turn of the Key 42080142
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.

It was everything.

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.]]> 337 Ruth Ware 1501188771 Nikita 5 3.91 2019 The Turn of the Key
author: Ruth Ware
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/20
date added: 2021/02/20
shelves:
review:
Oh this book was so good. I had to read it in a single sitting because it really kept me on the edge of my seat - every character had secrets including the narrator and they were well hidden. The ending broke my whole heart, I really wasn’t expecting that at all. I found the format interesting as well, just a great book all in all.
]]> The Hunting Party 37642030 Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?]]> 406 Lucy Foley 0008297126 Nikita 4 3.59 2018 The Hunting Party
author: Lucy Foley
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/18
date added: 2021/02/18
shelves:
review:
I’m a sucker for a good thriller/mystery and this definitely reminded me why I love this genre so much. Foley is the master of the red herring, I was sure I knew where the book was going and who the murderer was and she flipped the whole script on me. This was well written and kept me guessing.
]]> Violet 45869966
Carrie's best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world trip they'd planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone.

Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.

When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend's place.

Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues, through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel � because one of these women is not who she claims to be�

A tense and twisted psychological thriller about obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships, Violet also reminds us that there's a reason why mother told us not to talk to strangers...]]> 276 S.J.I. Holliday 1912374854 Nikita 0 3.66 2019 Violet
author: S.J.I. Holliday
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/02/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the End, It Was All About Love]]> 56513347
In The End, It Was All About Love is a journey of loss and self-acceptance that takes its nameless narrator all the way through bustling Berlin to his roots, a quiet village on the Uganda-Sudan border. It is a bracingly honest story of love, sexuality and spirituality, of racism, dating, and alienation; of fleeing the greatest possible pain, and of the hopeful road home.]]> 133 Musa Okwonga Nikita 5 incredible-writing 4.40 2021 In the End, It Was All About Love
author: Musa Okwonga
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/01
date added: 2021/02/17
shelves: incredible-writing
review:
A moving, beautiful book that has stayed with me since the day I read it. The writing is so lyrical, and this was such a poignant read.
]]> V for Vendetta 5805 "Remember, remember the fifth of November..."

A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.]]> 296 Alan Moore 1401207928 Nikita 4 4.26 1990 V for Vendetta
author: Alan Moore
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Meanwhile 55203185
These poems are inspired by liminality and rites of passage we cannot come back from. They look at the new millennium, where the rituals of adulthood, of becoming, of making sense as a role model citizen and perceived pillar of society, are based on capitalist milestones of maturity and self-realisation which seem impossible to those stuck in the Meanwhile.

These respectability parameters are the ones accepted for those who are locked within the narrative of ‘the outstanding migrant�, ‘the successful queer�, ‘the child prodigy�, ‘the perfect body� and ‘the beautiful mind�; as if the only way to escape judgement and earn dignity as human beings within the margins is to fit into the media and government-approved stories of acceptance and assimilation at the right time, place and age.

Through these pages, we embrace the Meanwhile, and we embrace ourselves to get ready for whatever comes next.

“Cynthia has a profoundly distinct voice which, coupled with their razor-sharp insightful view of the world has created a beautiful, heart breaking and hilarious collection of poetry. Cynthia takes no prisoners in this dissection of what it means to be 'other', to not feel that you quite fit in one world or another but fall between the cracks and they explore that in all its rich and undiscovered imagery. This collection really is a very special thing.�
Jess Green

"Cynthia Rodríguez unflinchingly turns a mirror to self, to Britain, what it means to be a migrant, a citizen. Fearful and fearless."
Dean Atta

"Following in the Latin American tradition but (dis)placed in contemporary Britain, Cynthia Rodríguez cleverly blurs the lines between playful kitsch, deadpan humour and lightning flashes of poetic revelation."
Juana Ádcock

"In this confident and important debut, Rodríguez draws on heritage, culture and politics to sing a ‘Girl Electric� � reframing and reclaiming a range of often marginalised experiences � to devastating, triumphant and compelling effect."
Lydia Towsey]]> 76 Cynthia Rodríguez 1911570943 Nikita 5 4.62 Meanwhile
author: Cynthia Rodríguez
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/01/11
shelves:
review:
This is an outstanding collection by an excellent poet. So much I connected to here, being queer and a migrant myself, each of these poems is an anthem, I loved the poems about childhood and mental health especially, they hit me so deeply. Cannot wait to read what this poet writes next! ❤️
]]> <![CDATA[The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase]]> 17415726 The idiosyncratic, erudite and brilliantly funny new book from Mark Forsyth, bestselling author of The Etymologicon and The Horologicon.

In an age unhealthily obsessed with substance, this is a book on the importance of pure style.

From classic poetry to pop lyrics and from the King James Bible to advertising slogans, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase - such as ‘Tiger, tiger, burning bright� or ‘To be or not to be� - memorable.

In his inimitably entertaining and witty style he takes apart famous lines and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Whether you’re aiming for literary immortality or just an unforgettable one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don't need to have anything to say - you simply need to say it well.]]> 205 Mark Forsyth 1848316216 Nikita 0 4.35 2013 The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase
author: Mark Forsyth
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/07
date added: 2021/01/06
shelves:
review:

]]> re: desire 55037950
re: desire is a collection of poetry that draws upon literary traditions and cultural references to flip the male gaze common in mushairas on its head. Common themes for mushairas arelove, God and being drunk or intoxicated by love and God but is usually seen from a male perspective. The pieces in re:desire are mainly told from a female perspective, and question the gender given to particular acts, objects and ideas.]]> 97 Afshan D'souza-Lodhi 1911570854 Nikita 5 3.84 2020 re: desire
author: Afshan D'souza-Lodhi
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/01/06
shelves:
review:
A fiery, powerful poetry collection that uses the cadence and beauty of the Urdu language to convey the experience of desi womanhood. Fierce and wonderful, I savoured every word in this collection!
]]> Tales From The Other Box 55515957 84 Rick Dove 1911570897 Nikita 5 4.40 Tales From The Other Box
author: Rick Dove
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/01/06
shelves:
review:
A truly splendid piece of work that is full of devastating and passionate poems. This book made me feel alive, that my rage is valid, that my grief is valid, that my love is valid. If you’re looking for wonderfully crafted work that resonates deeply with the heart, this is the book for you!
]]> <![CDATA[Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths]]> 51135393
Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Virgil to from Aeschylus to Sophocles and Euripides. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women’s stories.

Now, in Pandora’s Jar, Natalie Haynes � broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist � redresses this imbalance. Taking Greek creation myths as her starting point and then retelling the four great mythic sagas: the Trojan War, the Royal House of Thebes, Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles, she puts the female characters on equal footing with their menfolk. The result is a vivid and powerful account of the deeds � and misdeeds - of Hera, Aphrodite, Athene and Circe. And away from the goddesses of Mount Olympus it is Helen, Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Antigone and Medea who sing from these pages, not Paris, Agamemnon, Orestes or Jason.]]> 320 Natalie Haynes 1509873112 Nikita 5 greek-mythology
Fascinating and spellbinding, I’ll be recommending this book to everyone I know.]]> 4.24 2020 Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2021/01/02
shelves: greek-mythology
review:
Natalie Haynes is back with this eloquent, witty and powerful book about women from Greek mythology. We meet Pandora, Jocasta, Helen, Medusa and many more women who haven’t had their stories told this way, a way where every version of them is acknowledged, analysed, juxtaposed and most importantly humanised. Haynes provides us with every one of their myths and changes the perspective to add to their stories, giving us far more fully fleshed out characters. It’s interesting how much more three dimensional these mythological women become when their stories are being told by a writer who addresses their tales with warmth and nuance. Haynes touches on the works of playwrights like Euripides and Sophocles, art from Michaelangelo and brings in revelations from Pseudo Apollodorus and Aeschylus among many others to invoke a deeper meaning to the stories of the women we think we know.

Fascinating and spellbinding, I’ll be recommending this book to everyone I know.
]]> Run, Rebel 45892741
Running is a quiet rebellion. But Amber wants so much more - and she's ready to fight for it.

It's time for a revolution.]]> 496 Manjeet Mann 0241411424 Nikita 5 4.29 2020 Run, Rebel
author: Manjeet Mann
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/24
shelves:
review:
This book deserves all the love in the world. I sobbed, it made me feel so seen. Thank you to Manjeet Mann for this gorgeous piece of work!
]]> <![CDATA[On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous]]> 41880609 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born � a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam � and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.]]> 246 Ocean Vuong 0525562028 Nikita 5 4.05 2019 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
author: Ocean Vuong
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/24
shelves:
review:
Enchanting and heartbreaking. What a glorious read.
]]> A Pocketful of Stars 43667892 It’s night time. The stars wave hello, like they’ve been expecting me.
The door of the house, Mum’s house, is wide open, like it expects me too.
This time, I go inside . . .

Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn’t understand Safiya’s love of gaming and Safiya doesn't think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange alternative world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there’s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar . . .]]> 256 Aisha Bushby 1405293195 Nikita 5 4.12 2019 A Pocketful of Stars
author: Aisha Bushby
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/24
shelves:
review:
A STUNNING book. I loved every word. Cannot wait to read Aisha Bushby’s next work!
]]> <![CDATA[Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home]]> 53698248
We have to believe in hope in these dark uncertain times. Hope brings us together.

How do you find hope and even joy in a world that is racist, sexist and facing climate crisis? How do you prepare your children for it, but also fill them with all the boundlessness and eccentricity that they deserve and that life has to offer?

Nikesh Shukla explores themes of racism, feminism, parenting and our shifting ideas of home. This heartbreaking, compelling, intensely relatable memoir is a love letter to the author’s late mother � who passed away just before his eldest daughter was born � and to his two young daughters. In Brown Baby, Shukla examines, with humour and sharp, beautiful prose, how to raise the next generation with a sense of joy in an often bleak world.]]> 277 Nikesh Shukla 152903292X Nikita 5 4.10 2021 Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home
author: Nikesh Shukla
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/10/24
shelves:
review:
Nikesh Shukla’s beautiful and powerful memoir was certainly one of the best books I have ever read. With words full of tenderness, joy and grief, it struck me deep in my bones with revelations and wisdom. I loved it. Highly recommend!
]]> Today Means Amen 28478962 Whoever you are,
However you got here,
This is exactly where you are supposed to be.
This moment has waited its whole life for you.
These are the opening lines of "Today Means Amen," YouTube star Sierra deMulder’s immensely powerful and virally popular poem, which lends its title to this collection. Like her fellow Millennial poets Tyler Knot Gregson, Clementine von Radics, and Lang Leav, Sierra has the gift of speaking directly to the reader. “Today Means Amen� has become an anthem of sorts to thousands, who find themselves reflected in its pain, its fierceness, its tenderness � but also in its triumphant culminating
You made it
You made it
You made it
Here.
The poems in Sierra's new book explore the rocky terrains of love, family, and womanhood with this same remarkable honesty and generosity. Today Means Amen brings this important young poet's work to an even broader audience.]]> 114 Sierra DeMulder 1449479014 Nikita 0 3.91 2016 Today Means Amen
author: Sierra DeMulder
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/28
shelves:
review:

]]> If They Come for Us 36477796
In this powerful and imaginative debut poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America by braiding together personal and marginalized people's histories. After being orphaned as a young girl, Asghar grapples with coming-of-age as a woman without the guidance of a mother, questions of sexuality and race, and navigating a world that put a target on her back. Asghar's poems at once bear anguish, joy, vulnerability, and compassion, while exploring the many facets of violence: how it persists within us, how it is inherited across generations, and how it manifests in our relationships with friends and family, and in our own understanding of identity. Using experimental forms and a mix of lyrical and brash language, Asghar confronts her own understanding of identity and place and belonging.]]> 128 Fatimah Asghar 0525509798 Nikita 5 4.13 2018 If They Come for Us
author: Fatimah Asghar
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/02
date added: 2020/01/02
shelves:
review:
I’m surprised this book didn’t win all of the awards. It’s beautiful, urgent and powerful. Fatimah Asghar’s writing is stunning.
]]> Ayesha at Last 50206920 A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love.

Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn't want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices, and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century.

When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself.]]> 351 Uzma Jalaluddin 1984802798 Nikita 5 3.86 2018 Ayesha at Last
author: Uzma Jalaluddin
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters]]> 44157727 Empowering life lessons from myths and monsters.

Wonder at Medusa's potent venom, Circe's fierce sorcery and Athena rising up over Olympus, as Nikita Gill majestically explores the untold stories of the life bringers, warriors, creators, survivors and destroyers that shook the world - the great Greek Goddesses.

Vividly re-imagined and beautifully illustrated, step into an ancient world transformed by modern feminist magic.

'I watch Girl become Goddess
and the metamorphosis is more
magnificent than anything
I have ever known.' ]]> 248 Nikita Gill 1529104645 Nikita 0 4.15 2019 Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters
author: Nikita Gill
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Mock Orange Magazine 20510286 56 Kate E. Artz 1492913669 Nikita 5 4.00 2013 Mock Orange Magazine
author: Kate E. Artz
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/11/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy, #1)]]> 40524312
Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written an adventure that's also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf explores the fundamentals of truths, the limits of power, the excesses of ambition, and our need to understand them all.]]> 620 Marlon James 0735220174 Nikita 5 3.42 2019 Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy, #1)
author: Marlon James
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Nickel Boys 42279228 This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood's only salvation is his friendship with fellow "delinquent" Turner, which deepens despite Turner's conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead 0385537077 Nikita 5 4.28 2019 The Nickel Boys
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Starling Days 43464963
Oscar hopes that leaving New York for a few months will give Mina the space to heal. They travel to London, to an apartment wall-papered with indigo-eyed birds, to Oscar's oldest friends, to a canal and blooming flower market. Mina, a classicist, searches for solutions to her failing mental health using mythological women. But she finds a beam of light in a living woman. Friendship and attraction blossom until Oscar and Mina's complicated love is tested.]]> 304 Rowan Hisayo Buchanan 1473638372 Nikita 5 3.70 2019 Starling Days
author: Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/08/29
shelves:
review:
There is so much brilliance in this beautiful book. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's writing is truly breathtaking. Rich, poignant prose, along with a gorgeous plot full of the complexity of human relationships make this book one of the best I have ever read.
]]> I Never Said I Loved You 45157217 'I Never Said I Love You is one of the most electric, enchanting, engrossing and energising memoirs of self-harm, self-loathing, grief, eating disorders, suicide - and sex - that you will read.' The Sunday Times'Indecently entertaining... one of the most uplifting and eccentric memoirs I have ever read.' Observer'Brutally honest and relentlessly funny.' Adam Kay, author of 'This is Going to Hurt''A brilliant memoir full of gasp-inducing honesty about depression and family and taking control of your own pain. Funny, sad, hopeful, I Never Said I Loved You is an irresistible, strangely empowering read.' Matt Haig'This mind-blowingly wonderful memoir had me convulsing with laughter even while my heart was breaking. It's utterly effing BEAUTIFUL.' Marian Keyes'I found myself blindsided by this extraordinary book ... I was deeply moved by its capacity both to depict pain, and offer consolation. I loved it, and won't ever forget it.' Sarah Perry'Both touching and funny' the TelegraphOn an unlikely backpacking trip, Rhik and his mother find themselves speaking openly for the first time in years. Afterwards, the depression that has weighed down on Rhik begins to loosen its grip for a moment - so he seizes the to own it, to understand it, and to find out where it came from. Through this begins a journey of investigation, healing and recovery. Along the way Rhik learns some shocking truths about his family, and realizes that, in turn, he will need to confront the secrets he has long buried. But through this, he triumphs over his fears and brings his depression into the light. I Never Said I Loved You is the story of how Rhik learned to let go, and then keep going. With unique humour and honesty, he has created a powerfully rich, funny and poignant exploration of the light and dark in all of us.A vital, moving and darkly funny memoir by a powerful new voice in non-fiction.'Both unputdownable and beautifully-written, bracing and consoling. A book that tackles mental health and the darkest things with razor-sharp wit and mordant laughs aplenty ... read this.' Sharlene Teo'Touching, funny, wildly readable ... Look out for it.' Sathnam Sanghera'No one writes better, or more sweetly, about how it feels to feel. Even the darkest times are shot through with glorious, bright beams of wit.' Janet Ellis'It's honest and funny (and beautifully painful and brutal at times), but also - oh goodness - it's so elegant. The writing is graceful and kind, even when it hurts a little to remember it's a memoir.' Joanna Cannon 'Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. What an absolutely riveting read.' Nikita Gill'Heartbreaking, funny, raw, brave and - yes! - even better than the egg thing.' Erin Kelly'I have always loved Rhik Samadder's writing.]]> 270 Rhik Samadder 1472250680 Nikita 5 3.94 2019 I Never Said I Loved You
author: Rhik Samadder
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/01
date added: 2019/08/26
shelves:
review:
A heartbreaking and beautiful book that is effortlessly amusing and compelling. Rhik Samadder is an exceptional writer and I feel so fortunate to have read this gorgeous book. Could not recommend it more highly.
]]> Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body 26074156 New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.

“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.�

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,� Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.

With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.]]> 306 Roxane Gay 0062362593 Nikita 5 4.17 2017 Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
author: Roxane Gay
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/07/13
date added: 2018/12/25
shelves:
review:
This book was stunning, eye opening and beautifully written. Roxane Gay is phenomenal.
]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Works of Christina Rossetti]]> 22874156
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Rossetti's life and works
* Concise introductions to the poetry and other works
* Images of how the poetry books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts
* Excellent formatting of the poems
* Features Dante Gabirel Rossetti’s accompanying illustrations to GOBLIN MARKET
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry
* Easily locate the poems you want to read
* Includes Rossetti's complete short stories and her rare novella MAUDE, appearing for the first time in digital print
* Features a bonus biography by the Pre-Raphaelite expert Theodore Watts-Dunton - discover Rossetti's literary life
* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres
* Easily skip forward or back to each poem and section using the Kindle's 5-way controller

Please visit to browse through our range of exciting titles

CONTENTS:
The Poetry Collections
VERSES, 1847
GOBLIN MARKET AND OTHER POEMS
THE PRINCE’S PROGRESS AND OTHER POEMS
SING-SONG: A NURSERY RHYME BOOK
A PAGEANT AND OTHER POEMS
VERSES, 1893
SOME FEASTS AND FASTS
GIFTS AND GRACES
THE WORLD: SELF-DESTRUCTION
DIVERS WORLDS:TIME AND ETERNITY
NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CITIZENS
SONGS FOR STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS
PRIVATELY PUBLISHED POEMS
UNPUBLISHED POEMS

The Poems
LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

The Fiction
COMMONPLACE AND OTHER STORIES
MAUDE: A STORY FOR GIRLS

The Biography
CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI by Theodore Watts-Dunton

Please visit to browse through our range of exciting titles]]> 0 Christina Rossetti Nikita 5 4.32 1862 The Complete Works of Christina Rossetti
author: Christina Rossetti
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1862
rating: 5
read at: 2017/03/13
date added: 2018/11/13
shelves:
review:
Christina Rossetti's work has captured my heart for years and this book is the essential Rossetti for any poetry lover. Her words are full in ways that are indescribable.
]]> <![CDATA[Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul]]> 39088508
Traditional fairytales are rife with cliches and gender beautiful, silent princesses; ugly, jealous, and bitter villainesses; girls who need rescuing; and men who take all the glory.

But in this rousing new prose and poetry collection, Nikita Gill gives Once Upon a Time a much-needed modern makeover. Through her gorgeous reimagining of fairytale classics and spellbinding original tales, she dismantles the old-fashioned tropes that have been ingrained in our minds. In this book, gone are the docile women and male saviors. Instead, lines blur between heroes and villains. You will meet fearless princesses, a new kind of wolf lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent Gretel who can bring down monsters on her own.

Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations by Gill herself, Fierce Fairytales is an empowering collection of poems and stories for a new generation.]]> 176 Nikita Gill 0316420743 Nikita 5 4.02 2018 Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul
author: Nikita Gill
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Your Soul is a River 30630152 160 Nikita Gill Nikita 0 4.04 2012 Your Soul is a River
author: Nikita Gill
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Terrible 40194321 **WINNER of the 2019 PEN Ackerley Prize**'A major literary talent . . . speaks about the power and powerlessness that young women are subject to in a wholly fresh, clear-eyed way . . . you'll find it hard to come away from The Terrible without a stab of recognition in your chest' Stylist 'You may not run away from the thing that you arebecause it comes and comes and comes as sure as you breathe.'This is the story of Yrsa Daley-Ward, and all the things that happened - 'even the Terrible Things (and God, there were Terrible Things)'. It's about her childhood in the north-west of England with her beautiful, careworn mother and her little brother who sees things written in the stars. It's also about growing up and discovering the power and fear of sexuality, about pitch grey days of pills and going under, losing yourself, and finding your voice. 'Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands' Florence Welch]]> 205 Yrsa Daley-Ward Nikita 5 4.47 2018 The Terrible
author: Yrsa Daley-Ward
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/17
date added: 2018/07/29
shelves:
review:
I love Yrsa Daley-Ward. I love the way she visualises her world. I love the way her brain works, and the way she puts pen to paper. Her work on instagram is gorgeous, but this, this was something otherworldly altogether. To make it clear, I have not yet read Bone, so this is the first full body of work I have read by Daley-Ward and it stunned me. Her command over language, her effective and simple way of telling an explosive story, it's all there. All of it. I wept for her in this memoir. I found my hands shaking with fear and anticipation more than once. And incredible book by an incredible writer. And I cannot wait to read more.
]]> Tangleweed and Brine 36264664 180 Deirdre Sullivan Nikita 0 to-read 3.59 2017 Tangleweed and Brine
author: Deirdre Sullivan
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Keeper of Lost Things 34856247 A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.

Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles�Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Bone china cup and saucer�Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.

Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidently left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.

Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.

Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made.

As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest?

Full of character, wit, and wisdom, The Keeper of Lost Things is heartwarming tale that will enchant fans of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Garden Spells, Mrs Queen Takes the Train, and The Silver Linings Playbook.]]> 302 Ruth Hogan 1473635489 Nikita 4 3.75 2017 The Keeper of Lost Things
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Some Say the Lark 34381446 An alternate cover for this isbn can be found here.

Chang’s poems narrate grief and loss, and intertwines them with hope for a fresh start in the midst of new beginnings. With topics such as frustration with our social and natural world, these poems openly question the self and place and how private experiences like motherhood and sorrow necessitate a deeper engagement with public life and history.

From "The Winter's Wife":

I want wild roots to prosper
an invention of blooms, each unknown
to every wise gardener. If I could be
a color. If I could be a question
of tender regard. I know crabgrass
and thistle. I know one algorithm:
it has nothing to do with repetition
or rhythm. It is the route from number
to number (less to more, more
to less), a map drawn by proof
not faith. Unlike twilight, I do not
conclude with darkness. I conclude.
]]> 100 Jennifer Chang 193858466X Nikita 5 4.12 2017 Some Say the Lark
author: Jennifer Chang
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Red Suitcase (American Poets Continuum)]]> 880798
Valentine for Ernest Mann

You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter and say, "I’ll take two"
and expect it to handed back to you
on a shiny plate.

Still, I like you spirit.
Anyone who says, "Here’s my address,
write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn’t understand why she was crying.
"I thought they had such beautiful eyes."
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.]]> 90 Naomi Shihab Nye 1880238152 Nikita 5 4.19 1994 Red Suitcase (American Poets Continuum)
author: Naomi Shihab Nye
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Because You Love to Hate Me 33843449 Something wicked this way comes

Leave it to the heroes to save the world.
Villains just want to rule it.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to create tales from the often-misunderstood villains' points of view.

Prepare for spins on the classics you think you know, and dark insights into new tales. Read of the heartbreak, vengeance and pain that it takes to bring down an angel � and make a demon.

No fairy tale will ever be the same again.

Featuring writing from...

Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel)]]> 353 Amerie 1408882760 Nikita 3 3.35 2017 Because You Love to Hate Me
author: Amerie
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Peace Of Wild Things 36200598 I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

The poems of Wendell Berry invite us to stop, to think, to see the world around us, and to savour what is good. Here are consoling verses of hope and of healing; short, simple meditations on love, death, friendship, memory and belonging; luminous hymns to the land, the cycles of nature and the seasons as they ebb and flow. Here is the peace of wild things.]]> 144 Wendell Berry 014198712X Nikita 5 4.43 Peace Of Wild Things
author: Wendell Berry
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories]]> 35489150
When Mrs. Sorensen’s husband dies, she rekindles a long-dormant love with an unsuitable mate in “Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch.� In “Open the Door and the Light Pours Through,� a young man wrestles with grief and his sexuality in an exchange of letters with his faraway beloved. “Dreadful Young Ladies� demonstrates the strength and power—known and unknown—of the imagination. In “Notes on the Untimely Death of Ronia Drake,� a witch is haunted by the deadly repercussions of a spell. “The Insect and the Astronomer� upends expectations about good and bad, knowledge and ignorance, love and longing. The World Fantasy Award–winning novella The Unlicensed Magician introduces the secret magical life of an invisible girl once left for dead—with thematic echoes of Barnhill’s Newbery Medal–winning novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon.]]> 304 Kelly Barnhill 1616207973 Nikita 5 3.68 2018 Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Little Fires Everywhere 34273236
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned � from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren � an enigmatic artist and single mother � who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother–daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town � and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost . . .]]> 338 Celeste Ng 0735224293 Nikita 5 4.05 2017 Little Fires Everywhere
author: Celeste Ng
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/02
date added: 2018/05/23
shelves:
review:
This book paints a beautiful story with nuanced characters and difficult subjects. Ing is an exceptionally skilled and talented writer and I fell in love with her style. Look forward to reading much more from her.
]]> <![CDATA[Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines]]> 33219800
� Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
Author of The Crown Ain’t Worth Much

*

“Natalie Wee’s writing is indicative of a wordsmith-master utilizing all her tools with precision. Wee says the words we think, and then reshapes them, out loud, into beautiful origami-like gifts that hit you like “stray bullets splinter technicolour lovers.� The intricacies of her images walk a fine line that hover closely over genius, and the supernatural. From her well thought-out use of white space, enjambments, and form, Our Bodies and Other Fine Machines tells tales of hurt, pain, lust, love and all that lurks between leaving the “unsayable hung in our mouths.�

� Chelene Knight,
Managing Editor of Room Magazine

*

“This debut is breathtaking. Wee’s writing drops you into her world and you do not want to leave. Her portrait of girlhood from an outsider still feels as intimate and relentlessly soft as any old Polaroid plucked from your mother’s scrapbook. The poetry here is raw and refined, bloody and delicate, a whole body of work that turns our elusive moments into fine tuned pieces of machinery. Rarely do I find myself in awe of the beauty of language, both diction and visually. Even the shape of Wee’s words are gorgeous.

Though this is Wee’s first collection, she writes with a steady hand and a steadier voice. Wee’s perspective is genuine, honest, and highly crafted. Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines is a bouquet arranged with every blossom and thorn for us to witness.�

� Alex Dang!,
Author of Are You Proud of Me?

*

Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines, Natalie Wee asks, “What is it like to be made a person / instead of a stranger’s dim shadow?� and reveals, “my bones are heavy with the weight of never having been seen at all.� It is with just such rigor and grace that Wee demands sight throughout this collection. Illuminating myriad ways queer women of color are silenced, dismissed, and unseen, she uses her vibrant voice as a call to attention. At times demure, yet always potent: “Mine was not a magic / of large curses but small misfortunes,� Wee opens a necessary and vulnerable space for the silenced. “My hands have made / some good mistakes,� she confides, but warns, “Do not mistake my silence / for subservience.� These pages are alive with determination to be heard, seen, understood. There is an urgency here one cannot escape, expressed entirely in Wee’s own careful and knowing language. More than remarkable, this book is necessary.�

� Jeanann Verlee,
Author of Racing Hummingbirds and Said the Manic to the Muse]]> 104 Natalie Wee Nikita 5 incredible-writing 4.38 2016 Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines
author: Natalie Wee
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/10
date added: 2018/04/10
shelves: incredible-writing
review:
This book was such a wonderful and incredible journey! Natalie Wee is a phenomenal writer, and I am in awe of her craft. I carried this book with me into cafes, bars and trains and each poem I read seemed to bring alive the environment around me. I will treasure this collection forever. Buy it, and read it. I can not recommend it more strongly.
]]> The Madness Vase 19064137 100 Andrea Gibson 1935904388 Nikita 0 to-read 4.47 2011 The Madness Vase
author: Andrea Gibson
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic, #2)]]> 35924698 192 Amanda Lovelace 1449489427 Nikita 5 3.75 2018 The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic, #2)
author: Amanda Lovelace
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2017/11/12
date added: 2018/03/20
shelves:
review:
I was fortunate to get an advance look at this incredible book before its publication. This book is a phenomenon and so needed in the world. It tastes of freedom and fire and wonder and magic. Amanda Lovelace's growth and evolution as a poet is admirable and such a magnificent thing to see!
]]> <![CDATA[The Poet's Cookbook: Details for over 50 forms, types of meter, structure, rhyme and over 100 writing exercises.]]> 26826213 171 Dan Gilbert Nikita 3 3.57 2015 The Poet's Cookbook: Details for over 50 forms, types of meter, structure, rhyme and over 100 writing exercises.
author: Dan Gilbert
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2018/01/15
shelves:
review:
Real rating 2.5. It had some useful bits.
]]> Don't Call Us Dead 33375618 Don't Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love, and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith turns then to desire, mortality the dangers experienced in skin and body and blood and a diagnosis of HIV positive. "Some of us are killed / in pieces," Smith writes, some of us all at once. Don't Call Us Dead is an astonishing and ambitious collection, one that confronts, praises, and rebukes America--"Dear White America"--where every day is too often a funeral and not often enough a miracle.]]> 96 Danez Smith 1555977855 Nikita 5 4.47 2017 Don't Call Us Dead
author: Danez Smith
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Calling a Wolf a Wolf 34146688
This highly-anticipated debut boldly confronts addiction and courses the strenuous path of recovery, beginning in the wilds of the mind. Poems confront craving, control, the constant battle of alcoholism and sobriety, and the questioning of the self and its instincts within the context of this never-ending fight.

Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Kaveh Akbar exquisitely and tenaciously braids astonishment and atonement into a singular lyric voice. The desolation of alcoholism widens into hard-won insight: ‘the body is a mosque borrowed from Heaven.� Doubt and fear spiral into grace and beauty. Akbar’s mind, like his language, is perpetually in motion. His imagery—wounded and resplendent—is masterful and his syntax ensnares and releases music that’s both delicate and muscular. Kaveh Akbar has crafted one of the best debuts in recent memory. In his hands, awe and redemption hinge into unforgettable and gorgeous poems.� —Eduardo C. Corral]]> 100 Kaveh Akbar 1938584678 Nikita 5 4.35 2017 Calling a Wolf a Wolf
author: Kaveh Akbar
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Milk and Vine: Inspirational Quotes From Classic Vines]]> 36488053 72 Adam Gasiewski Nikita 1 3.74 2017 Milk and Vine: Inspirational Quotes From Classic Vines
author: Adam Gasiewski
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2017/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry]]> 440025
Nine Gates begins with a close examination of the roots of poetic craft in "the mind of concentration" and concludes by exploring the writer's role in creating a sense of community that is open, inclusive and able to bind the individual and the whole in a way that allows each full self-expression. in between, Nine Gates illumines the nature of originality, translation, the various strategies by which meaning unfolds itself in language, poetry's roots in oral memory and the importance of the shadow to good art.

A person who enters completely into the experience of a poem is initiated into a deeper intimacy with life. Delving into the nature of poetry, Jane Hirshfield also writes on the nature of the human mind, perception and experience. Nine Gates is about the underpinnings of poetic craft, but it is also about a way of being alive in the world -- alertly, musically, intelligently, passionately, permeably.

In part a primer for the general reader, Nine Gates is also a manual for the working writer, with each "gate" exploring particular strategies of language and thought that allow a poem to convey meaning and emotion with clarity and force. Above all, Nine Gates is an insightful guide to the way the mind of poetry awakens our fundamental consciousness of what can be known when a person is most fully alive.]]> 240 Jane Hirshfield 0060929480 Nikita 5 4.35 1997 Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry
author: Jane Hirshfield
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2017/12/20
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Stag’s Leap 16644052 In this wise and intimate new book, Sharon Olds tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom.

As she carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending, Olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love’s sight; the surprising physical bond that still exists between a couple during parting; the loss of everything from her husband’s smile to the set of his hip; the radical change in her sense of place in the world. Olds is naked before us, curious and brave and even generous toward the man who was her mate for thirty years and who now loves another woman. As she writes in the remarkable “Stag’s Leap,� “When anyone escapes, my heart / leaps up. Even when it’s I who am escaped from, / I am half on the side of the leaver.� Olds’s propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever, and there is a new range to the music—sometimes headlong, sometimes contemplative and deep. Her unsparing approach to both pain and love makes this one of the finest, most powerful books of poetry she has yet given us.

]]> 90 Sharon Olds 022409694X Nikita 5 3.99 2012 Stag’s Leap
author: Sharon Olds
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2017/12/20
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Selected Poems 21019058 176 Galway Kinnell 1852245417 Nikita 4 4.00 1980 Selected Poems
author: Galway Kinnell
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2017/12/18
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:
Ah, the magic of Galway Kinnell. Some of his poems just know my soul better than I ever could. A thoroughly enjoyable and beautiful book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)]]> 34211735 324 Margaret Atwood 1784873187 Nikita 5 4.08 1985 The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Essex Serpent 33016783
Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.]]> 448 Sarah Perry 1781255458 Nikita 3 3.49 2016 The Essex Serpent
author: Sarah Perry
name: Nikita
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Preparing My Daughter For Rain]]> 23009523 106 Key Ballah Nikita 5 4.10 2014 Preparing My Daughter For Rain
author: Key Ballah
name: Nikita
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/12
date added: 2017/12/20
shelves:
review:
Key Ballah is simply love and strength.
]]>