en-US Mon, 14 Mar 2022 09:56:12 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 1656001
As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1 - ACE #2 ]]> 619 Stephenie Meyer 0316068047 Brett 0 3.85 2008
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Brett
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/14
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]]> 13731050 120 Jeff Olsen 1599559862 Brett 4 4.18 2012
author: Jeff Olsen
name: Brett
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/03/11
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I really enjoyed this book and was very touched by it. The only thing that makes me wonder is that the author, who was raised in the LDS church seeks to downplay his connection to it now it appears. I guess that's not what I would choose to do if I had such an experience. Also, I wonder about leveraging his experience in the spiritual realm to become a popular author and speaker. I'm not sure how I feel about that, especially while distancing yourself from the church. It doesn't totally line up for me.
]]> 375802
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.]]> 324 Orson Scott Card 0812550706 Brett 5 4.31 1985
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/03/11
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review:
A painful but compelling book. Sometimes we adults forget how much pressure we can put on our children. Children shouldn't have to carry the burden of all our dreams, hopes, and aspirations.
]]> 16134758 268 John Pontius 1462111181 Brett 3 3.74 2012
author: John Pontius
name: Brett
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/03/11
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This is a controversial book, no doubt, but for me it wasn't. I read it when I was going through a divorce and it provided some comfort and hope that what I was going through wasn't just meaningless suffering, but had a purpose. Was everything in the book true and in line with gospel doctrine? No, of course not. I never thought of it or treated it as a book of scripture. It was just thought provoking. Why should that threaten so many? I'm not afraid of the book. If you are grounded, there is no need worry. Unfortunately some have been deceived and have used the book to influence and gain power over the gullible and have propped themselves up like gurus. I guess the book can be dangerous to those who are young in their gospel understanding and maturity. The mature reader has nothing to fear. The book reads like an allegory to me. I don't base my testimony on this book.
]]> 176108 Librarian note: See this edition record for the Laurel-Leaf Books/Dell edition that may have been published with ISBN 014240733X.

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends - true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. And when it comes to the beating up on "greasers" like him and his friends - he knows that he can count on them for trouble. But one night someone takes things too far, and Ponyboy's world is turned upside down...

~from inside flap]]> 198 S.E. Hinton Brett 5
]]> 4.32 1967
author: S.E. Hinton
name: Brett
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1967
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/12/03
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These book is one for the ages. It is great! I read it in Junior High and now my oldest kids have read it. They love it too.


]]> 11849 223 Elizabeth George Speare 0307257800 Brett 5 4.08 1958
author: Elizabeth George Speare
name: Brett
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1958
rating: 5
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date added: 2017/10/17
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]]> 77347
Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats, who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known. But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost: Washington, who had never before led an army in battle.

The darkest hours of that tumultuous year were as dark as any Americans have known. Especially in our own tumultuous time, 1776 is powerful testimony to how much is owed to a rare few in that brave founding epoch, and what a miracle it was that things turned out as they did.

Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough's 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.

©2005 David McCullough; (P)2005 Simon and Schuster Inc.]]> 386 David McCullough 0743226712 Brett 5
The compelling thing is that Washington never gave up, nor would he let his army. He perservered through extremely difficult circumstances and came out on top. I'm amazed that the Americans even thought they had a chance against England.

For me, I learned that no matter how bleak things appear to be, if you are doing what's right and you never give up, things will work out one way or the other for your good.]]> 4.17 2005
author: David McCullough
name: Brett
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2014/06/17
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A wonderful book. It shows you what kind of a man George Washington was.

The compelling thing is that Washington never gave up, nor would he let his army. He perservered through extremely difficult circumstances and came out on top. I'm amazed that the Americans even thought they had a chance against England.

For me, I learned that no matter how bleak things appear to be, if you are doing what's right and you never give up, things will work out one way or the other for your good.
]]> 307986 144 Orson Scott Card 0785127216 Brett 5 3.99 2007
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/03/10
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]]> 8730435
In this unique and thought-provoking book, "Change Your Questions, Change Your Life," Wendy Watson Nelson explores the power of asking--and answering--certain questions and invites the reader to pause and reflect on the different kinds of questions one can ask and the remarkable ways new questions can help one solve old problems.]]> 288 Wendy Watson Nelson 1590385985 Brett 5
By asking some of the questions she suggests in this book I was able to find some of deepest answers to the questions that I have about my own life.]]> 4.22 2010
author: Wendy Watson Nelson
name: Brett
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/02/02
shelves:
review:
Loved this book! If your looking for traditional therapy it may not be for you, but if you are looking for spiritual therapy, the ideas are deep and though provoking.

By asking some of the questions she suggests in this book I was able to find some of deepest answers to the questions that I have about my own life.
]]> 116343 475 Mary Stewart 0060548266 Brett 5
This author is extremely gifted.]]> 4.25 1973
author: Mary Stewart
name: Brett
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1973
rating: 5
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date added: 2011/12/07
shelves:
review:
Loved this book even more than the first. Plan on reading the last two books of the series.

This author is extremely gifted.
]]> 82192 494 Mary Stewart 0060548258 Brett 4 4.14 1970
author: Mary Stewart
name: Brett
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1970
rating: 4
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date added: 2011/12/07
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Wonderful read if you enjoy the tales of Merlin and the days leading up to King Arthur.
]]> 4485966 Fortune articles in many years was a cover story called: "What It Takes to Be Great." Geoff Colvin offered new evidence that top performers in any field are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades. The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables you to achieve greatness.

Colvin shows that the skills of business: negotiating deals, evaluating financial statements obey the principles that lead to greatness, so that anyone can get better at them with the right kind of effort. Even the hardest decisions and interactions can be systematically improved.

This new mind-set, combined with Colvin's practical advice, will change the way you think about your job and career, and will inspire you to achieve more in all you do.]]> 240 Geoff Colvin 1591842247 Brett 5 3.92 2008
author: Geoff Colvin
name: Brett
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/07/18
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Do you think you can never be a super performer at anything? Think again. The secret is deliberate practice. The truth is that all of us can be super at something. The question is, do we want to pay the price to become such? Even if we have no intention of becoming a superstar at something, we can all improve in anything we choose if we are willing to organize and engage in deliberate practice. Also the there is not age limitations to continual improvement as we are sometimes led to believe.
]]> 3228917 Learn what sets high achievers apart � from Bill Gates to the Beatles � in this #1 bestseller from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review).

In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.]]> 309 Malcolm Gladwell 0316017922 Brett 5 4.19 2008
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Brett
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/07/18
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Compelling books that uncovers the hidden advantages that high achievers enjoy. The incredible thing is that what looks like a disadvantage can be in reality a huge advantage for people who are willing to see and take advantage of what lies in front of them.
]]> 596304 88 Joseph Smith Jr. 087747897X Brett 5 4.48 1835
author: Joseph Smith Jr.
name: Brett
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1835
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/07/18
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This is the deepest and most compelling collection of teachings on faith that I have ever encountered. The understanding of these principals is no less than life changing.
]]> 2118114 A fascinating journey into the hidden psychological influences that derail our decision-making, Sway will change the way you think about the way you think.

Why is it so difficult to sell a plummeting stock or end a doomed relationship? Why do we listen to advice just because it came from someone “important�? Why are we more likely to fall in love when there’s danger involved? In Sway, renowned organizational thinker Ori Brafman and his brother, psychologist Rom Brafman, answer all these questions and more.

Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics, and organizational behavior, Sway reveals dynamic forces that influence every aspect of our personal and business lives, including loss aversion (our tendency to go to great lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (our inability to reevaluate our initial diagnosis of a person or situation), and the “chameleon effect� (our tendency to take on characteristics that have been arbitrarily assigned to us).

Sway introduces us to the Harvard Business School professor who got his students to pay $204 for a $20 bill, the head of airline safety whose disregard for his years of training led to the transformation of an entire industry, and the football coach who turned conventional strategy on its head to lead his team to victory. We also learn the curse of the NBA draft, discover why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance, and go inside a session with the Supreme Court to see how the world’s most powerful justices avoid the dangers of group dynamics.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that not only challenges our views of the world but changes the way we think. In Sway, Ori and Rom Brafman not only uncover rational explanations for a wide variety of irrational behaviors but also point readers toward ways to avoid succumbing to their pull.]]> 206 Ori Brafman 0385524382 Brett 4 3.78 2008
author: Ori Brafman
name: Brett
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2008
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/07/18
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Book was very interesting in shedding light on why we humans make some of the decisions we do. Knowledge is power and if we can understand ourselves and our own proclivities, we can perhaps correct some of erroneous decision making we are prone to indulge in.
]]> 62446 240 Mark Twain 0451528352 Brett 5 3.88 1881
author: Mark Twain
name: Brett
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1881
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/07/18
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Actually enjoyed it more than Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
]]> 161744 Pennsylvania Magazine. On January 10, 1776, he published his pamphlet Common Sense, a persuasive argument for the colonies' political and economic separation from Britain.

Common Sense cites the evils of monarchy, accuses the British government of inflicting economic and social injustices upon the colonies, and points to the absurdity of an island attempting to rule a continent. Credited by George Washington as having changed the minds of many of his countrymen, the document sold over 500,000 copies within a few months.

Today, Common Sense remains a landmark document in the struggle for freedom, distinguished not only by Paine's ideas but also by its clear and passionate presentation. Designed to ignite public opinion against autocratic rule, the pamphlet offered a careful balance between imagination and judgment, and appropriate language and expression to fit the subject. It immediately found a receptive audience, heartened Washington's despondent army, and foreshadowed much of the phrasing and substance of the Declaration of Independence.]]> 104 Thomas Paine 0143036254 Brett 5 3.96 1776
author: Thomas Paine
name: Brett
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1776
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/04/19
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]]> 6148028 Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.]]> 391 Suzanne Collins 0439023491 Brett 4 4.34 2009
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brett
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/04/19
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]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Brett 4 4.34 2008
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Brett
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/04/19
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]]> 7965 Don Lark's cheery name belies his tragic past. When his alcoholic ex-wife killed their daughter in a car wreck, he retreated from the sort of settled, sociable lifestyle one takes for granted. Only the prospect of putting a roof over other people's heads seems to comfort Lark, and he goes from town to town, looking for dilapidated houses he can buy, restore and resell at a profit. In Greensboro, North Carolina, Lark finds his biggest challenge yet -- a huge, sturdy, gorgeous shell that's suffered almost a century of abuse at the hands of greedy landlords and transient tenants. As he sinks his teeth into this new project, Lark's new neighborhood starts to work its charms on him. He strikes up a romance with the wry real estate agent who sold him the house. His neighbors, two charming, chatty old ladies, ply him endlessly with delicious Southern cooking. Even Sylvie, the squatter Lark was once desperate to evict from the old house, is now growing on him.

But when Lark unearths an old tunnel in the cellar, the house's enchantments start to turn ominous. Sylvie turns cantankerous, even dangerous. There's still a steady supply of food from next door, but it now comes laced with increasingly passionate pleas for Lark to vacate the house at once. In short, everybody seems to want to get rid of him. Whether this is for his own good or theirs, Lark digs in his heels for reasons even he's not sure of. He embarks on a struggle for his life -- and his friends'-- against a house with a past even more tragic than his own. If Lark wins, he gets the kind of home and community he's always dreamed of. If he loses, all is lost....]]> 430 Orson Scott Card Brett 3 3.39 1998
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.39
book published: 1998
rating: 3
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date added: 2010/03/09
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]]> 31353 448 Orson Scott Card 1573456632 Brett 5 3.87 1998
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1998
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/03/09
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]]> 95573
Enter the city of Hart's Hope, ruled by gods both powerful and indifferent, riddled with sorcery and revenge. The city was captured by a rebellious lord, Palicrovol, who overthrew the cruel king, Nasilee, hated by his people.

Palicrovol, too, was cruel, as befitted a king. He took the true mantle of kinghood by forcing Asineth, now Queen by her father's death, to marry him, raping her to consummate the marriage. [But he was not cruel enough to rule.] He let her live after her humiliation; live to bear a daughter; live to return from exile and retake the throne of Hart's Hope.

But she, in turn, sent Palicrovol into exile to breed a son who would, in the name of the God, take back the kingdom from its cruel Queen.]]> 300 Orson Scott Card 0765306786 Brett 4 3.46 1983
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1983
rating: 4
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]]> 7961
From that day forward, Dinah worked to support her family, remaining devoted to their welfare even in the face of despair and grinding poverty. Then one day she heard a new message, a new purpose ignited in her heart, and new life opened up before her.]]> 608 Orson Scott Card 0312876068 Brett 5 3.53 1984
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1984
rating: 5
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]]> 7955
The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side, and militia foot-soldiers on the other, devastating the cities, and overrunning the countryside. But the vast majority, who only want the killing to stop and the nation to return to more peaceful days, have technology, weapons and strategic geniuses of their own.

When the American dream shatters into violence, who can hold the people and the government together? And which side will you be on?

Orson Scott Card is a master storyteller, who has earned millions of fans and reams of praise for his previous science fiction and fantasy novels. Now he steps a little closer to the present day with this chilling look at a near future scenario of a new American Civil War.]]> 352 Orson Scott Card 0765316110 Brett 4 3.44 2006
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> 31354
The Oversoul of the colony planet Harmony selected the family of Wetchik to carry it back to long-lost Earth. Now grown to a tribe in the years of their journey to Harmony's hidden starport, they are ready at last to take a ship to the stars. But from the beginning there has been bitter dispute between Nafai and Elemak, Wetchick's youngest son and his oldest.

On board the starship Bailica , the children of the tribe will become pawns in the struggle. Two factions are each making secret plans to awaken the children, and themselves, early from the cold-sleep capsules in which they will pass the long decades of the journey. Each side hopes to gain years of influence on the minds of the children, winning their loyalty in the struggle for control of reclaimed Earth.

But the Oversoul is truly in control of this journey. It has downloaded a complete copy of itself to the Ship's computers. And only Nafai, who wears the Cloak of the Starmaster by the Oversoul's command, really understand what this will mean to all their plans for the future.

Homecoming series
The Memory of Earth
The Call of Earth
The Ships of Earth
Earthfall
Earthborn]]> 370 Orson Scott Card 0812532961 Brett 5 3.53 1995
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1995
rating: 5
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]]> 24441 351 Orson Scott Card 0812532635 Brett 5 3.56 1994
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1994
rating: 5
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]]> 7971 352 Orson Scott Card 0812532619 Brett 5 3.60 1993
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1993
rating: 5
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]]> 92923 In this world where "knacks" abound, Alvin, the seventh son of a seventh son, is a very special man indeed. He's a Maker; he has the knack of understanding how things are put together, how to create them, repair them, keep them whole, or tear them down. He can heal hearts as well as bones, he build a house, he can calm the waters or blow up a storm. And he can teach his knack to others, to the measure of their own talent. Alvin has been trying to avert the terrible war that his wife, Peggy, a torch of extraordinary power, has seen down the life-lines of every American. Now she has sent him down the Mizzippy to the city of New Orleans, or Nueva Barcelona as they call it under Spanish occupation. Alvin doesn't know exactly why he's there, but when he and his brother-in-law, Arthur Stuart, find lodgings with a family of abolitionists who know Peggy, he suspects he'll find out soon. But Nueva Barcelona is about to experience a plague, and Alvin's efforts to protect his friends by keeping them healthy will create more danger than he could ever have suspected. And in saving the poor people of the city, Alvin will be put to the greatest test of his life---a test that will draw on all his power. For the time has come for him to turn to his old friend Tenskwa-Tawa, the Red Prophet who controls the lands to the west of the Mizzippy. Now Alvin must take the first steps on the road to the Crystal City that was shown to him in a vision so long ago.]]> 352 Orson Scott Card 0812564626 Brett 5 3.62 2003
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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]]> 7959 368 Orson Scott Card 0765341298 Brett 5 3.85 2004
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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]]> 92956 332 Orson Scott Card 0812532597 Brett 5 3.59 1992
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1992
rating: 5
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]]> 7962 336 Orson Scott Card 1841490326 Brett 5 3.72 1998
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1998
rating: 5
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]]> 7966 Born into a time and place where a woman speaks her mind at her peril, and reared as a motherless child by a doting father, Rebekah grew up to be a stunning, headstrong beauty. She was chosen by God for a special destiny.

Rebekah leaves her father's house to marry Isaac, the studious young son of the Patriarch Abraham, only to find herself caught up in a series of painful rivalries, first between her husband and his brother Ishmael, and later between her sons Jacob and Esau. Her struggles to find her place in the family of Abraham are a true test of her faith, but through it all she finds her own relationship with God and does her best to serve His cause in the lives of those she loves.

In Rebekah, Orson Scott Card has created an astonishing personality, complex and intriguing, and her story will engage your heart as it captures your imagination.
]]> 416 Orson Scott Card 076534128X Brett 5 3.84 2001
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]> 31357 342 Orson Scott Card 1841490237 Brett 5 3.80 1989
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1989
rating: 5
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]]> 40271 381 Orson Scott Card 0312850530 Brett 5 3.75 1995
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1995
rating: 5
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]]> 7958 Sarai was a child of ten years, wise for her age but not yet a woman, when she first met Abram. He appeared before her in her father's house, filthy from the desert, tired and thirsty. But as the dirt of travel was washed from his body, the sight of him filled her heart. And when Abram promises Sarai to return in ten years to take her for his wife, her fate was sealed.

Abram kept his promise, and Sarai kept hers they were wed, and so joined the royal house of Ur with the high priesthood of the Hebrews. So began a lifetime of great joy together, and greater peril: and with the blessing of their God, a great nation would be built around the core of their love.

Bestselling author Orson Scott Card uses his fertile imagination, and uncanny insight into human nature, to tell the story of a unique woman--one who is beautiful, tough, smart, and resourceful in an era when women had little power, and are scarce in the historical record. Sarah, child of the desert, wife of Abraham, takes on vivid reality as a woman desirable to kings, a devoted wife, and a faithful follower of the God of Abraham, chosen to experience an incomparable miracle.
]]> 341 Orson Scott Card 0765341174 Brett 5 3.88 1983
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1983
rating: 5
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]]> 7968 Come here to the magical America that might have been
In this sequel to Seventh Son, Alvin Maker is awakening to many mysteries: his own strange powers, the magic of the land, and the special virtues of its chosen people, the Native Americans.

Alvin has discovered his own unique talent for making things whole again. Now he summons all his powers to prevent a tragic war between Native Americans and the white settlers of North America.]]> 311 Orson Scott Card 0812524268 Brett 5 3.80 1988
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1988
rating: 5
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]]> 40290 241 Orson Scott Card 076534775X Brett 5 3.88 1987
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1987
rating: 5
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]]> 8648
On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.

Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet, and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way, a second xenocide seems inevitable.

Xenocide is the third novel in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga.]]> 592 Orson Scott Card 0312861877 Brett 5 3.81 1991
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/03/09
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]]> 7967
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.

Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.]]> 382 Orson Scott Card 0812550757 Brett 5 4.10 1986
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/03/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 12296 279 Nathaniel Hawthorne 0142437263 Brett 5 3.43 1850
author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
name: Brett
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1850
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/03/09
shelves:
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]]> 6480781
Agassi’s incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of thirteen, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world’s best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations—Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer—Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf. Inspired by her quiet strength, he fights through crippling pain from a deteriorating spine to remain a dangerous opponent in the twenty-first and final year of his career. Entering his last tournament in 2006, he’s hailed for completing a stunning metamorphosis, from nonconformist to elder statesman, from dropout to education advocate. And still he’s not done. At a U.S. Open for the ages, he makes a courageous last stand, then delivers one of the most stirring farewells ever heard in a sporting arena.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi’s game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.]]> 388 Andre Agassi 0307268195 Brett 5 4.29 2009
author: Andre Agassi
name: Brett
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/03/09
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]]> 2457465
Until now.

In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people “inside his head� finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn’t come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage� in the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatness� took its toll.

Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls “the Gift.� He writes about the personal trials he faced� including the death of a longtime coach and confidant� and the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book’s most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete’s career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open.

In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.]]> 306 Pete Sampras 0307383296 Brett 4 3.62 2008
author: Pete Sampras
name: Brett
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2010/03/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 1123900 112 Neal A. Maxwell 1590386477 Brett 4 4.18 1975
author: Neal A. Maxwell
name: Brett
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2009/04/03
date added: 2009/04/03
shelves:
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I'm looking forward to the day when we can fully implement the Zion concept in it entirety. That will be a great day. I fully believe that this will happen. I enjoyed the book and recommend it.
]]> 2977536 160 Robert L. Millet 1590389190 Brett 4 4.23 2008
author: Robert L. Millet
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/03/07
shelves:
review:
We live in complicated times with many challenges to our faith. I appreciated Robert Millet's approach in this book. I think any honest person struggles at one time or another with believing. Millet opens up his heart regarding his own struggles with faith and talks about how he has been able to overcome them. I found it very honest and sincere.
]]> 1444377 People Magazine, and along the way he continued to gain in the rankings and earn respect on the court. Each day seemed to offer a new milestone, a new achievement; he was leading a charmed life and loving every minute of the ride.

But that life came to an abrupt halt in May 2004 when Blake broke his back in a freak accident on the court. A few months later, as Blake was recovering from his injury, he suffered another tremendous setback when his father–the man who had raised him and provided the inspiration for his tennis career–lost his battle with stomach cancer. Shortly after his father's death, Blake's situation was further complicated when he contracted Zoster, a rare virus that paralyzed half of his face and threatened to end his already jeopardized tennis career.

Breaking Back tells the story of the tumultuous year that followed these three devastating events, detailing how Blake persevered through hardship to become one of the best tennis players in the world. Here Blake explains how the wisdom and words that his father imparted to him over the years gave him the ability to succeed in the face of these seemingly insurmountable odds. Though these trials proved the most difficult of his life, ultimately this trifecta of tragedy became the culmination of all his father's lessons, showing Blake that even in death, his father was still teaching him how to be a man.

In the spirit of Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking comes this remarkable tale of strength and determination from one of tennis's biggest stars. A story of passion, willpower, and the unbreakable bonds between a father and a son, Breaking Back is one athlete's account of finding hope in the bleakest of times.]]> 263 James Blake 0061343498 Brett 4 3.86 2007
author: James Blake
name: Brett
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/03/01
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book. Jame's great secret that he reiterates over and over again is that you have to just keep trying to improve in whatever you do and the results will take care of themselves. I was also touched by how much he loves his family and friends. You may not know it but James has been through some great challenges and he recognizes how blessed he is to be where he's at in tennis as one of the top players in the world.
]]> 842625 I will carry that baby to Zion,� I shout at them, “just see if I don’t!�

Well! I did it! I have left them all quite speechless.

In 1856, 12-year-old Charlotte and her widowed father are members of a Welsh handcart company on the Mormon Trail, so poor they cannot afford wagons but must push carts from Iowa City to Utah. When a woman in the company dies giving birth, and her husband is too distraught to care for the baby girl, Charlotte grandly offers to care for the baby, whom she names Rose. But taking care of Rose turns out to be much harder than Charlotte expected. She’s stuck; she can’t give Rose back. As she struggles along the trail with the infant, she comes to love Rose, and to dream of life with “her� baby, even though Papa and others remind her that she will have to give Rose back to her father when they part ways at the end of the trail.]]> 256 Ann Edwards Cannon 0385729669 Brett 4 4.08 2002
author: Ann Edwards Cannon
name: Brett
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/05
shelves:
review:
I forgot that I read this book, but I loved it. I thought that it did a wonderful job describing the experience of early Mormon pioneers in a way that is universal for it Mormon and non-Mormon readers alike. I'd like to write a book like that some day!
]]> 179064 She was born with her eyes closed and a word on her tongue, a word she could not taste.

Her name was Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.

From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own.]]> 383 Shannon Hale 1582349908 Brett 4 4.14 2003
author: Shannon Hale
name: Brett
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/02/03
shelves:
review:
You know. With all the women in my life, I keep getting roped into reading girl books, but I have to say that this was a very well written and poetic book. I enjoyed it and would recommend it. One thing I appreciated is the fact that the heroine is a girl, but she doesn't lose her innocence or her femininity.
]]> 1162543 "Don't be afraid," I murmured. "We belong together."
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words.
This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it.
His arms wrapped around me,
holding me against him....
It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
"Forever," he agreed.

WHEN YOU LOVED THE ONE WHO WAS KILLING YOU, IT LEFT YOU NO OPTIONS. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

TO BE IRREVOCABLY IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

NOW THAT BELLA HAS MADE HER DECISION, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life - first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse - seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

THE ASTONISHING, BREATHLESSLY anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.]]> 756 Stephenie Meyer 031606792X Brett 3
To tell you the truth, I was favorably impressed. These books address many themes such as, romantic love, platonic love, prejudice, good versus evil, how to use individual talents for the good of others, self sacrifice, self control, how to nurture people who are emotionally wounded, feelings of parents for their children and many others.

The books were compelling. Of course, as a man I was looking for some other things in the plot that I didn't get. Stephanie Myer's mentor, Orson Scott Card, would have given me those things. The books are also a little long on the lovey descriptions.

The truth is that Stephanie Myers didn't write the book for someone like me. She knows her audience well and gave them everything they were looking for.

It also doesn't hurt for a husband or boyfriend to read these if he wants to understand his woman. That's the truth!]]> 3.74 2008
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Brett
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2008/12/28
shelves:
review:
I finally broke down and read the whole Twilight series. I read it for a couple of reasons. One, I'm absolutely amazed how a fellow BYU grad could completely sweep the best seller's list time and time again. Another, was that I was curious about why women went crazy about these novels.

To tell you the truth, I was favorably impressed. These books address many themes such as, romantic love, platonic love, prejudice, good versus evil, how to use individual talents for the good of others, self sacrifice, self control, how to nurture people who are emotionally wounded, feelings of parents for their children and many others.

The books were compelling. Of course, as a man I was looking for some other things in the plot that I didn't get. Stephanie Myer's mentor, Orson Scott Card, would have given me those things. The books are also a little long on the lovey descriptions.

The truth is that Stephanie Myers didn't write the book for someone like me. She knows her audience well and gave them everything they were looking for.

It also doesn't hurt for a husband or boyfriend to read these if he wants to understand his woman. That's the truth!
]]> 207569 135 Elizabeth George Speare 0440779030 Brett 5 3.74 1983
author: Elizabeth George Speare
name: Brett
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/08/01
shelves:
review:
Wonderful book. Reading books like this take me back to the magic of childhood.
]]> 24408 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. –from the Song of David (2 Samuel 22:35)
The Bronze Bow, written by Elizabeth George Speare (author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond) won the Newbery Medal in 1962. This gripping, action-packed novel tells the story of eighteen-year-old Daniel bar Jamin—a fierce, hotheaded young man bent on revenging his father’s death by forcing the Romans from his land of Israel. Daniel’s palpable hatred for Romans wanes only when he starts to hear the gentle lessons of the traveling carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth. A fast-paced, suspenseful, vividly wrought tale of friendship, loyalty, the idea of home, community . . . and ultimately, as Jesus says to Daniel on page 224: “Can’t you see, Daniel, it is hate that is the enemy? Not men. Hate does not die with killing. It only springs up a hundredfold. The only thing stronger than hate is love.� A powerful, relevant read in turbulent times.]]> 256 Elizabeth George Speare Brett 5
Teaches what the true gospel is all about. I highly recommend it.]]> 4.00 1961
author: Elizabeth George Speare
name: Brett
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1961
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/07/20
shelves:
review:
A wonderful book, well written and meaningful. Written for young readers.

Teaches what the true gospel is all about. I highly recommend it.
]]> 89763 304 Pam Muñoz Ryan 043912042X Brett 5
It shows a wonderful example of how the human spirit can overcome all these obstacles by never giving up.]]> 4.03 2000
author: Pam Muñoz Ryan
name: Brett
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2008/06/27
date added: 2008/06/27
shelves:
review:
I have to say I loved this book. It's written for adolescents but adults will love this too. Through the story the author deals with many universal themes such as, love vs. prejudice, rich vs. poor, racism, dealing with loss of loved ones, dealing with sickness, dealing with difficult circumstances over which we have no control.

It shows a wonderful example of how the human spirit can overcome all these obstacles by never giving up.
]]> 100915
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.]]> 206 C.S. Lewis Brett 5 4.24 1950
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Brett
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/06/21
shelves:
review:
A Christian classic. Even non believers would love this book.
]]> 33 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

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

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

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

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.]]> 1216 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618640150 Brett 5 4.52 1955
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Brett
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/06/21
shelves:
review:
Tolkien invented the modern fantasy genre. This is classic and I loved the movie trilogy too.
]]> 256008 Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.]]> 960 Larry McMurtry 067168390X Brett 4 4.53 1985
author: Larry McMurtry
name: Brett
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2008/06/21
shelves:
review:
Pretty violent but a great western. It makes you feel like you're there.
]]> 24280 1463 Victor Hugo 0451525264 Brett 5 4.19 1862
author: Victor Hugo
name: Brett
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1862
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/06/21
shelves:
review:
Have always loved this book. I taught it to High School seniors at Provo High School. Timeless.
]]> 227571 Peace Like a River, is one such work. His richly evocative novel, narrated by an asthmatic 11-year-old named Reuben Land, is the story of Reuben's unusual family and their journey across the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of his fugitive older brother. Charged with the murder of two locals who terrorized their family, Davy has fled, understanding that the scales of justice will not weigh in his favor. But Reuben, his father, Jeremiah—a man of faith so deep he has been known to produce miracles—and Reuben's little sister, Swede, follow closely behind the fleeing Davy.

Affecting and dynamic, Peace Like a River is at once a tragedy, a romance, and an unflagging exploration into the spirituality and magic possible in the everyday world, and in that of the world awaiting us on the other side of life. In Enger's superb debut effort, we witness a wondrous celebration of family, faith, and spirit, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long, long time—and the birth of a classic work of literature.]]> 312 Leif Enger 0802139256 Brett 3
I think my struggle to get into the book at first has to do with the style it is written in. It's very poetic and stylized with the use of figurative language in abundance. Being an English Major in college, you'ld think that I would have liked that more than I did.

What I found was that the excessive use of all the flowery and ornate discriptions actually took away from the story line for me. At times it becomes a little cumbersome, because you find yourself going back to make sure you understood what you just read. I guess the business side of me has grown to value words at a premium. Don't use too many because it only dilutes a clear message and slows down the flow of a story line that should grip the reader and keep him turning pages.

Having said that, I must say that the ending of the story is brilliant and moving. I was touched by it. I think that many people will enjoy the book and may love the style and use of figurative language that I struggled with.]]> 4.01 2001
author: Leif Enger
name: Brett
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2008/06/17
date added: 2008/06/17
shelves:
review:
I just finished this book which was highly recommended to me by my wife and friends. You'ld think that I would have been more into this book since I can relate to the narrator, being a life long asthmatic, and also the Father in the story is who is a very faithful and spritual man, like I want to be.

I think my struggle to get into the book at first has to do with the style it is written in. It's very poetic and stylized with the use of figurative language in abundance. Being an English Major in college, you'ld think that I would have liked that more than I did.

What I found was that the excessive use of all the flowery and ornate discriptions actually took away from the story line for me. At times it becomes a little cumbersome, because you find yourself going back to make sure you understood what you just read. I guess the business side of me has grown to value words at a premium. Don't use too many because it only dilutes a clear message and slows down the flow of a story line that should grip the reader and keep him turning pages.

Having said that, I must say that the ending of the story is brilliant and moving. I was touched by it. I think that many people will enjoy the book and may love the style and use of figurative language that I struggled with.
]]> 14345
It all began when Villaseñor’s maternal grandmother sat him down in their little home in the barrio of Carlsbad, California, gave him sweet bread and told him the story of their past. Of his mother Lupe, the most beautiful girl in the whole village, who was only a child when Villa’s men came shooting into their canyon. And of his father Juan and his family, reduced to rags and starvation as they sought refuge across the border, where they believed that endless opportunity awaited.

Lupe and Juan met and fell in love in California, but they found that the doors to the Promised Land were often closed to those from south of the border. His father was forced to take the law into his own hands, despite his wife’s objections. With humor and warmth, Villaseñor shares this passionate love story that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit.]]> 576 Victor Villaseñor 038531177X Brett 5
With all the anti-immigrant feelings rampant among some of our fellow citizens here in the U.S., this book reveals a very human face to those who have given up everything to be citizens of this country.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves God, family, and country.]]> 4.50 1991
author: Victor Villaseñor
name: Brett
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 1990/01/01
date added: 2008/05/23
shelves:
review:
This is an incredibly moving book about the legacy of the Mexican-American experience and history in the United States of America.

With all the anti-immigrant feelings rampant among some of our fellow citizens here in the U.S., this book reveals a very human face to those who have given up everything to be citizens of this country.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves God, family, and country.
]]> 76865
The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Standards
Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.

The Comparisons
The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?

The Findings
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:
Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.

The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.

A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.

The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.]]> 300 Jim Collins 0066620996 Brett 5
The ideas expressed about true leadership, building the right team, and focusing on your core mission are truly enlightening.]]> 4.12 2001
author: Jim Collins
name: Brett
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2008/05/23
shelves:
review:
The business principals in this book are so common sense and resonate so clearly that this is must read for individuals who want to buid great enterprises.

The ideas expressed about true leadership, building the right team, and focusing on your core mission are truly enlightening.
]]> 818811
When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband’s psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

Carolyn’s every move was dictated by her husband’s whims. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated. He controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. He chose when they had sex; Carolyn could only refuse—at her peril. For in the FLDS, a wife’s compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. No woman in the country had ever escaped from the FLDS and managed to get her children out, too. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. She had $20 to her name.

Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who, in the name of God, deprive their followers the right to make choices, force women to be totally subservient to men, and brainwash children in church-run schools. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop’s flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of their notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.]]> 413 Carolyn Jessop 0767927567 Brett 4
It's amazing to see how some who claim to be so pious and righteous, endeavor to make virtual slaves out of their own wives and children. The emotional and physical abuse rampant in this community breaks your heart.

Carolyn Jessop is one courageous lady and I applaud her and pray that she and her children find the healing that a loving Heavenly Father desires to give.]]> 3.95 2007
author: Carolyn Jessop
name: Brett
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2008/05/23
shelves:
review:
This actually is a very painful book to read, but one that I couldn't put down.

It's amazing to see how some who claim to be so pious and righteous, endeavor to make virtual slaves out of their own wives and children. The emotional and physical abuse rampant in this community breaks your heart.

Carolyn Jessop is one courageous lady and I applaud her and pray that she and her children find the healing that a loving Heavenly Father desires to give.
]]> 1089667 992 John Armstrong Crow 0520077237 Brett 4
This book starts in ancient times amongst the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas. You follow the rise of their empires up through the Spanish conquest and on to modern times.

For those who appreciate Hispanic culture and want to know more about it, then this is a must read for you.

The struggle for freedom and prosperity in Latin America for the majority is an ongoing saga that can break your heart and fill you with yearning for a better tomorrow for these beautiful people.

]]> 4.22 1980
author: John Armstrong Crow
name: Brett
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 1994/01/01
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves:
review:
I don't usually endorse college text books as a source of entertaining reading, but I have to say that this one riveted me.

This book starts in ancient times amongst the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Mayans, and the Incas. You follow the rise of their empires up through the Spanish conquest and on to modern times.

For those who appreciate Hispanic culture and want to know more about it, then this is a must read for you.

The struggle for freedom and prosperity in Latin America for the majority is an ongoing saga that can break your heart and fill you with yearning for a better tomorrow for these beautiful people.


]]> 295894
Historians have debated the rise and fall of empires for centuries. To date, however, no one has studied the far rarer phenomenon of hyperpowers—those few societies that amassed such extraordinary military and economic might that they essentially dominated the world.

Now, in this sweeping history of globally dominant empires, bestselling author Amy Chua explains how hyperpowers rise and why they fall. In a series of brilliantly focused chapters, Chua examines history’s hyperpowers—Persia, Rome, Tang China, the Mongols, the Dutch, the British, and the United States—and reveals the reasons behind their success, as well as the roots of their ultimate demise.

Chua’s unprecedented study reveals a fascinating historical pattern. For all their differences, she argues, every one of these world-dominant powers was, at least by the standards of its time, extraordinarily pluralistic and tolerant. Each one succeeded by harnessing the skills and energies of individuals from very different backgrounds, and by attracting and exploiting highly talented groups that were excluded in other societies. Thus Rome allowed Africans, Spaniards, and Gauls alike to rise to the highest echelons of power, while the “barbarian� Mongols conquered their vast domains only because they practiced an ethnic and religious tolerance unheard of in their time. In contrast,

Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, while wielding great power, failed to attain global dominance as a direct result of their racial and religious intolerance.
But Chua also uncovers a great historical irony: in virtually every instance, multicultural tolerance eventually sowed the seeds of decline, and diversity became a liability, triggering conflict, hatred, and violence.

The United States is the quintessential example of a power that rose to global dominance through tolerance and diversity. The secret to America’s success has always been its unsurpassed ability to attract enterprising immigrants. Today, however, concerns about outsourcing and uncontrolled illegal immigration are producing a backlash against our tradition of cultural openness. Has America finally reached a “tipping point�? Have we gone too far in the direction of diversity and tolerance to maintain cohesion and unity? Will we be overtaken by rising powers like China, the EU or even India?

Chua shows why American power may have already exceeded its limits and why it may be in our interest to retreat from our go-it-alone approach and promote a new multilateralism in both domestic and foreign affairs.]]> 432 Amy Chua 0385512848 Brett 4
Mrs. Chua shows through many examples what happens to nations as they look exclude, persecute, or disenfranchise people of different backgrounds and what they can potentially contribute to that nation.

The lessons illustrated are clear. Can America continue to flourish by integrating its great melting pot of immigrants, or will we follow the example of all previous hyperpowers?]]> 3.76 2007
author: Amy Chua
name: Brett
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves:
review:
I was fascinated by this book because it more cleary than any book I've read illustrates how nations rise when they are more inclusive and accepting of immigrants from various ethnic, social, and religious backgrounds.

Mrs. Chua shows through many examples what happens to nations as they look exclude, persecute, or disenfranchise people of different backgrounds and what they can potentially contribute to that nation.

The lessons illustrated are clear. Can America continue to flourish by integrating its great melting pot of immigrants, or will we follow the example of all previous hyperpowers?
]]> 236609 740 Richard L. Bushman 1400077532 Brett 4
While I am a true believer in Joseph Smith and his prophetic mission of restoration, believers and non believers can learn a great deal about the man, his family, 19th century America and this miraculous new religion that was founded in 1830.

I recommend the book to anyone who whishes to learn more about the historical background and circumstances surrounding the life of Joseph Smith and the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. ]]> 4.07 2005
author: Richard L. Bushman
name: Brett
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves:
review:
This is a wonderful book that attempts to treat Joseph Smith in a fair and objective way. It includes much historical and cultural background and is academic in nature.

While I am a true believer in Joseph Smith and his prophetic mission of restoration, believers and non believers can learn a great deal about the man, his family, 19th century America and this miraculous new religion that was founded in 1830.

I recommend the book to anyone who whishes to learn more about the historical background and circumstances surrounding the life of Joseph Smith and the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
]]> 707929 352 Richard G. Scott 1570087520 Brett 5
That's how you'll feel when you read this book. The truth is that peace, happiness, and joy are available to all of us if we learn how to live for it and receive it when it comes.

When you read this book, free your mind and open your heart and you will learn more than you ever thought.]]> 4.49 2007
author: Richard G. Scott
name: Brett
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves:
review:
Have you ever wished that you could sit and talk to an apostle one on one about the things that really concern you?

That's how you'll feel when you read this book. The truth is that peace, happiness, and joy are available to all of us if we learn how to live for it and receive it when it comes.

When you read this book, free your mind and open your heart and you will learn more than you ever thought.
]]> 2184666 The Work and the Glory, offers profound insights about how personal revelation 'works.' Learn how we can increase our ability to receive and recognize personal revelation, what we can do to avoid being misled, and many other ideas relevant to this tremendously important spiritual gift.]]> 392 Gerald N. Lund 1590388933 Brett 5
This is a beautiful book which provides a clear understanding of how the Lord communicates with his children. The reality is that he is really speaking to us, but unfortunately, many don't know how to listen.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to increase their spirituality and open themselves more to what their Father has to say.]]> 4.39 2007
author: Gerald N. Lund
name: Brett
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2008/03/01
date added: 2008/05/22
shelves:
review:
Do you think that the Lord doesn't ever speak to you? Think again.

This is a beautiful book which provides a clear understanding of how the Lord communicates with his children. The reality is that he is really speaking to us, but unfortunately, many don't know how to listen.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to increase their spirituality and open themselves more to what their Father has to say.
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