en-US Sat, 29 Apr 2023 07:33:30 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 29101486 All the Kremlin’s Men is a historical detective story, full of intrigue and conspiracy. This is the story of the political battles that have taken place in the court of Vladimir Putin since his rise to power, and a chronicle of friendship and hatred between the Russian leader and his foreign partners and opponents.

Russia's most prominent independent journalist Mikhail Zygar has had unprecedented access to people who are either currently or were formerly allied with Putin, but have only now agreed to reveal their impressions of the powerful president and his circle of power. Zygar's in-depth interviews include Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, former Kremlin chief of staff Alexander Voloshin, former mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, former presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, former mresidents of Ukraine and Georgia Viktor Yushchenko and Mikhail Saakashvili, and many other key Russian and Western politicians and diplomats. For many people from Putin’s closest circle, it was the first time they could tell their stories.

Each chapter has a main character, who gives an insight into the origins of Vladimir Putin’s transformation. Cumulatively, All the Kremlin’s Men explains to the English-speaking audience what has happened to Russia, what the role of the West is in its destiny, and how this destiny could play out going forward. It is a delicious portrait of the strangeness of modern Russia, a country swirling with intrigue and paranoia, peppered with fateful missteps and confusion, and the brooding, volatile, magnificently unpredictable figure of Vladimir Putin.]]> 400 Михаил Зыгарь 1610397398 Summer 4 4.14 2015
author: Михаил Зыгарь
name: Summer
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2023/04/29
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]]> 41057294
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.

Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.]]> 273 Sally Rooney 1984822179 Summer 5 3.81 2018
author: Sally Rooney
name: Summer
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
review:
Haunting, relatable, heart-wrenching, gorgeous, intimate, psychological
]]> 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Summer 5 3.96 2020
author: Matt Haig
name: Summer
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
review:
I have had dreams about this book and still think about it pretty frequently even months after reading it, so the concept of the novel was very relatable and impactful.
]]> 1034472 695 Haruki Murakami 0099507072 Summer 4 4.16 2006
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/05/04
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]]> 40338442
In captivating, starkly beautiful language, The White Book offers a multilayered exploration of color and its absence, of the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and of our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.]]> 157 Han Kang 0525573062 Summer 4 3.86 2016
author: Han Kang
name: Summer
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 43124137 The unforgettable love story of a mother blinded by loss and her husband who insists on their survival as they undertake the Syrian refugee trail to Europe.

Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo--until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain. On the way, Nuri is sustained by the knowledge that waiting for them is Mustafa, his cousin and business partner, who has started an apiary and is teaching fellow refugees in Yorkshire to keep bees.

As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all, they must journey to find each other again.

Moving, powerful, compassionate, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. It is the kind of book that reminds us of the power of storytelling.]]> 317 Christy Lefteri 1984821210 Summer 4 So good but so sad 4.14 2019
author: Christy Lefteri
name: Summer
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/04
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
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So good but so sad
]]> 50157589
A startling and boundary-pushing novel, Untold Night and Day tells the story of a young woman’s journey through Seoul over the course of a night and a day. It’s 28-year-old Ayami’s final day at her box-office job in Seoul’s audio theater. Her night is spent walking the sweltering streets of the city with her former boss in search of Yeoni, their missing elderly friend, and her day is spent looking after a mysterious, visiting poet. Their conversations take in art, love, food, and the inaccessible country to the north.

Almost immediately, in the heat of Seoul at the height of the summer, order gives way to chaos as the edges of reality start to fray, with Ayami becoming an unwitting escort into a fever-dream of increasingly tangled threads, all the while images of the characters�� overlapping realities repeat, collide, change, and reassert themselves in this masterful work that upends the very structure of fiction and narrative storytelling and burns itself upon the soul of the reader.

By one of the boldest and most innovative voices in contemporary Korean literature, and brilliantly realized in English by International Man Booker­–winning translator Deborah Smith, Bae Suah’s hypnotic and wholly original novel asks whether more than one version of ourselves can exist at once, demonstrating the malleable nature of reality as we know it.]]> 160 Bae Suah 1419744380 Summer 4 3.51 2013
author: Bae Suah
name: Summer
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/04
date added: 2022/05/04
shelves:
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]]> 57178201 The international literary icon opens his eclectic closet: Here are photographs of Murakami's extensive and personal T-shirt collection, accompanied by essays that reveal a side of the writer rarely seen by the public.

Considered the world's most popular cult novelist (The Guardian), Haruki Murakami has written books that have galvanized millions around the world. Many of his fans know about his 10,000-vinyl-record collection, and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate, and perhaps more unique, passion: his T-shirt-collecting habit.

In Murakami T, the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts--including gems from the Springsteen on Broadway show in NYC, to the Beach Boys concert in Honolulu, to the shirt that inspired the beloved short story Tony Takitani. Accompanied by short, frank essays that have been translated into English for the first time, these photographs reveal much about Murakami's multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona.]]> 192 Haruki Murakami 0593320425 Summer 0 to-read 3.58 2020
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Summer 5 4.35 2018
author: Delia Owens
name: Summer
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/10/19
shelves:
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]]> 9555
With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami makes this collection of stories a determined assault on the normal. A man sees his favorite elephant vanish into thin air; a newlywed couple suffers attacks of hunger that drive them to hold up a McDonald's in the middle of the night; and a young woman discovers that she has become irresistible to a little green monster who burrows up through her backyard.

By turns haunting and hilarious, The Elephant Vanishes is further proof of Murakami's ability to cross the border between separate realities -- and to come back bearing treasure.]]> 327 Haruki Murakami Summer 5 3.88 1993
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/13
date added: 2021/09/13
shelves:
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This is my first time reading a short story collection from Murakami and I wasn't disappointed. Some of the stories in particular stood out and continue to haunt me in a way, even long after reading them. Sleep and The Dancing Dwarf are two especially notable ones for me.
]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Summer 5 4.37 2020
author: T.J. Klune
name: Summer
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/08/24
shelves:
review:
So heartwarming - this was a really fun, soothing, and enjoyable reading, especially given the difficult times that we find ourselves in due to the pandemic. The House in the Cerulean Sea is a lighthearted fantasy, a lovely queer romance, and an absolute page-turner. I've already given it and recommended it to multiple friends.
]]> 1215032 There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.��

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

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

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

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

]]> 994 Patrick Rothfuss 0756404738 Summer 4 4.55 2011
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Summer
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/24
date added: 2021/08/24
shelves:
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]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Summer 5 4.52 2007
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Summer
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/02
date added: 2021/06/02
shelves:
review:
One of the best fantasy novels I've ever read, transcends the genre and stands out as a classic of our time. It's a long book but a total page-turner. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people looking for a temporary escape from this reality to an intriguing, mystical new one.
]]> 6334 288 Kazuo Ishiguro 1400078776 Summer 5 3.85 2005
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Summer
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/07
date added: 2021/05/12
shelves:
review:
This book has stuck with me even in the days after finishing it, leaving me with a sort of lingering melancholy. The book is subtle and beautiful and creepy and sad. And extremely well-written. Although this is a dystopian story, it left me with a lot to think about that relates to our reality and the times that we find ourselves in...especially in regards to rapidly advancing medicine and technology and the societal price that we may find ourselves paying if we don't think clearly before barging forward for the sake of "progress."
]]> 35631386
Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, Kahneman and Tversky’s extraordinary friendship incited a revolution in Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis’s own work possible. In The Undoing Project, Lewis shows how their Nobel Prize–winning theory of the mind altered our perception of reality.]]> 368 Michael Lewis 0393354776 Summer 3 3.95 2016
author: Michael Lewis
name: Summer
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/12
date added: 2021/05/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 55926862
Perfect for newcomers and tourists to learn about the city.
Great for those born in Denver and long-standing residents to rediscover and appreciate the rich history of the city.
Fabulous tool for taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers to educate their passengers.
School kids and teachers will love this easy-to-read book.

Learn about
�� Art, Culture and Entertainment
�� Parks, Recreation and Sports
�� Government and Education
�� Eating and Drinking Establishments
�� Famous People
�� Landmark Buildings and Neighborhoods
�� History You Can Remember
�� And much more]]> 240 Lisa J. Shultz 0998650951 Summer 5 I would recommend Essential Denver to people who are from Denver and who may have lived here their whole lives as well as to new folks and visitors! The book has something to offer for anyone interested in this city and learning more about it.]]> 4.86
author: Lisa J. Shultz
name: Summer
average rating: 4.86
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/14
date added: 2021/03/16
shelves:
review:
Essential Denver was such an easy, enjoyable read, and it really helped me become better acquainted with my own city. After reading this, I appreciate Denver more than ever now! Especially since we have been unable to travel, this book was so refreshing in that it allowed me to explore new places "in my own backyard," so to speak, and to approach these places with a more in-depth knowledge of the history and meaning behind them. This book was especially lovely to read in the mornings when I needed a break from news but still wanted to feel like I am learning new things and engaging with the world around me.
I would recommend Essential Denver to people who are from Denver and who may have lived here their whole lives as well as to new folks and visitors! The book has something to offer for anyone interested in this city and learning more about it.
]]> 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 Summer 0 to-read 4.11 2020
author: Brit Bennett
name: Summer
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 42046112 Memory makes reality.

That's what NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning, as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It's why she's dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

At once a relentless pageturner and an intricate science-fiction puzzlebox about time, identity, and memory, Recursion is a thriller as only Blake Crouch could imagine it—and his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.]]> 326 Blake Crouch 1524759783 Summer 0 to-read 4.15 2019
author: Blake Crouch
name: Summer
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> 28449156 The touching, triumphant story of a young black man's journey from violence and despair to one of the world's most elite artistic institutions, as if The Blind Side were set in the world of opera.

Ryan Speedo Green had a tough upbringing in southeastern Virginia: his family lived in a trailer park and later a bullet-riddled house across the street from drug dealers. His father was absent; his mother was volatile and abusive.

At the age of twelve, Ryan was sent to Virginia's juvenile facility of last resort. He was placed in solitary confinement. He was uncontrollable, uncontainable, with little hope for the future.

In 2011, at the age of twenty-four, Ryan won a nationwide competition hosted by New York's Metropolitan Opera, beating out 1,200 other talented singers. Today, he is a rising star performing major roles at the Met and Europe's most prestigious opera houses.

SING FOR YOUR LIFE chronicles Ryan's suspenseful, racially charged and artistically intricate journey from solitary confinement to stardom. Daniel Bergner takes readers on Ryan's path toward redemption, introducing us to a cast of memorable characters--including the two teachers from his childhood who redirect his rage into music, and his long-lost father who finally reappears to hear Ryan sing. Bergner illuminates all that it takes--technically, creatively--to find and foster the beauty of the human voice. And Sing for Your Life sheds unique light on the enduring and complex realities of race in America.
]]> 320 Daniel Bergner 0316300675 Summer 4 3.83 2016
author: Daniel Bergner
name: Summer
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/18
date added: 2021/02/18
shelves:
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]]> 54614599 A riveting new collection of short stories from the beloved, internationally acclaimed, Haruki Murakami.

The eight masterful stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator: a lonely man. Some of them (like With the Beatles, Cream and On a Stone Pillow ) are nostalgic looks back at youth. Others are set in adulthood--Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova, Carnaval, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey and the stunning title story. Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Haruki himself is present, as in The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides. The stories all touch beautifully on love and loss, childhood and death . . . all with a signature Murakami twist.']]> 245 Haruki Murakami 0593318072 Summer 0 to-read 3.58 2020
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Summer 4 3.66 2020
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Summer
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/29
date added: 2021/01/29
shelves:
review:
Normally, horror is not my go-to genre...That's probably the only reason that I'm giving this book 4 instead of 5 stars because I actually thought it was fabulously well-written. There is so much depth and symbolism throughout the story. Moreno-Garcia touches upon some of the most important issues of our times - racism and sexism being the 2 biggest ones that came up in this story - in such an original, horrifying, and somehow beautiful way. Despite being pretty different from her, I truly came to appreciate the main character Noemi and felt strongly connected to her and was rooting for her until the end. Also, despite being horror, this book didn't keep me from sleeping at night (which I appreciated), it just had me hooked and was hard to put down. Anyway, I would recommend this to almost anyone even if they don't read horror!
]]> 34890015 Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends��what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse).

Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. ]]> 342 Hans Rosling 1473637465 Summer 0 to-read 4.34 2018
author: Hans Rosling
name: Summer
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 235773 Waiting, PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author Ha Jin draws on his intimate knowledge of contemporary China to create a novel of unexpected richness and feeling. This is the story of Lin Kong, a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women as he moves through the political minefields of a society designed to regulate his every move and stifle the promptings of his innermost heart.

For more than seventeen years, this devoted and ambitious doctor has been in love with an educated, clever, modern woman, Manna Wu. But back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife his family chose for him when he was young—a humble and touchingly loyal woman, whom he visits in order to ask, again and again, for a divorce. In a culture in which the ancient ties of tradition and family still hold sway and where adultery discovered by the Party can ruin lives forever, Lin's passionate love is stretched ever more taut by the passing years. Every summer, his compliant wife agrees to a divorce but then backs out. This time, Lin promises, will be different.

Tracing these lives through their summer of decision and beyond, Ha Jin vividly conjures the texture of daily life in a place where the demands of human longing must contend with the weight of centuries of custom. Waiting charms and startles us with its depiction of a China that remains hidden to Western eyes even as it moves us with its piercing vision of the universal complications of love.]]> 310 Ha Jin 0375706410 Summer 4 3.54 1999
author: Ha Jin
name: Summer
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/21
date added: 2021/01/21
shelves:
review:
This whole book was beautifully written and full of so much wisdom and understanding of life... It did have a certain harshness or maybe subtle brutality to it, and I think just considering the times we're in I'm probably only giving it 4 stars because I was hoping for a more hopeful ending. As is the book was very real in that it emphasized the cyclical nature of life and the tendency of patterns to repeat themselves throughout our lives. Very honest and beautiful and well done, maybe just a little bit too honest and realistic for what I could handle rightnow.
]]> 34051011
Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters—strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis—survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.]]> 496 Min Jin Lee Summer 5 4.35 2017
author: Min Jin Lee
name: Summer
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/09
date added: 2021/01/09
shelves:
review:
I had a hard time putting this one down...I would recommend this book to almost anyone. I learned so much from it, a lot of which was pretty heavy and hard to learn. But I am grateful to know more about the history of Japan and Korea's relationship. Min Jin Lee did such a good job of illustrating that history through the saga of this family. The one thing I will mention is that the book got pretty sad for me by the end, and I was glad to finish it for this reason. Nonetheless, it was such a worthwhile read and so well-written!
]]> 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,�� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 Summer 0 to-read 3.99 2006
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Summer
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
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]]> 52696537 If I Had Your Face plunges us into the mesmerising world of contemporary Seoul - a place where extreme plastic surgery is as routine as getting a haircut, where women compete for spots in secret 'room salons' to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours, where K-Pop stars are the object of all-consuming obsession and ruthless social hierarchies dictate your every move.

Navigating this cutthroat city are four young women balancing on the razor edge of survival: Kyuri, an exquisitely beautiful woman whose hard-won status at an exclusive 'room salon' is threatened by an impulsive mistake with a client; her flatmate, Miho, an orphan who wins a scholarship to a prestigious art school in New York, where her life becomes tragically enmeshed with the super-wealthy offspring of the Korean elite; Wonna, their neighbour, pregnant with a child that she and her husband have no idea how they will afford to raise in a fiercely competitive economy; and Ara, a hair stylist living down the hall, whose infatuation with a fresh-faced K-Pop star drives her to violent extremes.]]> 288 Frances Cha 0593129466 Summer 4 3.74 2020
author: Frances Cha
name: Summer
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/01/06
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]]> 50736031
Breasts and Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own.

It tells the story of three women: the thirty-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with growing up. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and frustrations.

On another hot summer’s day ten years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.]]> 430 Mieko Kawakami 1609455878 Summer 4 3.87 2008
author: Mieko Kawakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/26
date added: 2021/01/06
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Such an important book and Kawakami did a beautiful job of talking about some pretty difficult topics with elegance and grace. I will admit that I found the first 2/3 of the book a little hard to get through but I stuck through it and was rewarded in the end. Even though the book takes a bit of a commitment to finish, I have already recommended it to a few people just because the topics that it touches on are so important for women especially in these times.
]]> 48585697 A restlessly brilliant novel of creative crisis and transformation

Beguiling and compulsively readable, Drifts is an intimate portrait of reading, writing, and creative obsession. At work on a novel that is overdue to her publisher, spending long days alone with her restless terrier, corresponding ardently with fellow writers, the novel's narrator grows obsessed with the challenge of writing the present tense, of capturing time itself. Entranced by the work of Rilke, Dürer, Chantal Akerman, and others, she photographs the residents and strays of her neighborhood, haunts bookstores and galleries, and records her thoughts in a yellow notebook that soon subsumes her work on the novel. As winter closes in, a series of disturbances—the appearances and disappearances of enigmatic figures, the burglary of her apartment—leaves her distracted and uncertain . . . until an intense and tender disruption changes everything.

A story of artistic ambition, personal crisis, and the possibilities and failures of literature, Drifts is a dramatic step forward for one of our most daring writers.]]> 328 Kate Zambreno 0593087216 Summer 0 to-read 3.68 2020
author: Kate Zambreno
name: Summer
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/19
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]]> 17799 Alternate cover edition here.

Growing up in the suburbs of post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch. Now Hajime is in his thirties. After a decade of drifting he has found happiness with his loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. Then Shimamoto reappears. She is beautiful, intense, enveloped in mystery. Hajime is catapulted into the past, putting at risk all he has in the present.]]> 190 Haruki Murakami 0099448572 Summer 5 3.89 1992
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/12/19
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review:

]]> 40873273
As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.]]> 288 Lisa See Summer 5 4.23 2005
author: Lisa See
name: Summer
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/12/13
shelves:
review:
This book served as window for me into a foreign yet familiar space - the women's space, which is at one familiar intimate and disconnected, beautiful and confining. It's been years since I read this book but I still think about it quite often. I would put it on my last of all-time favorites.
]]> 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Summer 5 4.25 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Summer
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 5
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]]> 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Summer 5 4.28 1813
author: Jane Austen
name: Summer
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 5
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]]> 18405 1037 Margaret Mitchell 0446365386 Summer 4 4.30 1936
author: Margaret Mitchell
name: Summer
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1936
rating: 4
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date added: 2020/12/13
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]]> 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]> 96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 Summer 5 4.32 1943
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Summer
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 5
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date added: 2020/12/13
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]]> 15823480 Anna Karenina provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in all of literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Levin is a reflection of Tolstoy himself, often expressing the author's own views and convictions.

Throughout, Tolstoy points no moral, merely inviting us not to judge but to watch. As Rosemary Edmonds comments, 'He leaves the shifting patterns of the kaleidoscope to bring home the meaning of the brooding words following the title, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.]]> 964 Leo Tolstoy 0345803922 Summer 3 4.11 1878
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Summer
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1878
rating: 3
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]]> 6185 You can find the redesigned cover of this edition HERE.

At the centre of this novel is the passionate love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff - recounted with such emotional intensity that a plain tale of the Yorkshire moors acquires the depth and simplicity of ancient tragedy.

This best-selling Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1847 first edition of the novel. For the Fourth Edition, the editor has collated the 1847 text with several modern editions and has corrected a number of variants, including accidentals. The text is accompanied by entirely new explanatory annotations.

New to the fourth Edition are twelve of Emily Bronte's letters regarding the publication of the 1847 edition of Wuthering Heights as well as the evolution of the 1850 edition, prose and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and Edward Chitham's insightful and informative chronology of the creative process behind the beloved work.

Five major critical interpretations of Wuthering Heights are included, three of them new to the Fourth Edition. A Stuart Daley considers the importance of chronology in the novel. J. Hillis Miller examines Wuthering Heights's problems of genre and critical reputation. Sandra M. Gilbert assesses the role of Victorian Christianity plays in the novel, while Martha Nussbaum traces the novel's romanticism. Finally, Lin Haire-Sargeant scrutinizes the role of Heathcliff in film adaptations of Wuthering Heights.

A Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.]]> 464 Emily Brontë Summer 5 3.89 1847
author: Emily Brontë
name: Summer
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1847
rating: 5
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]]> 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Summer 5 4.01 1988
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Summer
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/12/13
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]]> 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Summer 4 3.93 1925
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Summer
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/12/13
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]]> 15840207 This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 13: 9780099448570

Growing up in the suburbs in post-war japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collections. but when his family moved away, the two lost touch.

Now Hajime is in his thirties. After a decade of drifting he has found happiness with his loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. Then Shimamoto reappears. She is beautiful, intense, enveloped in mystery.

Hajime is catapulted into the past, putting at risk all he has in the present.]]> 187 Haruki Murakami Summer 5 In terms of what I like so much about this book, let me first acknowledge that I see some of the cliches that Murakami uses in his writing here but found even the use of these cliches engaging, mostly because of how beautifully they were written.
What did NOT feel like a cliche to me were the characters, especially the protagonist. He felt SO REAL to me and reminded me very much of someone that I know in my life. His complexity (and the complex workings of his conscious and subconscious mind) made him feel so human to me, far more than just a character on the page. I also feel the element of tragedy in this book was done just right - almost like there was just the right amount of beauty and tragedy present so that they balanced each other out...leaving you with this lingering sense of poignancy.
Last thing I'll say is that I've felt mildly unsatisfied with the ending in some of Murakami's other books because of him leaving too many loose ends untied. If you look closely at this ending and back into the details of this story, I think a fair amount of the loose ends actually tie together (although I am definitely making some inferences here), but just the right amount of mystery remains.]]> 3.71 1992
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2020/12/13
date added: 2020/12/13
shelves:
review:
I have read a lot of Murakami and this is one of my favorites...and in general, one of my new favorite books of all time. I feel haunted by it already...
In terms of what I like so much about this book, let me first acknowledge that I see some of the cliches that Murakami uses in his writing here but found even the use of these cliches engaging, mostly because of how beautifully they were written.
What did NOT feel like a cliche to me were the characters, especially the protagonist. He felt SO REAL to me and reminded me very much of someone that I know in my life. His complexity (and the complex workings of his conscious and subconscious mind) made him feel so human to me, far more than just a character on the page. I also feel the element of tragedy in this book was done just right - almost like there was just the right amount of beauty and tragedy present so that they balanced each other out...leaving you with this lingering sense of poignancy.
Last thing I'll say is that I've felt mildly unsatisfied with the ending in some of Murakami's other books because of him leaving too many loose ends untied. If you look closely at this ending and back into the details of this story, I think a fair amount of the loose ends actually tie together (although I am definitely making some inferences here), but just the right amount of mystery remains.
]]> 38820047
In Killing Commendatore, a thirty-something portrait painter in Tokyo is abandoned by his wife and finds himself holed up in the mountain home of a famous artist, Tomohiko Amada. When he discovers a previously unseen painting in the attic, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances. To close it, he must complete a journey that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a two-foot-high physical manifestation of an Idea, a dapper businessman who lives across the valley, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt during World War II in Vienna, a pit in the woods behind the artist’s home, and an underworld haunted by Double Metaphors. A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art—as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby��Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.]]> 681 Haruki Murakami 052552004X Summer 4 3.88 2017
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/01
date added: 2020/12/13
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Reading this book was very peaceful and meditative to me. It was tremendously relaxing to get to enter the protagonist's simple and rather isolated world. I loved the descriptions of his paintings, of the house that he lived in, and his strange way of interacting with people and the world.
]]> 17899948 Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

First published in 1938, this classic gothic novel is such a compelling read that it won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Century.]]> 449 Daphne du Maurier 0316323705 Summer 4 4.28 1938
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Summer
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1938
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/09
date added: 2020/12/12
shelves:
review:
Beautifully written and constantly surprising novel. My only disappointment is that I watched the movie before reading the book so I didn't get to be as taken away by the ending. That being said, I imagine this book was pretty revolutionary for its time, and all of the characters are complex and fascinating to dive into. I think the one thing I liked so much about the movie is getting to SEE Manderley, as the house is such an important character in the book.
]]> 17950789 372 Bobby Haas 1626463360 Summer 5 4.75 2013
author: Bobby Haas
name: Summer
average rating: 4.75
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/26
date added: 2020/12/12
shelves:
review:
One of the best-written books I've read in a long time. I'm still puzzling over the ending and a lot of the hidden implications within the novel...Mostly, I just loved the author's very unique writing style and realistic way of portraying his characters. The writing style took me back to the days of the Beat Generation, as I feel that it had a similar sort of poetic rhythm and wild unpredictability to it. Outside of the writing itself, the story was quite gripping and played out very vividly in my mind the whole time I was reading it. My favorite scenes were the ones with Nattie and Becky spending time together in the home before everything came crashing down around them. Such a beautiful portrayal of the more feminine way of bonding, interacting with other people, and processing the world around you. Anyway, I know I'll be thinking about this story for a long time.
]]> 37570546 From a psychotherapist, and national advice columnist comes a thought-provoking new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world -- where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.]]> 415 Lori Gottlieb 1328662055 Summer 0 to-read 4.36 2019
author: Lori Gottlieb
name: Summer
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5826 318 Ann Patchett Summer 5 3.93 2001
author: Ann Patchett
name: Summer
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
One of my favorite books ever. Ann Patchett's work is filled with so much depth and humanity. If you have the chance to read this book, your life will forever be enriched by the experience.
]]> 6318283
The second narrative relates the contemporary story of Lalla, a descendant of the Blue Men. Though she is an orphan living in a shantytown known as the Project near a coastal city in Morocco, the blood of her proud, obstinate tribe runs in her veins. All too soon, Lalla must flee to escape a forced marriage with an older, wealthy man. She travels to France, undergoing many trials there, from working in a brothel to success as a highly paid fashion model, but she never betrays the blood of her ancestors.]]> 352 J.M.G. Le Clézio 1567923860 Summer 5 3.76 1980
author: J.M.G. Le Clézio
name: Summer
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2017/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
I haven't read the English translation of this book, so I can't speak to that. I can speak to how incredibly moved I was by the original French version. I loved Désert so much that I read it as slowly as possibly, dreading the day when I ran out of pages. Parts of Lalla shine out like a pure, unfiltered version of the most essential parts of myself. Lalla moves about her world instinctively, feeling her way through the richness of life’s mysteries. She trusts her intuition as an internal guide to navigate through life’s challenges. Reading a few pages of life from Lalla’s perspective taught me how to trust myself again.
]]> 78895 NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

Robyn Davidson's opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: “I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back."

Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation. 

“An unforgettably powerful book.”—Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

Now with a new postscript by Robyn Davidson.]]> 288 Robyn Davidson 0679762876 Summer 5 3.92 1980
author: Robyn Davidson
name: Summer
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2017/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
One of my favorite books of all time. Reading through Robyn Davidson's perspective felt like having a conversation with myself. I don't think I've ever encountered a writer that I relate to on such a deep level. And her voyage itself was so moving and fascinating! This is the only book that I've ever read that moved me so much that I actually wrote a thank you letter to the author in appreciation of her sharing this with the world. Anyway, definitely read this book (and watch the movie) if you have the chance!
]]> 38746485
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.]]> 426 Michelle Obama 1524763136 Summer 5 4.42 2018
author: Michelle Obama
name: Summer
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
Inspirational in a time when we could all use some inspiration! I am so grateful to Michelle for writing this book and giving us all a window into her world, life story, and perspective. Michelle is the type of person that can inspire and move us all to dream bigger and do better.
]]> 8682 Jitterbug Perfume is an epic, which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.]]> 342 Tom Robbins 1842430351 Summer 4 4.24 1984
author: Tom Robbins
name: Summer
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
I love Tom Robbins! So fun and profound all at the same time, which is a hard feat to pull off. This book and how all of the characters and different narratives come together in the end was SO WELL DONE! I am giving this 4 stars because I think that Tom Robbin's female characters tend to lack some depth, but that is my only complaint in what is otherwise a fabulous read!
]]> 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle—yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Summer 5 4.14 2002
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2019/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
One of my favorite books ever. I just cannot get enough of Murakami and his writing style. The elements of magical realism in this story are absolutely transcendent, gorgeous novel through and through.
]]> 44067301
These powerful narrators describe why they fled their homes, what happened on their dangerous journeys through Mexico, how they crossed the border, and their ongoing struggles to survive in the United States. In an era of fear, xenophobia, and outright lies, these stories amplify the compelling voices of immigrant youth. What can they teach us about abuse and abandonment, bravery and resilience, hypocrisy and hope? They bring us into their hearts and onto streets filled with the lure of freedom and fraught with violence. From fending off kidnappers with knives and being locked in freezing holding cells to tearful reunions with parents, Solito, Solita’s evocative stories bring to light the experiences of young people struggling for a better life across the border.

Steven Mayers is a writer, oral historian, and professor of English at the City College of San Francisco.

Jonathan Freedman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author, and writing mentor at the City College of San Francisco.

Voice of Witness, founded by Dave Eggers, Mimi Lok, and Lola Vollen, is a nonprofit organization that advances human rights by amplifying unheard voices.

Part of the Voice of Witness series]]> 316 Steven Mayers 1608466183 Summer 5 4.39 2019
author: Steven Mayers
name: Summer
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
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I am so appreciative to Steven Mayers and everyone involved in creating this book for getting these stories out into the world. I work with at a shelter that serves unaccompanied minors, kids who crossed the border alone - mostly from Central America. This wave of migration is hugely significant, but so few people know about what is going on and how many kids are braving this journey alone. These stories from some of the immigrants themselves are so impactful and do such a good job of conveying the reasons why so many migrants are undertaking this perilous journey.
]]> 10357575 The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.�� A world that bears a question.�� Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s �� 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 944 Haruki Murakami 0307593312 Summer 4 3.94 2009
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Summer
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/11/01
shelves:
review:
Murakami is by far my favorite author. His writing, style, and the mood that he creates are all exquisite. This book is definitely a masterpiece, and I was totally engrossed in the world that he created from start to finish (despite this book being pretty large and rather daunting at first). I love the love story and its power and subtlety - something that's hard to pull off. The only reason that I'm giving this 4 instead of 5 stars is because I'm not a fan of the scenes, which occasionally appear in Murakami's books, that involve sex with young pre-teen girls. So take this review as your disclaimer that this type of content can be found in the book, but I would still say it is more than worth your while to read!
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