Silvia's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 23 Mar 2025 09:42:27 -0700 60 Silvia's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) 6149 Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.]]> 325 Toni Morrison Silvia 0 to-read 3.96 1987 Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
author: Toni Morrison
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Man Called Ove 18774964
Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.]]> 337 Fredrik Backman 1476738017 Silvia 5 favorites
� Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove


It's been a few months since I've read A Man Called Ove, but it is by far my favorite contemporary fiction book I've read so far, and I haven't been able to forget about it since. I would say that means a lot as someone who usually gravitates towards action-packed genres rather than slower, contemplative works. Despite the genre, Backman has a way of keeping the reader's attention so that they're hooked from page to page. Although initially depicted as a callous and grumpy old man, Ove is like an onion, and with each chapter, a new layer is peeled back, and you find yourself slowly falling in love with him as you learn why he is the way he is. You become excited to get to know him more and to see him evolve despite his stubbornness. The most serious or sad events are accompanied by Ove's seemingly irrelevant, trivial thoughts which infuses them with a subtle, ridiculous kind of humor.

The ending was very cathartic and left me feeling satisfied yet reflective. I love fiction because stories teach lessons that stick with you for a long time, much more than a self-help book ever could. A Man Called Ove in particular is a call to compassion.* It takes much more than one interaction or a first impression to get to know someone. There are parts of all of us that no one will ever fully see.

I will say, this book has a few suicide attempts and suicidal ideation in case these are themes that are triggering that you would like to avoid. Personally, I found that Backman explored these serious themes in a way that felt safe and light, but other people might disagree. Do your own research, but personally I cannot recommend this book enough.




* I got the phrase "a call to compassion" from an unrelated paper by Shona Kelly Wray, titled "Boccaccio and the doctors: medicine and compassion in the face of plague."]]> 4.35 2012 A Man Called Ove
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: favorites
review:
“To love someone is like moving into a house," Sonja used to say. "At first you fall in love in everything new, you wonder every morning that this is one's own, as if they are afraid that someone will suddenly come tumbling through the door and say that there has been a serious mistake and that it simply was not meant to would live so fine. But as the years go by, the facade worn, the wood cracks here and there, and you start to love this house not so much for all the ways it is perfect in that for all the ways it is not. You become familiar with all its nooks and crannies. How to avoid that the key gets stuck in the lock if it is cold outside. Which floorboards have some give when you step on them, and exactly how to open the doors for them not to creak. That's it, all the little secrets that make it your home.�

� Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove


It's been a few months since I've read A Man Called Ove, but it is by far my favorite contemporary fiction book I've read so far, and I haven't been able to forget about it since. I would say that means a lot as someone who usually gravitates towards action-packed genres rather than slower, contemplative works. Despite the genre, Backman has a way of keeping the reader's attention so that they're hooked from page to page. Although initially depicted as a callous and grumpy old man, Ove is like an onion, and with each chapter, a new layer is peeled back, and you find yourself slowly falling in love with him as you learn why he is the way he is. You become excited to get to know him more and to see him evolve despite his stubbornness. The most serious or sad events are accompanied by Ove's seemingly irrelevant, trivial thoughts which infuses them with a subtle, ridiculous kind of humor.

The ending was very cathartic and left me feeling satisfied yet reflective. I love fiction because stories teach lessons that stick with you for a long time, much more than a self-help book ever could. A Man Called Ove in particular is a call to compassion.* It takes much more than one interaction or a first impression to get to know someone. There are parts of all of us that no one will ever fully see.

I will say, this book has a few suicide attempts and suicidal ideation in case these are themes that are triggering that you would like to avoid. Personally, I found that Backman explored these serious themes in a way that felt safe and light, but other people might disagree. Do your own research, but personally I cannot recommend this book enough.




* I got the phrase "a call to compassion" from an unrelated paper by Shona Kelly Wray, titled "Boccaccio and the doctors: medicine and compassion in the face of plague."
]]> <![CDATA[The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)]]> 40275288
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction � but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 845 Samantha Shannon 1408883457 Silvia 0 to-read 4.18 2019 The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Husbands 193781998 An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?]]> 352 Holly Gramazio 0385550618 Silvia 0 to-read 3.50 2024 The Husbands
author: Holly Gramazio
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)]]> 91474
As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob....]]> 547 Jim Butcher 0451461037 Silvia 0 currently-reading 4.39 2006 Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)]]> 17683
Luckily, however, he's not alone. Although most people don't believe in magic, the Chicago P.D. has a Special Investigations department, headed by his good friend Karrin Murphy. They deal with the . . . stranger cases. It's down to Karrin that Harry sneaks into Graceland Cemetery to meet a vampire named Mavra. Mavra has evidence that would destroy Karrin's career, and her demands are simple. She wants the Word of Kemmler - and all the power that comes with it. But first, Harry's keen to know what he'd be handing over. Before long he's racing against time, and six necromancers, to get the Word. And to prevent a Halloween that would truly wake the dead.

Magic - it can get a guy killed.]]> 528 Jim Butcher 045146091X Silvia 4 4.41 2005 Dead Beat (The Dresden Files, #7)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Love and Other Words 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 Silvia 0 to-read 4.23 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Her Dark Lies 49374479 At the wedding of the year, a killer needs no invitation

Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets.

From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship—the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife.

Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out—and the real terror begins…]]> 416 J.T. Ellison 0778388301 Silvia 0 to-read 3.49 2021 Her Dark Lies
author: J.T. Ellison
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Anxious People 49127718 A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.

Includes short story - The Last Round of Golf]]> 336 Fredrik Backman 198216963X Silvia 0 to-read 4.17 2019 Anxious People
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Specimen 203751835
1826. Isobel Tait finds herself, by chance, staring at a tiny human heart floating in a jar. It should be of little consequence; Dr. Burnett is renowned for his collection of oddities and medical specimens, and this, a juvenile heart with a damaged mitral valve, is not the strangest thing on display. Except that the condition is rare, and that Isobel's young son, who has been missing for months, suffered from the ailment.

A phantom pulse beats in Isobel's ears. She knows something here isn't right.

Missing persons cases are all too common in Edinburgh, where people simply vanish like mist. But Burnett is obsessed with his specimens � how far would he go to acquire a new one? Determined to investigate, Isobel joins his staff as the keeper of his collection. What she'll unearth, though, is far worse than any of her nightmares�

Based on true crimes, The Specimen is a mesmerizing story about one woman's search for truth and vengeance in the darkest of places—where the deadliest secrets lie hidden in plain sight, on a freshly dusted shelf.]]> 416 Jaima Fixsen 1728294908 Silvia 5 favorites 3.96 2024 The Specimen
author: Jaima Fixsen
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 1922 22844166 The chilling novella featured in Stephen King’s bestselling collection Full Dark, No Stars, 1922 � about a man who succumbs to the violence within � is now available as a stand-alone publication.

I believe there is a man inside every man, a stranger

So writes Wilfred James in his confession. It’s 1922. Wilfred owns eighty acres of farmland in Nebraska that have been in the family for generations. His wife, Arlette, owns an adjoining one hundred acres.

But if Arlette carries out her threat to sell her land to a pig butcher, Wilfred will be forced to sell too. Worse, he’ll have to move to the city. But he has a daring plan. It may work if he can persuade his son.

A powerful tale of betrayal, murder, madness and rats, 1922 is a breathtaking exploration into the dark side of human nature from the great American storyteller Stephen King. It was adapted into a film from Netflix.]]> 132 Stephen King Silvia 4 3.87 2010 1922
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
review:

]]> A Good Marriage 22844188
When her husband of more than 20 years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It's a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends a good marriage.

Listening Length: 3 hours and 33 minutes]]> 4 Stephen King Silvia 3 3.79 2014 A Good Marriage
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Silvia 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]> 162120 Between the three of them, these historic episodes confirm that greed and fear have always been the driving forces of financial markets, and, furthermore, that being sensible and clever is no defence against the mesmeric allure of a popular craze with the wind behind it.

In writing the history of the great financial manias, Charles Mackay proved himself a master chronicler of social as well as financial history. Blessed with a cast of characters that covered all the vices, gifted a passage of events which was inevitably heading for disaster, and with the benefit of hindsight, he produced a record that is at once a riveting thriller and absorbing historical document. A century and a half later, it is as vibrant and lurid as the day it was written.

For modern-day investors, still reeling from the dotcom crash, the moral of the popular manias scarcely needs spelling out. When the next stock market bubble comes along, as it surely will, you are advised to recall the plight of some of the unfortunates on these pages, and avoid getting dragged under the wheels of the careering bandwagon yourself.]]> 96 Charles Mackay 1897597320 Silvia 0 to-read 3.87 1841 Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
author: Charles Mackay
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1841
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 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 Silvia 0 currently-reading 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A Little Life 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 Silvia 0 to-read 4.28 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Exit West 30688435
Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.]]> 231 Mohsin Hamid 0735212171 Silvia 3 3.74 2017 Exit West
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human]]> 60321392
N amed a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist , Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more!

In The Song of the Cell , the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner� ( Oprah Daily ).

Mukherjee begins this magnificent story in the late 1600s, when a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked down their handmade microscopes. What they saw introduced a radical concept that swept through biology and medicine, touching virtually every aspect of the two sciences, and altering both forever. It was the fact that complex living organisms are assemblages of tiny, self-contained, self-regulating units. Our organs, our physiology, our selves—hearts, blood, brains—are built from these compartments. Hooke christened them � cells. �

The discovery of cells—and the reframing of the human body as a cellular ecosystem—announced the birth of a new kind of medicine based on the therapeutic manipulations of cells. A hip fracture, a cardiac arrest, Alzheimer’s dementia, AIDS, pneumonia, lung cancer, kidney failure, arthritis, COVID pneumonia—all could be reconceived as the results of cells, or systems of cells, functioning abnormally. And all could be perceived as loci of cellular therapies.

Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it means to be human.

“In an account both lyrical and capacious, Mukherjee takes us through an evolution of human from the seventeenth-century discovery that humans are made up of cells to our cutting-edge technologies for manipulating and deploying cells for therapeutic purposes� ( The New Yorker).]]> 473 Siddhartha Mukherjee 1982117354 Silvia 0 to-read 4.25 2022 The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
author: Siddhartha Mukherjee
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us]]> 59575939 A grand tour through the hidden realms of animal senses that will transform the way you perceive the world --from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into a previously unfathomable dimension--the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth's magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and humans that wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile's scaly face is as sensitive as a lover's fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries which lie unsolved.

In An Immense World, author and acclaimed science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. Because in order to understand our world we don't need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes.]]> 464 Ed Yong Silvia 0 to-read 4.46 2022 An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
author: Ed Yong
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World]]> 28256439 The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.]]> 272 Peter Wohlleben 1771642483 Silvia 0 to-read 4.06 2015 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
author: Peter Wohlleben
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures]]> 52668915
Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.

In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of â€intelligenceâ€�, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. The ability of fungi to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the â€Wood Wide Webâ€�, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.]]> 352 Merlin Sheldrake 0525510311 Silvia 0 to-read 4.34 2020 Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
author: Merlin Sheldrake
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Genetic Switch, Third Edition: Phage Lambda Revisited]]> 1547382 154 Mark Ptashne 0879697164 Silvia 0 to-read 4.47 2004 A Genetic Switch, Third Edition: Phage Lambda Revisited
author: Mark Ptashne
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir]]> 36589701 A memoir of one woman's effort to save her husband's life-and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more.

Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world.

Frantic, Steffanie combed through research old and new and came across phage therapy: the idea that the right virus, aka "the perfect predator," can kill even the most lethal bacteria. Phage treatment had fallen out of favor almost 100 years ago, after antibiotic use went mainstream. Now, with time running out, Steffanie appealed to phage researchers all over the world for help. She found allies at the FDA, researchers from Texas A&M, and a clandestine Navy biomedical center -- and together they resurrected a forgotten cure.]]> 309 Steffanie Strathdee Silvia 0 to-read 4.36 2019 The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir
author: Steffanie Strathdee
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales]]> 63697 243 Oliver Sacks Silvia 0 to-read 4.08 1985 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
author: Oliver Sacks
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[American Gods (American Gods, #1)]]> 4407
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...

This is the author's preferred text, never before published in the UK, and is about 12,000 words longer than the previous UK edition.

]]> 635 Neil Gaiman Silvia 0 to-read 4.10 2001 American Gods (American Gods, #1)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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]]> Martyr! 139400713 Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 331 Kaveh Akbar 0593537610 Silvia 0 to-read 4.22 2024 Martyr!
author: Kaveh Akbar
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> Dracul 38363799 The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's--and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen--a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen--and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.]]> 497 Dacre Stoker 0735219346 Silvia 0 to-read 4.14 2018 Dracul
author: Dacre Stoker
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> The Prisoner 59808228 With Behind Closed Doors, B.A. Paris takes the psychological thriller to shocking new heights. Now she'll hold you captive with this stunning new thriller about one woman wed into a family with deadly intentions.

THEN
Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne.

NOW
But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?

In true B.A. Paris style, The Prisoner is a gripping survival story, a twisted tale of love and at its dark heart a thriller to keep you up all night.]]> 298 B.A. Paris 1250274141 Silvia 0 to-read 3.54 2022 The Prisoner
author: B.A. Paris
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> Held 200241802
1917. On a battlefield near the River Aisne, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory—a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast—as the snow falls.

1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river—alive, but not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his ghosts whose messages he cannot understand .

So begins a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequence igniting and re-igniting as the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. This resonance through time—not only of actions but also of feelings and perceptions—desire in its many forms—are at the heart of this novel’s profound investigation.

Held is a deeply affecting and intensely beautiful novel, full of unforgettable characters and imagery, wisdom and compassion. It explores the deepest mysteries, and the ways in which desire in its many forms—and perhaps the deepest desire, to find meaning—manifests itself. Held moves through history to light upon Darwin, Sir Ernest Rutherford, North Sea ganseys, early photography, Ella Mary Leather, modern field hospitals…while lovers find each other and snow drifts down across the centuries. From the WW1 battlefield where the novel begins, and its opening lines, Held is alive with "We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?”]]> 240 Anne Michaels 0771005458 Silvia 0 to-read 3.50 2023 Held
author: Anne Michaels
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Cell 10567 Where were you on October 1st at 3:03 pm?

Graphic artist Clay Riddell was in the heart of Boston on that brilliant autumn afternoon when hell was unleashed before his eyes. Without warning, carnage and chaos reigned. Ordinary people fell victim to the basest, most animalistic destruction.

And the apocalypse began with the ring of a cell phone...]]> 449 Stephen King 1416524517 Silvia 0 to-read 3.67 2006 Cell
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> Pet Sematary 33124137 This is an alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B00K3NEE56. When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son-and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all...right down to the friendly car. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth-more terrifying than death itself-and hideously more powerful. The Creeds are going to learn that sometimes dead is better.]]> 580 Stephen King Silvia 0 to-read 4.21 1983 Pet Sematary
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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]]> 11/22/63 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane � and insanely possible � mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 Silvia 0 to-read 4.33 2011 11/22/63
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> The Shining (The Shining, #1) 11588 497 Stephen King 0450040186 Silvia 0 to-read 4.28 1977 The Shining (The Shining, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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]]> Small Things Like These 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Silvia 0 to-read 4.14 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry 53401676 Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by debut author Joya Goffney is the story of an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears. It’s a heartfelt, tortured, contemporary YA high school romance with epistolary elements. Fans of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Kristina Forest’s debut I Wanna Be Where You Are will love the juicy secrets, leap-off-the-page sexual tension and the enemy-to-lover romantic arc.

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,� to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing�

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.]]> 368 Joya Goffney 0063024810 Silvia 3 4.06 2021 Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
author: Joya Goffney
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/26
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]]> The Rachel Incident 63094957
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.]]> 304 Caroline O'Donoghue 0593535707 Silvia 0 to-read 4.06 2023 The Rachel Incident
author: Caroline O'Donoghue
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Notes from Underground 49455 Notes from Underground marks the dividing line between nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction, and between the visions of self each century embodied. One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence. In complete retreat from society, he scrawls a passionate, obsessive, self-contradictory narrative that serves as a devastating attack on social utopianism and an assertion of man’s essentially irrational nature.

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, whose Dostoevsky translations have become the standard, give us a brilliantly faithful edition of this classic novel, conveying all the tragedy and tormented comedy of the original.]]> 136 Fyodor Dostoevsky 067973452X Silvia 0 to-read 4.21 1864 Notes from Underground
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1864
rating: 0
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]]> It 830502
It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real ...

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.]]> 1184 Stephen King 0450411435 Silvia 0 to-read 4.28 1986 It
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/01
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]]> Later 54798175
Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King's classic novel It, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.]]> 248 Stephen King Silvia 4 3.99 2021 Later
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
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This was my first Stephen King novel, and I am hooked. The writing style was beautiful. The novel itself was amazing page turner. However, I do feel somewhat cheated out of an ending. The fact that Uncle Harry was Jamie’s father: I guessed that before he said it, when Liz hinted that what Jamie could do had could be hereditary, and I realized that Uncle Harry was the only one we met who also saw dead people, when he looked at Therriault and asked, “who’s that.� Don’t get me wrong, I think it was still extremely shocking to find out, but I just wish there was more. Also, I still don’t know what that deadlight thing is. Maybe it’s supposed to leave me thinking for a while, but I wish I could have followed Jamie into his adult life a little more. I don’t feel like there was enough of a struggle with Therriault. I want to know why it kept calling him Champ like Liz did. And whether that deadlight thing also took over Donnie Bigs, since he also showed a reluctance to answer Jamie’s questions, and had to be pressured. Why did that deadlight specifically take over Therriault’s body only? I don’t know, I just think there’s still a lot more room for more plot and exploration. I hope Stephen King writes a sequel to this.
]]> In Persuasion Nation 28746 In Persuasion Nation are easily his best work yet. "The Red Bow," about a town consumed by pet-killing hysteria, won a 2004 National Magazine Award and "Bohemians," the story of two supposed Eastern European widows trying to fit in in suburban USA, is included in The Best American Short Stories 2005. His new book includes both unpublished work, and stories that first appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, and Esquire. The stories in this volume work together as a whole whose impact far exceeds the simple sum of its parts. Fans of Saunders know and love him for his sharp and hilarious satirical eye. But In Persuasion Nation also includes more personal and poignant pieces that reveal a new kind of emotional conviction in Saunders's writing.

Saunders's work in the last six years has come to be recognized as one of the strongest—and most consoling—cries in the wilderness of the millennium's political and cultural malaise. In Persuasion Nation's sophistication and populism should establish Saunders once and for all as this generation's literary voice of wisdom and humor in a time when we need it most.]]> 228 George Saunders 159448242X Silvia 3 4.11 2006 In Persuasion Nation
author: George Saunders
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures]]> 12609 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling. Sherwin Nuland said of the account, "There are no villains in Fadiman's tale, just as there are no heroes. People are presented as she saw them, in their humility and their frailty—and their nobility.]]> 341 Anne Fadiman 0374525641 Silvia 0 to-read 4.20 1997 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
author: Anne Fadiman
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II]]> 95784
This book tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved many.]]> 290 Iris Chang 0140277447 Silvia 0 to-read 4.23 1997 The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
author: Iris Chang
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> And Then There Were None 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 Silvia 0 to-read 4.28 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1939
rating: 0
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]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Silvia 0 to-read 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Foster 8143909
Winner of the Davy Byrnes Memorial Prize, Foster is now published in a revised and expanded version. Beautiful, sad and eerie, it is a story of astonishing emotional depth, showcasing Claire Keegan's great accomplishment and talent.]]> 89 Claire Keegan 0571255655 Silvia 0 to-read 4.32 2010 Foster
author: Claire Keegan
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1)]]> 55710822 In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door.

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar - and maybe snag him as a prom date - even befriend Wes Bennet.

The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic-comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love - and rethink her own ideas of what happily ever after should look like.]]> 356 Lynn Painter 1534467629 Silvia 0 to-read 4.28 2021 Better Than the Movies (Better Than the Movies, #1)
author: Lynn Painter
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/24
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]]> The Martian 18007564
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

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

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

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

]]> 384 Andy Weir 0804139024 Silvia 0 to-read 4.41 2011 The Martian
author: Andy Weir
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/23
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]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Silvia 0 to-read 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/23
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]]> Dracula 17245 You can find an alternative cover edition for this ISBN here and here.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This Norton Critical Edition includes a rich selection of background and source materials in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijkstra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.]]> 488 Bram Stoker 0393970124 Silvia 5 favorites 4.02 1897 Dracula
author: Bram Stoker
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1897
rating: 5
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]]> A Tale of Two Cities 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 Silvia 5 favorites 3.86 1859 A Tale of Two Cities
author: Charles Dickens
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1859
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban]]> 17851885 I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.]]> 327 Malala Yousafzai 0316322407 Silvia 5 favorites 4.15 2012 I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
author: Malala Yousafzai
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion]]> 28024 The Sacred and the Profane, famed historian of religion Mircea Eliade observes that even moderns who proclaim themselves residents of a completely profane world are still unconsciously nourished by the memory of the sacred. Eliade traces manifestations of the sacred from primitive to modern times in terms of space, time, nature, and the cosmos. In doing so he shows how the total human experience of the religious man compares with that of the nonreligious.
This book of great originality and scholarship serves as an excellent introduction to the history of religion, but its perspective also encompasses philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and psychology. It will appeal to anyone seeking to discover the potential dimensions of human existence.]]> 256 Mircea Eliade Silvia 4 favorites 4.13 1957 The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion
author: Mircea Eliade
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1957
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Grave Peril (The Dresden Files #3)]]> 20539128 12 Jim Butcher 148058133X Silvia 5 favorites 4.19 2001 Grave Peril (The Dresden Files #3)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution]]> 30971755 304 Jennifer A. Doudna 0544716949 Silvia 4 4.10 2017 A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
author: Jennifer A. Doudna
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> Much Ado About Nothing 12957 Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare includes two quite different stories of romantic love. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight, but an outsider, Don John, strikes out at their happiness. Beatrice and Benedick are kept apart by pride and mutual antagonism until others decide to play Cupid.]]> 249 William Shakespeare Silvia 5 4.06 1598 Much Ado About Nothing
author: William Shakespeare
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1598
rating: 5
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]]> Land of No Regrets 197108937
Nabil, freshly plucked from middle school in Scarborough, is struggling to find his place at Al Haque Islamic Academy. Between the intense religious studies and new rules, he still longs for his past life of baseball, video games, comic books and girls. When he stumbles upon Maaz and Nawaaz doing something they shouldn't be doing, he quickly falls into their company and joins them in their misdeeds. And together with the new transfer student and unruly class clown Farid, the group executes their rebellion.

One day, while exploring the Madrasa at night, the boys discover the diary of a student who lived on the grounds when it was an all-girls Catholic school. Cynthia Lewis' words connect them to a bygone era and inspires them to hatch a plot to escape. They form a pact, and together, their ultimate decision sends them hurtling down a path that changes their lives forever.

Strikingly original, and as poignant as it is humorous, Land of No Regrets is a vibrant, compassionate exploration of faith, friendship, identity, and the true value of freedom.]]> 320 Sadi Muktadir 1335453768 Silvia 5 favorites 3.84 2024 Land of No Regrets
author: Sadi Muktadir
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: favorites
review:
Absolutely amazing. I’m left heartbroken but oddly quenched at the same time. Very cathartic, I connected with this book and the characters very deeply.
]]> Lady Macbeth 202102084 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. 

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.  

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. 

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. 

She does not know this yet. But she will.]]> 295 Ava Reid 0593722566 Silvia 0 to-read 3.46 2024 Lady Macbeth
author: Ava Reid
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> The Vegetarian 25489025
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.]]> 188 Han Kang 0553448188 Silvia 0 to-read 3.61 2007 The Vegetarian
author: Han Kang
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> The Locked Door 57795665
While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.]]> 313 Freida McFadden Silvia 3 4.00 2021 The Locked Door
author: Freida McFadden
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/10/22
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review:
My main problem with this book is that the ending is unsatisfying. Sure, I didn't expect it, but that's because it came out of the blue; there were no signs or hints dispersed throughout the book, so the twist in the end actually makes sense. The culprit's motive was not strong enough in my opinion, so it wasn't as convincing. However, I still give this 4 stars because I like the concept. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it, and it was enjoyable to read until I got to the end.
]]> Do Not Disturb 58778536
To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

Do Not Disturb is a Hitchcock-style psychological thriller that will keep you tearing through the pages until you reach the shocking conclusion!]]> 325 Freida McFadden Silvia 3 3.93 2021 Do Not Disturb
author: Freida McFadden
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/22
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review:
Great, easy read. I finished it in a day! At some parts the narration did drag a little bit, and some characters got on my nerves, but overall, this was a great page-turner! The twist made much more sense than the one in The Locked Door, which is the first book I had read by this author. No glaring plot holes so far, but I think the author did miss some important conversations she could have included between some characters towards the end.
]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Silvia 3 3.67 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/22
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Sweet, cozy read. Perfect for fall, and also a nice way relax before sleeping. Before the Coffee Gets Cold stresses the importance of our attitudes and perspectives especially when it comes to interpersonal relationships through four short stories. I gave the book 3 stars because it wasn't quite a page-turner for me, but that can also be an advantage because it's calming and didn't leave me feeling stressed or anxious. I don't think I will quite remember each story in the book after a while, but I'll definitely remember the themes and the concept of the book, and I think it will influence how I interact with those I care about for a long time.
]]> <![CDATA[Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu]]> 6064961 Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question—or the actual risks of contagion—but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood.Alcabes examines epidemics through history to show how they reflect the particular social and cultural anxieties of their times. From Typhoid Mary to bioterrorism, as new outbreaks are unleashed or imagined, new fears surface, new enemies are born, and new behaviors emerge. Dread dissects the fascinating story of the imagined epidemic: the one that we think is happening, or might happen; the one that disguises moral judgments and political agendas, the one that ultimately expresses our deepest fears.]]> 336 Philip Alcabes 1586486187 Silvia 0 to-read 2.89 2009 Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu
author: Philip Alcabes
name: Silvia
average rating: 2.89
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)]]> 60524927
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.]]> 7 Travis Baldree Silvia 0 to-read 3.90 2022 Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, #1)
author: Travis Baldree
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> Her Last Move 39926632 “Whatever you do, don’t read this in the dark…� —Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home

He hides in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment. Each kill is calculated, planned and executed like clockwork.

Struggling to balance her personal and professional life, young DS Becca Vincent has landed the biggest case of her career � and she knows that it will make or break her. But how can she identify one face in a sea of thousands? With the help of Police Super Recogniser Joe Russell, she strives to catch a glimpse of the elusive murderer, but he’s watching her every move.

Time is not on their side. The body count is rising, and the attacks are striking closer and closer to home. Can Becca and Joe uncover the connection between the murders before the killer strikes the last name from his list?

From the bestselling author of When You Disappeared and The Good Samaritan comes his most thrilling novel yet.]]> 385 John Marrs Silvia 0 to-read 4.09 2018 Her Last Move
author: John Marrs
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> The Good Samaritan 37422823 She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?

The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.

Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.

But now someone’s on to her—Ryan, whose world falls apart when his pregnant wife ends her life, hand in hand with a stranger. Who was this man, and why did they choose to die together?

The sinister truth is within Ryan’s grasp, but he has no idea of the desperate lengths Laura will go to�

Because the best thing about being a Good Samaritan is that you can get away with murder.]]> 399 John Marrs 1503958345 Silvia 0 to-read 4.10 2017 The Good Samaritan
author: John Marrs
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> Keep It in the Family 60109530
Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors.

In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Haunted by the terrible things she saw and desperate to find answers, her obsession pulls her ever further from her husband.

Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family—but is it already too late?]]> 380 John Marrs 1542017289 Silvia 0 to-read 4.08 2022 Keep It in the Family
author: John Marrs
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness]]> 18373298 The New York Times, where its simple, uplifting message struck a deep chord. Within days, it had been shared more than one million times. Why? Because Saunders's words tap into a desire in all of us to lead kinder, more fulfilling lives. Powerful, funny, and wise, Congratulations, by the Way is an inspiring message from one of today's most influential and original writers.]]> 64 George Saunders 0812996275 Silvia 3 4.17 2013 Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness
author: George Saunders
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Silvia 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Silvia 5 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling Silvia 5 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Silvia 5 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> The September House 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]> 352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 Silvia 0 to-read 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> All the Light We Cannot See 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Silvia 0 to-read 4.31 2014 All the Light We Cannot See
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> Misery 10614 #1, #2, #3, #4

Paul Sheldon. He's a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader - she is Paul's nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.]]> 370 Stephen King 0450417395 Silvia 0 to-read 4.22 1987 Misery
author: Stephen King
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/19
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]]> The Bell Jar 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 Silvia 0 to-read 4.05 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/18
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]]> We Were Liars 16143347 A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.]]> 242 E. Lockhart 0385741278 Silvia 0 to-read 3.66 2014 We Were Liars
author: E. Lockhart
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas]]> 92625 Some inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies its happiness.

The story 'Omelas" was first published in 'New Dimensions 3' (1973), a hard-cover science fiction anthology edited by Robert Silverberg, in October 1973, and the following year it won the prestigious Hugo Award for best short story.

The work was subsequently printed in Le Guin's short story collection 'The Wind's Twelve Quarters' (1975).

Ursula K Le Guin (1929�2018) was an American writer who published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry & four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, and more. She was known for her treatment of gender ('The Left Hand of Darkness' (1969), 'The Matter of Seggri' (1994)), political systems ('The Telling' (2000), 'The Dispossessed' (1974)) and difference/otherness in any other form.]]> 32 Ursula K. Le Guin 0886825016 Silvia 0 to-read 4.38 1973 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/17
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]]> Gone Girl 19288043 What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]> 415 Gillian Flynn 0307588378 Silvia 0 to-read 4.22 2012 Gone Girl
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> The Sword of Kaigen 41886271 A son struggling to grasp his violent future,
A father blind to the danger that threatens them all.

When the winds of war reach their peninsula, will the Matsuda family have the strength to defend their empire? Or will they tear each other apart before the true enemies even reach their shores?

High on a mountainside at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire live the most powerful warriors in the world, superhumans capable of raising the sea and wielding blades of ice. For hundreds of years, the fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name â€The Sword of Kaigen.â€�

Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru has always known his purpose: to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and pulls back the curtain on Kaigen’s alleged age of peace, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be. Worse, the empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.

Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword, along with everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country. But with her growing son asking questions about the outside world, the threat of an impending invasion looming across the sea, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.]]> 651 M.L. Wang Silvia 0 to-read 4.46 2019 The Sword of Kaigen
author: M.L. Wang
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #1)]]> 34219873
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she's blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks--and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.

But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.

It's then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city's most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart - an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests - or she'll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.]]> 465 Jessica Townsend 0316439959 Silvia 0 to-read 4.32 2017 Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #1)
author: Jessica Townsend
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> The Phantom of the Opera 480204 The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.

Leroux's work, with characters ranging from the spoiled prima donna Carlotta to the mysterious Persian from Erik's past, has been immortalized by memorable adaptations. Despite this, it remains a remarkable piece of Gothic horror literature in and of itself, deeper and darker than any version that follows.]]> 360 Gaston Leroux 0060809248 Silvia 0 to-read 3.98 1910 The Phantom of the Opera
author: Gaston Leroux
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1910
rating: 0
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]]> Wonderstruck 10128428
Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories - Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures - weave back and forth in symmetry.]]> 640 Brian Selznick 0545027896 Silvia 0 to-read 4.16 2011 Wonderstruck
author: Brian Selznick
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion]]> 43126457 Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly in a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Jia writes about the cultural prisms that have shaped her: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the American scammer as millennial hero; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the mandate that everything, including our bodies, should always be getting more efficient and beautiful until we die.]]> 303 Jia Tolentino 0525510540 Silvia 0 to-read 4.04 2019 Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
author: Jia Tolentino
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/11
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]]> Rebel With A Cause 483420 354 Franklin Graham 0785271708 Silvia 4 4.17 1995 Rebel With A Cause
author: Franklin Graham
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 4
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]]> The Case for Christ 73186 367 Lee Strobel 0310226058 Silvia 4 4.22 1998 The Case for Christ
author: Lee Strobel
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1998
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy]]> 46674
- Recognise what causes your mood swings
- Nip negative feelings in the bud
- Deal with guilt
- Handle hostility and criticism
- Overcome addiction to love and approval
- Build self-esteem
- Feel good everyday]]> 736 David D. Burns 0380810336 Silvia 3 4.03 1980 Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
author: David D. Burns
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/12
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Flights of Fancy (American Heiresses, #1)]]> 40390188
Mr. Ian MacKenzie is known for his savvy business sense and has built his reputation and fortune completely through traditional hard work. But when his adopted parents are in need of a new housekeeper and Isadora is thrown into his path, he's unexpectedly charmed by her unconventional manner.

Neither Isadora nor Ian expected to find the other so intriguing, but when a chain of mysterious incidents on the farm point to a larger threat, they'll have to set aside everything they thought they wanted for a chance at happy-ever-after.]]> 365 Jen Turano 0764231677 Silvia 3 4.15 2019 Flights of Fancy (American Heiresses, #1)
author: Jen Turano
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/15
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories]]> 23530034
Translated from the Arabic by Denys Johnson-Davies, the collection admits the reader into a hidden private world, regulated by the call of the mosque, but often full of profound anguish and personal isolation. Badriyya's despariting anger at her deceitful husband, for example, or the hauntingly melancholy of "At the Time of the Jasmine," are treated with a sensitivity to the discipline and order of Islam.]]> 116 Alifa Rifaat 1478611286 Silvia 2 3.81 1983 Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories
author: Alifa Rifaat
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1983
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> The Joys of Motherhood 777229 ...a graceful, touching, ironically titled tale.
- John Updike

A new edition of her classic novel to coincide with the publication of her other works in the African Writers Series. Nnu Ego is a woman devoted to her children, giving them all her energy, all her worldly possessions, indeed, all her life to them -- with the result that she finds herself friendless and alone in middle age. This story of a young mother's struggles in 1950s Lagos is a powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy, and women's changing roles in urban Nigeria.

]]> 224 Buchi Emecheta 0807609501 Silvia 3 3.90 1979 The Joys of Motherhood
author: Buchi Emecheta
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/28
date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller Silvia 0 to-read 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> Cleopatra and Frankenstein 57693262 For readers of Modern Lovers and Conversations with Friends, an addictive, humorous, and poignant debut novel about the shock waves caused by one couple's impulsive marriage.

Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank's life is full of all the excesses Cleo's lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could've predicted.

Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it's Cleo's best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo's marriage, or Frank's financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.

As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, entertaining as it is deeply moving, Cleopatra and Frankenstein marks the entry of a brilliant and bold new talent.]]> 384 Coco Mellors 1635576814 Silvia 0 to-read 3.70 2022 Cleopatra and Frankenstein
author: Coco Mellors
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/07
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]]> <![CDATA[A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life]]> 53487237 A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.

In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?� He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.]]> 403 George Saunders 1984856049 Silvia 0 to-read 4.55 2021 A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
author: George Saunders
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]> 395003 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here and here

In this novel - a story of irreconcilable loves and infidelities - Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being' In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. We feel, says the novelist, 'the unbearable lightness of being' - not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.

Juxtaposing Prague, Geneva, Thailand and the United States, this masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It offers a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations and it descants on a variety of styles. In this classic novel Kundera draws together the Czechoslovakia of the Prague Spring and the Russian invasion, the philosophy of Nietzsche, and the love affairs of a number of heartbreakingly familiar characters.]]> 305 Milan Kundera Silvia 0 4.01 1984 The Unbearable Lightness of Being
author: Milan Kundera
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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]]> East of Eden 4406
Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.]]> 601 John Steinbeck 0142000655 Silvia 0 to-read 4.41 1952 East of Eden
author: John Steinbeck
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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]]> A Thousand Splendid Suns 128029
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Silvia 0 to-read 4.44 2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> The Taxidermist's Daughter 21530082
Standing alone is the taxidermist's daughter. At 17, Constantia Gifford lives with her father in a decaying house: it is all that is left of Gifford's once world-famous museum of taxidermy. The stuffed animals that used to grace every parlour are out of fashion, leaving Gifford a disgraced and bitter man.

The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. No one sees the gloved hand pick up a flint. As the last notes fade into the dark, a woman lies dead.

While the village braces itself against rising waters and the highest tide of the season, Connie struggles to discover who is responsible, but finds herself under suspicion. Is Constantia who she seems - is she the victim of circumstances or are more sinister forces at work? And what is the secret that lies at the heart of Gifford House, hidden among the bell jars of her father's workshop?

Told over one summer, The Taxidermist's Daughter is the haunting new novel from the bestselling author of Labyrinth, Sepulchre, Citadel and The Winter Ghosts.]]> 409 Kate Mosse 1409153754 Silvia 0 to-read 3.70 2014 The Taxidermist's Daughter
author: Kate Mosse
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning]]> 18770267 Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.

Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned.

Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.]]> 313 Peter C. Brown 0674729013 Silvia 0 to-read 4.14 2014 Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning
author: Peter C. Brown
name: Silvia
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> The Great Gatsby 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 Silvia 2 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 2
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]]> The Metamorphosis 485894 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

With it's startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."]]> 201 Franz Kafka 0553213695 Silvia 0 to-read 3.90 1915 The Metamorphosis
author: Franz Kafka
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1915
rating: 0
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]]> Legacy 54860458
Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her―before her mother, Lina, stepped in.

Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents� house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend―and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial―as long as neither crosses the other.

But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling. Year after year, they keep arriving―the postmarks changing, but the menacing tone the same. They continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins…]]> 434 Nora Roberts 1250272939 Silvia 0 to-read 3.96 2021 Legacy
author: Nora Roberts
name: Silvia
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/06
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]]>