Mary's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:55:54 -0700 60 Mary's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (Molly Moon, #1)]]> 807968
Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret...]]> 371 Georgia Byng 0060514094 Mary 0 3.92 2002 Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (Molly Moon, #1)
author: Georgia Byng
name: Mary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)]]> 12983100 Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?]]> 438 Susan Ee Mary 0 4.24 2013 World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)
author: Susan Ee
name: Mary
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Son of a Trickster (Trickster, #1)]]> 30257957 With striking originality and precision, Eden Robinson, the Giller-shortlisted author of the classic Monkey Beach and winner of the Writers Trust Engel/Findley Award, blends humour with heartbreak in this compelling coming-of-age novel. Everyday teen existence meets indigenous beliefs, crazy family dynamics, and cannibalistic river otter . . . The exciting first novel in her trickster trilogy.

Everyone knows a guy like Jared: the burnout kid in high school who sells weed cookies and has a scary mom who's often wasted and wielding some kind of weapon. Jared does smoke and drink too much, and he does make the best cookies in town, and his mom is a mess, but he's also a kid who has an immense capacity for compassion and an impulse to watch over people more than twice his age, and he can't rely on anyone for consistent love and support, except for his flatulent pit bull, Baby Killer (he calls her Baby)--and now she's dead.

Jared can't count on his mom to stay sober and stick around to take care of him. He can't rely on his dad to pay the bills and support his new wife and step-daughter. Jared is only sixteen but feels like he is the one who must stabilize his family's life, even look out for his elderly neighbours. But he struggles to keep everything afloat...and sometimes he blacks out. And he puzzles over why his maternal grandmother has never liked him, why she says he's the son of a trickster, that he isn't human. Mind you, ravens speak to him--even when he's not stoned.

You think you know Jared, but you don't.]]> 319 Eden Robinson 0345810783 Mary 4 currently-reading 3.81 2017 Son of a Trickster (Trickster, #1)
author: Eden Robinson
name: Mary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/09/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:
This is a good read, but I hesitate to say it's an enjoyable read. This book is enormously sad. I have to take breaks or I feel so small and worn down. But you should still read it. The characters in this novel are so messy and real and fucked up, and you really just want to see them be loved and find peace. Jared, in particular, messes me right up. I'm probably only still reading because I love him. TL;DR: Eden Robinson continues to devastate my heart.
]]> Monkey Beach 292706
Visited by ghosts and shapeshifters, tormented by premonitions, she can't escape the sense that something terrible is waiting for her. She recounts her enchanted yet scarred life as she journeys in her speedboat up the frigid waters of the Douglas Channel. She is searching for her brother, dead by drowning, and in her own way running as fast as she can toward danger. Circling her brother's tragic death are the remarkable characters that make up her family: Lisamarie's parents, struggling to join their Haisla heritage with Western ways; Uncle Mick, a Native rights activist and devoted Elvis fan; and the headstrong Ma-ma-oo (Haisla for "grandmother"), a guardian of tradition.

Haunting, funny, and vividly poignant, Monkey Beach gives full scope to Robinson's startling ability to make bedfellows of comedy and the dark underside of life. Informed as much by its lush living wilderness as by the humanity of its colorful characters, Monkey Beach is a profoundly moving story about childhood and the pain of growing older--a multilayered tale of family grief and redemption.]]> 384 Eden Robinson 0618219056 Mary 0 4.04 2000 Monkey Beach
author: Eden Robinson
name: Mary
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/09/08
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]]> Play Me 2873515 320 Laura Ruby 0061243272 Mary 0 3.05 2008 Play Me
author: Laura Ruby
name: Mary
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/08
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]]> 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 Mary 5 3.96 1987 Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
author: Toni Morrison
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1987
rating: 5
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date added: 2020/09/08
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]]> American Born Chinese 118944
Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn't want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god...

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he's ruining his cousin Danny's life. Danny's a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse...

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax--and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.]]> 233 Gene Luen Yang 1596431520 Mary 0 3.89 2006 American Born Chinese
author: Gene Luen Yang
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> Looking for Alibrandi 82436
Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free.

Told with unmatched depth and humor, this novel—which swept the pool of Australian literary awards and became a major motion picture—is one to laugh through and cry with, to cherish and remember.]]> 313 Melina Marchetta 0375836942 Mary 0 3.90 1992 Looking for Alibrandi
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> <![CDATA[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]]> 10569 (back cover)]]> 320 Stephen King 0743455967 Mary 0 4.33 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
author: Stephen King
name: Mary
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> Anya's Ghost 9615347 Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn't kidding about the "Forever" part.

Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.

Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse. She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.

Or so she thinks. Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya's Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol.]]> 224 Vera Brosgol 1596437138 Mary 3 3.91 2011 Anya's Ghost
author: Vera Brosgol
name: Mary
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2011
rating: 3
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)]]> 9516
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.]]> 153 Marjane Satrapi 037571457X Mary 4 4.27 2003 Persepolis. The story of a childhood (Persepolis, #1)
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Mary
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)]]> 9460487 9781594744761

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.]]> 352 Ransom Riggs 1594744769 Mary 3 3.92 2011 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)
author: Ransom Riggs
name: Mary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 3
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim, #1)]]> 29800 168 Bryan Lee O'Malley Mary 0 4.19 2004 Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim, #1)
author: Bryan Lee O'Malley
name: Mary
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/27
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]]> Fire (Graceling Realm, #2) 6137154
This is where Fire lives. With a wild, irresistible appearance and hair the color of flame, Fire is the last remaining human monster. Equally hated and adored, she had the unique ability to control minds, but she guards her power, unwilling to steal the secrets of innocent people. Especially when she has so many of her own.

Then Prince Brigan comes to bring her to King City, The royal family needs her help to uncover the plot against the king. Far away from home, Fire begins to realize there's more to her power than she ever dreamed. Her power could save the kingdom.

If only she weren't afraid of becoming the monster her father was.]]> 480 Kristin Cashore 0803734611 Mary 5
It makes a little bit angry and a whole lot sad to see some of the ire and vitriol this novel has garnered. What? How??? It's simply one of the most beautifully crafted and deliciously written novels I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. At certain points I had to put the book down for a minute and just breathe, it affected me so deeply.

Some have said that Fire was simply a more whiney, less capable version of Katsa. I strongly, almost violently disagree. Physical capabilities may be required for a woman to be a Strong Female Character like Katsa, but Fire is capable in her own right; her agonies and her struggles may be mostly mental, but overwhelming all the same.

And also, this book portrays relationships, sex, and emotions candidly like so many novels fail to do. It talks about periods, for f's sake. How often do you see that in a book? Seriously, tmi or whatever but my boobs get sore all the time. It's a breath of fresh air to hear those natural bodily functions talked about matter of factly.

Seriously, friends, read this book. It's awful, by which I mean it blew my mind and tore my emotions to shreds.]]> 4.10 2009 Fire (Graceling Realm, #2)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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date added: 2016/05/14
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So. This book, man. I loved Graceling a lot so I came into reading Fire expecting it to be good, but probably not quite as amazing as its predecessor. But, but, god. It was SO GOOD. I want to scream my love for this book off the mountaintops of Swiss Alps, okay, I haven't been this emotional about a book for a long while.

It makes a little bit angry and a whole lot sad to see some of the ire and vitriol this novel has garnered. What? How??? It's simply one of the most beautifully crafted and deliciously written novels I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. At certain points I had to put the book down for a minute and just breathe, it affected me so deeply.

Some have said that Fire was simply a more whiney, less capable version of Katsa. I strongly, almost violently disagree. Physical capabilities may be required for a woman to be a Strong Female Character like Katsa, but Fire is capable in her own right; her agonies and her struggles may be mostly mental, but overwhelming all the same.

And also, this book portrays relationships, sex, and emotions candidly like so many novels fail to do. It talks about periods, for f's sake. How often do you see that in a book? Seriously, tmi or whatever but my boobs get sore all the time. It's a breath of fresh air to hear those natural bodily functions talked about matter of factly.

Seriously, friends, read this book. It's awful, by which I mean it blew my mind and tore my emotions to shreds.
]]> Animal Farm 7613
The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals � inspired by his philosophy of Animalism � plot a rebellion against Jones.

Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall...]]> 129 George Orwell Mary 0 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Mary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/02/04
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]]> <![CDATA[One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy � the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Mary 0 4.20 1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
author: Ken Kesey
name: Mary
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/02/04
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]]> Hopeful Monsters 151460
Home becomes fraught, reality a nightmare as Hiromi Goto weaves her characters through tales of domestic crises and cultural dissonance. They are the walking wounded—a mother who is terrified by a newborn daughter who bears a tail; a “stinky girl� who studies the human condition in a shopping mall; a family on holiday wih a visiting grandfather who cannot abide their “foreign� nature. But wills are a force unto themselves, and Goto’s characters are imbued with the light of myth and magic-realism. With humor and keen insight, Goto makes the familiar seem strange, and deciphers those moments when the idyllic skews into the absurd and the sublime.]]> 176 Hiromi Goto 1551521571 Mary 0 to-read 3.64 2004 Hopeful Monsters
author: Hiromi Goto
name: Mary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2015/03/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative]]> 196430 "Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous." In The Truth About Stories, Native novelist and scholar Thomas King explores how stories shape who we are and how we understand and interact with other people. From creation stories to personal experiences, historical anecdotes to social injustices, racist propaganda to works of contemporary Native literature, King probes Native culture's deep ties to storytelling. With wry humor, King deftly weaves events from his own life as a child in California, an academic in Canada, and a Native North American with a wide-ranging discussion of stories told by and about Indians. So many stories have been told about Indians, King comments, that "there is no reason for the Indian to be real. The Indian simply has to exist in our imaginations." That imaginative Indian that North Americans hold dear has been challenged by Native writers - N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louis Owens, Sherman Alexie, and others - who provide alternative narratives of the Native experience that question, create a present, and imagine a future. King reminds the reader, Native and non-Native, that storytelling carries with it social and moral responsibilties. "Don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now."]]> 184 Thomas King 0816646260 Mary 0 4.34 2003 The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative
author: Thomas King
name: Mary
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/10/07
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]]> <![CDATA[For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son]]> 590561
Richard Wagamese stares the modern world in the eye and takes careful note of its snares and perils. He sees people coveting without knowing why, people looking for roots without understanding what might constitute rootedness, people looking for acceptance without offering reciprocal respect, and people longing for love without knowing how to offer it. And underneath all lurks the seductive oblivion of substance abuse. These are the pitfalls of his own life, dangers he hopes his estranged son, Joshua, will be able to navigate with the guidance afforded by this heartfelt memoir.

Richard Wagamese has no easy answers. His road to self-knowledge has been long and treacherous -- and it is in part this series of trials that has furnished him if not with a complete set of answers then at least a profound understanding of the questions. Again and again Wagamese brings universal problems into astonishingly sharp focus by sharing the special wisdom of Canada’s First Nations, while reminding us that we are not so different after all.]]> 240 Richard Wagamese 0385257120 Mary 0 4.35 2002 For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son
author: Richard Wagamese
name: Mary
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/10/07
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]]> King Lear 12938
The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom—one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving.

The authoritative edition of King Lear from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

-Scene-by-scene plot summaries

-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases

-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language

-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books

-An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by Susan Snyder

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.]]> 339 William Shakespeare Mary 0 3.91 1605 King Lear
author: William Shakespeare
name: Mary
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1605
rating: 0
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]]> Geek Love 13872 Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out � with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes � to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There's Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious � and dangerous � asset.

As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.]]> 348 Katherine Dunn 0375713344 Mary 0 3.96 1989 Geek Love
author: Katherine Dunn
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/10/07
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]]> In Search of April Raintree 800780
In this Critical Edition, editor Cheryl Suzack has chosen ten critical essays to accompany one of the best-known texts by Canadian Aboriginal author Beatrice Culloden/Mosionier.]]> 343 Beatrice Culleton 1894110439 Mary 0 4.08 1983 In Search of April Raintree
author: Beatrice Culleton
name: Mary
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/10/07
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]]> Letters To A Young Poet 21792868
Born in 1875, the great German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke published his first collection of poems in 1898 and went on to become renowned for his delicate depiction of the workings of the human heart. Drawn by some sympathetic note in his poems, young people often wrote to Rilke with their problems and hopes. From 1903 to 1908 Rilke wrote a series of remarkable responses to a young, would-be poet on poetry and on surviving as a sensitive observer in a harsh world. Those letters, still a fresh source of inspiration and insight, are accompanied here by a chronicle of Rilke's life that shows what he was experiencing in his own relationship to life and work when he wrote them.]]> 123 Rainer Maria Rilke 0393350460 Mary 0 4.25 1929 Letters To A Young Poet
author: Rainer Maria Rilke
name: Mary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1929
rating: 0
read at: 2014/05/01
date added: 2014/09/17
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]]> Deerskin 8087 384 Robin McKinley 0441012396 Mary 0 to-read 3.90 1993 Deerskin
author: Robin McKinley
name: Mary
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 Mary 0 3.89 2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
author: Mark Haddon
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/08/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret]]> 37732
But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have religion, and that she isn’t going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. What they don’t know is Margaret has her own very special relationship with God. She can talk to God about everything—family, friends, even Moose Freed, her secret crush.

Margaret is funny and real, and her thoughts and feelings are oh-so-relatable—you’ll feel like she’s talking right to you, sharing her secrets with a friend.]]> 149 Judy Blume 0689841582 Mary 0 3.93 1970 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
author: Judy Blume
name: Mary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/08/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)]]> 17910048 A lush tale of deadly court intrigue and a modern classic of fantasy by Locus award winner and Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award finalist Katherine Addison

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.]]> 446 Katherine Addison 076532699X Mary 0 to-read 4.04 2014 The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)
author: Katherine Addison
name: Mary
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/08/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> Everything Leads to You 18667779 A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.
Ěý
A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.
Ěý
Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic�. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.
Ěý]]> 307 Nina LaCour 0525425888 Mary 0 3.84 2014 Everything Leads to You
author: Nina LaCour
name: Mary
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2014/08/01
date added: 2014/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane]]> 37186
Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely.

And then, one day, he was lost.

Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the top of a garbage heap to the fireside of a hoboes' camp, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. And along the way, we are shown a true miracle � that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.]]> 228 Kate DiCamillo 0763625892 Mary 0 4.38 2006 The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> The Tale of Despereaux 37190 A brave mouse, a covetous rat, a wishful serving girl, and a princess named Pea come together in Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal–winning tale.

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.]]> 272 Kate DiCamillo 0763625299 Mary 0 4.07 2003 The Tale of Despereaux
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> When My Name Was Keoko 613218 199 Linda Sue Park 0440419441 Mary 0 4.15 2002 When My Name Was Keoko
author: Linda Sue Park
name: Mary
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at: 2014/08/01
date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> As I Lay Dying 77013 As I Lay Dying is Faulkner’s harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Narrated in turn by each of the family members -- including Addie herself -- as well as others; the novel ranges in mood, from dark comedy to the deepest pathos. Considered one of the most influential novels in American fiction in structure, style, and drama, As I Lay Dying is a true 20th-century classic.

This edition reproduces the corrected text of As I Lay Dying as established in 1985 by Noel Polk.]]> 288 William Faulkner Mary 0 3.71 1930 As I Lay Dying
author: William Faulkner
name: Mary
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1930
rating: 0
read at: 2014/08/01
date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> The Scorpio Races 10626594
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition � the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.]]> 409 Maggie Stiefvater 054522490X Mary 0 4.09 2011 The Scorpio Races
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: Mary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2014/07/01
date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> The Song of Achilles 11250317
Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.]]> 352 Madeline Miller 1408816032 Mary 0 4.38 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2014/08/01
date added: 2014/08/13
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]]> Saving Francesca 82434 MOST OF MY friends now go to Pius Senior College, but my mother wouldn't allow it because she says the girls there leave with limited options and she didn't bring me up to have limitations placed upon me. If you know my mother, you'll sense there's an irony there, based on the fact that she is the Queen of the Limitation Placers in my life.

Francesca battles her mother, Mia, constantly over what's best for her. All Francesca wants is her old friends and her old school, but instead Mia sends her to St. Sebastian's, an all-boys' school that has just opened its doors to girls. Now Francesca's surrounded by hundreds of boys, with only a few other girls for company. All of them weirdos or worse.

Then one day, Mia is too depressed to get out of bed. One day turns into months, and as her family begins to fall apart, Francesca realises that without her mother's high spirits, she hardly knows who she is. But she doesn't yet realise that she's more like Mia than she thinks. With a little unlikely help from St. Sebastian's, she just might be able to save her family, her friends, and especially herself.]]> 243 Melina Marchetta 0375829830 Mary 0 3.97 2003 Saving Francesca
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/06
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]]> Dare Me 12982393 "Tense, dark, and beautifully written" (Gillian Flynn), this novel of friendship and betrayal from an Edgar Award-winning author is a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl.

Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls—until the young new coach arrives.

Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl"—both with the team and with Addy herself.

Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death—and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.

The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Writing with "total authority and an almost desperate intensity" (Tom Perrotta), award-winning novelist Megan Abbott delivers a story as unnerving and thrilling as adolescence itself.

"Spectacular . . . It's Heathers meets Fight Club good."
—Chelsea Cain, the New York Times Book Review]]> 290 Megan Abbott 0316097772 Mary 4 3.22 2012 Dare Me
author: Megan Abbott
name: Mary
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends, #1)]]> 24384 Mario is elated to find Chester. He begs his parents to let him keep the shiny insect in the newsstand, assuring his bug-fearing mother that crickets are harmless, maybe even good luck. What ensues is an altogether captivating spin on the city mouse/country mouse story, as Chester adjusts to the bustle of the big city. Despite the cricket's comfortable matchbox bed (with Kleenex sheets); the fancy, seven-tiered pagoda cricket cage from Sai Fong's novelty shop; tasty mulberry leaves; the jolly company of Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat; and even his new-found fame as "the most famous musician in New York City," Chester begins to miss his peaceful life in the Connecticut countryside. The Cricket in Times Square--a Newbery Honor Book in 1961--is charmingly illustrated by the well-loved Garth Williams, and the tiniest details of this elegantly spun, vividly told, surprisingly suspenseful tale will stick with children for years and years. Make sure this classic sits on the shelf of your favorite child, right next to The Wind in the Willows. (Ages 9 to 12)

]]> 134 George Selden 0440228891 Mary 0 4.03 1960 The Cricket in Times Square (Chester Cricket and His Friends, #1)
author: George Selden
name: Mary
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1960
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles, #1)]]> 262430 The story of a boy who embarks on a dangerous quest in order to fulfill his destiny -- and find his father -- in a strange world beneath New York City.
When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it -- until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.]]> 326 Suzanne Collins 043977134X Mary 0 4.04 2003 Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Mary
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/06
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]]> Paper Towns 2914097 Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...]]> 305 John Green 0525478183 Mary 0 4.00 2008 Paper Towns
author: John Green
name: Mary
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
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 Mary 0 4.44 2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Mary
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> Beauty Queens 9464733 When a plane crash strands thirteen teen beauty contestants on a mysterious island, they struggle to survive, to get along with one another, to combat the island's other diabolical occupants, and to learn their dance numbers in case they are rescued in time for the competition.]]> 396 Libba Bray 0439895979 Mary 0 3.62 2011 Beauty Queens
author: Libba Bray
name: Mary
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> The Fault in Our Stars 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]> 313 John Green Mary 0 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/06
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]]> Hero 1251032
But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League.

To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he'll have to come to terms with his father's past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be.]]> 428 Perry Moore 1423101952 Mary 1
What I don't see mentioned, though, is the blatant misogyny and utter lack of critical thinking within this book when not dealing with queer issues. All the women in this novel are treated with disdain -- people call him a girl when he's not performing well, the main character makes blanket statements, like "you know how women can be with their pictures. Most of them don't like to be reminded of how they looked 30 lbs ago." (57)

Here, we have supposedly the most good, upstanding hero in the world, Justice. About his colleague, he says: "Warrior Woman's a bitch." (182). Great. for any young girls, gay or not, reading this book, it's good to know that the most prolific and respected woman superhero can be flippantly referred to as a bitch, by her colleague.

And what's a good book without some internalized misogyny? "Do you remember Velvet Vixen?" Thom's mother asks. "No, of course you don't, you're too young. Well, she was a real slut, and I didn't want anyone thinking I was easy like her." (301)

But wait, my favourite: "There'd been lots of girls and makeout sessions once I'd hit puberty, but nothing I'd really wanted to do...I'd just end up kissing them because I didn't want to be responsible in any way for their low self-esteem or future eating disorders or whatever." (203)

Wow.

While I can try to appreciate this novel's desire to represent gay boys, it does so at the expense of girls, gay or not, reading this book.

Way to inspire equality in your readers, Hero. Glad to know respecting girls and inspiring women isn't important to you. In fact, it seems you don't give two shits about it. Urgh.]]> 3.87 2007 Hero
author: Perry Moore
name: Mary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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review:
People have already mentioned the poor writing, confusing pacing, and the lack of sympathetic characters. All true. There's also people lauding the subject matter, saying it's great having a gay teen superhero. Also true.

What I don't see mentioned, though, is the blatant misogyny and utter lack of critical thinking within this book when not dealing with queer issues. All the women in this novel are treated with disdain -- people call him a girl when he's not performing well, the main character makes blanket statements, like "you know how women can be with their pictures. Most of them don't like to be reminded of how they looked 30 lbs ago." (57)

Here, we have supposedly the most good, upstanding hero in the world, Justice. About his colleague, he says: "Warrior Woman's a bitch." (182). Great. for any young girls, gay or not, reading this book, it's good to know that the most prolific and respected woman superhero can be flippantly referred to as a bitch, by her colleague.

And what's a good book without some internalized misogyny? "Do you remember Velvet Vixen?" Thom's mother asks. "No, of course you don't, you're too young. Well, she was a real slut, and I didn't want anyone thinking I was easy like her." (301)

But wait, my favourite: "There'd been lots of girls and makeout sessions once I'd hit puberty, but nothing I'd really wanted to do...I'd just end up kissing them because I didn't want to be responsible in any way for their low self-esteem or future eating disorders or whatever." (203)

Wow.

While I can try to appreciate this novel's desire to represent gay boys, it does so at the expense of girls, gay or not, reading this book.

Way to inspire equality in your readers, Hero. Glad to know respecting girls and inspiring women isn't important to you. In fact, it seems you don't give two shits about it. Urgh.
]]> Austenland (Austenland, #1) 248483 197 Shannon Hale 1596912855 Mary 0 3.55 2007 Austenland (Austenland, #1)
author: Shannon Hale
name: Mary
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> Ru 7574245
A runaway bestseller in Quebec, with foreign rights sold to 15 countries around the world, Kim ThĂşy's Governor General's Literary Award-winning Ru is a lullaby for Vietnam and a love letter to a new homeland.

Ru. In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow - of tears, blood, money. Kim ThĂşy's Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters. In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec. There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream. As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy's autism. Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy.]]> 144 Kim ThĂşy 286746532X Mary 0 3.82 2009 Ru
author: Kim ThĂşy
name: Mary
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> I Capture the Castle 31122 408 Dodie Smith 0312181108 Mary 0 3.99 1948 I Capture the Castle
author: Dodie Smith
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> The Bell Jar 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 Mary 0 4.05 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)]]> 6936382 beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?]]> 372 Stephanie Perkins 0525423273 Mary 1
I feel all gross and slimy inside after reading this book. Not only is it whiny, completely predictable, and incredibly insincere, it condones cheating and betraying your friends for boys.

?????

??/??/???

I started hating it by 1/5 of the way in.

I read on, desperately wanting to like this book. I wanted it to redeem itself.

It got worse. By the end, I was hate-reading just so I could finish and feel completely vindicated in hating this book. No what-ifs or maybes. This book is Bad.

??/ /?/?/

SERIOUSLY WHY DOES ANYONE LIKE THIS BOOK. A ROMANCE BETWEEN TWO BIRDS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE FUN TO READ ABOUT.

IN FACT I LOVE BIRDS, GIVE ME A BIRD ROMANCE, BURY THIS BOOK UNDER TWO MILLION BIRD ROMANCES SO THAT IT NEVER SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY.]]> 3.96 2010 Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)
author: Stephanie Perkins
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
shelves:
review:
I have honestly no idea why this book is as popular as it is. IS THIS WHAT PASSES FOR GOOD ROMANCE THESE DAYS.

I feel all gross and slimy inside after reading this book. Not only is it whiny, completely predictable, and incredibly insincere, it condones cheating and betraying your friends for boys.

?????

??/??/???

I started hating it by 1/5 of the way in.

I read on, desperately wanting to like this book. I wanted it to redeem itself.

It got worse. By the end, I was hate-reading just so I could finish and feel completely vindicated in hating this book. No what-ifs or maybes. This book is Bad.

??/ /?/?/

SERIOUSLY WHY DOES ANYONE LIKE THIS BOOK. A ROMANCE BETWEEN TWO BIRDS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE FUN TO READ ABOUT.

IN FACT I LOVE BIRDS, GIVE ME A BIRD ROMANCE, BURY THIS BOOK UNDER TWO MILLION BIRD ROMANCES SO THAT IT NEVER SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY.
]]> Hard Love 790289 Since his parents' divorce, John's mother hasn't touched him, her new fiancé wants them to move away, and his father would rather be anywhere than at Friday night dinner with his son. It's no wonder John writes articles like "Interview with the Stepfather" and "Memoirs from Hell." The only release he finds is in homemade zines like the amazing Escape Velocity by Marisol, a self-proclaimed "Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian." Haning around the Boston Tower Records for the new issue of Escape Velocity, John meets Marisol and a hard love is born.


While at first their friendship is based on zines, dysfunctional families, and dreams of escape, soon both John and Marisol begin to shed their protective shells. Unfortunately, John mistakes this growing intimacy for love, and a disastrous date to his junior prom leaves that friendship in ruins. Desperately hoping to fix things, John convinces Marisol to come with him to a zine conference on Cape Cod. On the sandy beaches by the Bluefish Wharf Inn, John realizes just how hard love can be.


With keen insight into teenage life, Ellen Wittlinger delivers a story of adolescence that is fierce and funny � and ultimately transforming � even as it explores the pain of growing up.

]]> 224 Ellen Wittlinger 068984154X Mary 0 3.77 1999 Hard Love
author: Ellen Wittlinger
name: Mary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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]]> If You Could Be Mine 17302571
So they carry on in secret—until Nasrin’s parents announce that they’ve arranged for her marriage. Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that they can go on as they have been, only now with new comforts provided by the decent, well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry. But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively—and openly.

Then Sahar discovers what seems like the perfect solution. In Iran, homosexuality may be a crime, but to be a man trapped in a woman’s body is seen as nature’s mistake, and sex reassignment is legal and accessible. As a man, Sahar could be the one to marry Nasrin. Sahar will never be able to love the one she wants, in the body she wants to be loved in, without risking her life. Is saving her love worth sacrificing her true self?]]> 256 Sara Farizan 1616202513 Mary 0 3.70 2013 If You Could Be Mine
author: Sara Farizan
name: Mary
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> On the Jellicoe Road 1162022 I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.

Taylor is leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs—the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother—who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.

The moving, joyous and brilliantly compelling new novel from the best-selling, multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca.]]> 290 Melina Marchetta 0670070297 Mary 5 4.10 2006 On the Jellicoe Road
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> In the Skin of a Lion 5946 256 Michael Ondaatje 0679772669 Mary 0 3.87 1987 In the Skin of a Lion
author: Michael Ondaatje
name: Mary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> Mimus 333423 398 Lilli Thal 1550379240 Mary 5 4.18 2003 Mimus
author: Lilli Thal
name: Mary
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe]]> 9375 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who is telling her life story. Her tale includes two more women, the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.]]> 416 Fannie Flagg 0375508414 Mary 0 4.28 1987 Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
author: Fannie Flagg
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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review:

]]> A Really Awesome Mess 17288907
After his parents' divorce, Justin is on rocky mental ground. But when a handful of Tylenol lands him in the hospital, he has really hit rock bottom.

A scandalous photo of Emmy leads to vicious rumors around school, but things get worse when she threatens the boy who started it all on Facebook.

Justin and Emmy arrive at Heartland Academy, a reform school that will force them to deal with their issues. Along the way they will find a ragtag group of teens who are just as broken, stubborn, and full of sarcasm as themselves.

A funny, sad, and remarkable story, A Really Awesome Mess is a journey of friendship and self-discovery.]]> 224 Trish Cook 1606843648 Mary 0 3.64 2013 A Really Awesome Mess
author: Trish Cook
name: Mary
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)]]> 11500217
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.]]> 326 Susan Ee 144477851X Mary 0 4.19 2011 Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)
author: Susan Ee
name: Mary
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> <![CDATA[The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #2)]]> 78418
If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I'm afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don't be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery.

In fact, within the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings endure a car accident, a terrible odor, a deadly serpent, a long knife, a large brass reading lamp, and the appearance of a person they'd hoped never to see again.

I am bound to record these tragic events, but you are free to put this book back on the shelf and seek something lighter.

With all due respect,

Lemony Snicket]]> 192 Lemony Snicket Mary 0 4.02 1999 The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #2)
author: Lemony Snicket
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
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]]> The Elegance of the Hedgehog 2967752
We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.]]> 325 Muriel Barbery 1933372605 Mary 1
Wait, terrible, Mary? All capitals nothing held back TERRIBLE?

Yes. I cannot tell you the amount of times I clawed furiously at the pages of this book, scrawling angry comments in the margins.

I was promised an introspective, piercing, and starkly frank novel cutting into the heart of the nature of intelligence, worth, beauty, and the perceptions thereof.

I was instead treated to a bratty, completely self-obsessed child and her fetish of Japan.

"What I care about, actually, is not [suicide] itself, but the way it's done. My Japanese side, obviously, is inclined toward seppuku. When I say my Japanese side, what I mean is my love for Japan." (p. 25)

OH, OF COURSE. YOUR LOVE OF JAPAN MEANS YOU HAVE A JAPANESE SIDE. HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THAT.

"To start with, it's the Chinese who invented go. I know because I read a cult manga on go. It's called Hikaru no Go." (p. 112)

OH, YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT JAPAN, RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU READ MANGA? GOOD FOR YOU, PALOMA. I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU FOR ACCURATE DEPICTIONS OF AN ENTIRE CULTURE BASED ON COMICS.

And, by the way, Hikaru no Go is not a "cult manga". It is/was a very popular comic that was created by the same author who did Death Note, man, it's not a cult hit.

But still. Maybe I'm not getting it. Maybe I'm too sensitive and it really was a homage to Japanese culture. Maybe Paloma was actually a loveable kid, and this novel wasn't completely pretentious and off the mark.

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

If I could give this novel negative stars, I would. Thinking of this book fills me with a strangled rage. Good riddance.]]> 3.76 2006 The Elegance of the Hedgehog
author: Muriel Barbery
name: Mary
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2014/07/05
shelves:
review:
Having been recommended this book on numerous occasions by people whom I respect very much, it came as an utter surprise and disappointment to me that this book was COMPLETELY TERRIBLE.

Wait, terrible, Mary? All capitals nothing held back TERRIBLE?

Yes. I cannot tell you the amount of times I clawed furiously at the pages of this book, scrawling angry comments in the margins.

I was promised an introspective, piercing, and starkly frank novel cutting into the heart of the nature of intelligence, worth, beauty, and the perceptions thereof.

I was instead treated to a bratty, completely self-obsessed child and her fetish of Japan.

"What I care about, actually, is not [suicide] itself, but the way it's done. My Japanese side, obviously, is inclined toward seppuku. When I say my Japanese side, what I mean is my love for Japan." (p. 25)

OH, OF COURSE. YOUR LOVE OF JAPAN MEANS YOU HAVE A JAPANESE SIDE. HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THAT.

"To start with, it's the Chinese who invented go. I know because I read a cult manga on go. It's called Hikaru no Go." (p. 112)

OH, YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT JAPAN, RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU READ MANGA? GOOD FOR YOU, PALOMA. I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU FOR ACCURATE DEPICTIONS OF AN ENTIRE CULTURE BASED ON COMICS.

And, by the way, Hikaru no Go is not a "cult manga". It is/was a very popular comic that was created by the same author who did Death Note, man, it's not a cult hit.

But still. Maybe I'm not getting it. Maybe I'm too sensitive and it really was a homage to Japanese culture. Maybe Paloma was actually a loveable kid, and this novel wasn't completely pretentious and off the mark.

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

If I could give this novel negative stars, I would. Thinking of this book fills me with a strangled rage. Good riddance.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Mary 0 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Mary 0 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Mary 0 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Mary 0 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Mary 0 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/04
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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 Mary 0 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mary
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)]]> 78411
I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket]]> 162 Lemony Snicket 0439206472 Mary 0 4.02 1999 The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #1)
author: Lemony Snicket
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> The Last Dragon 65659
In a world shrouded in darkness and continually lashed by rain, a young elf named Yorsh struggles to survive. His village has been destroyed by the torrential waters, leaving Yorsh suddenly orphaned and alone—the earth’s last elf. But soon Yorsh discovers he is part of a powerful prophecy to save the world from the Dark Age that has begun. First, however, the young elf will have to find another orphaned creature—the world’s last dragon.

Full of great tenderness and humor, this magical journey tells the story of a world plagued by intolerance and wickedness, and the elf and the dragon who will fight for its redemption and bring it back into the light.]]> 368 Silvana De Mari 0786836369 Mary 5 4.05 2004 The Last Dragon
author: Silvana De Mari
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/07/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance, #1)]]> 6437061 427 N.K. Jemisin 0316043915 Mary 0 3.88 2010 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Mary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close]]> 4588
The key belonged to his father, he's sure of that. But which of New York's 162 million locks does it open?

So begins a quest that takes Oskar - inventor, letter-writer and amateur detective - across New York's five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives, and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or further from, his lost father?]]> 326 Jonathan Safran Foer 0618711651 Mary 0 3.98 2005 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: Mary
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> Shadows Cast by Stars 6931234 Old ways are pitted against new horrors in this compellingly crafted dystopian tale about a girl who is both healer and seer.

Two hundred years from now, blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet� especially the blood of aboriginal peoples, for it contains antibodies that protect them from the Plague ravaging the rest of the world.

Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Mercredi might be immune to Plague, but that doesn't mean she's safe� government forces are searching for those of aboriginal heritage to harvest their blood. When a search threatens Cassandra and her family, they flee to the Island: a mysterious and idyllic territory protected by the Band, a group of guerrilla warriors� and by an enigmatic energy barrier that keeps outsiders out and the spirit world in. And though the village healer has taken her under her wing, and the tribal leader's son into his heart, the creatures of the spirit world are angry, and they have chosen Cassandra to be their voice and instrument...

Incorporating the traditions of the First Peoples as well as the more familiar stories of Greek mythology and Arthurian legend, Shadows Cast by Stars is a haunting, beautifully written story that breathes new life into ancient customs.]]> 456 Catherine Knutsson 1442401915 Mary 0 3.59 2012 Shadows Cast by Stars
author: Catherine Knutsson
name: Mary
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Mary 0 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Perfume: The Story of a Murderer]]> 343 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.]]> 263 Patrick Süskind Mary 0 4.05 1985 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
author: Patrick SĂĽskind
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> Damned (Damned, #1) 9912994
The author described the novel as "if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume." And "it's kind of like The Breakfast Club set in Hell."]]> 256 Chuck Palahniuk 0385671105 Mary 0 3.41 2011 Damned (Damned, #1)
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Mary
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> A Visit from the Goon Squad 7331435
We first meet Sasha in her mid-thirties, on her therapist’s couch in New York City, confronting her long-standing compulsion to steal. Later, we learn the genesis of her turmoil when we see her as the child of a violent marriage, then as a runaway living in Naples, then as a college student trying to avert the suicidal impulses of her best friend. We plunge into the hidden yearnings and disappointments of her uncle, an art historian stuck in a dead marriage, who travels to Naples to extract Sasha from the city’s demimonde and experiences an epiphany of his own while staring at a sculpture of Orpheus and Eurydice in the Museo Nazionale. We meet Bennie Salazar at the melancholy nadir of his adult life—divorced, struggling to connect with his nine-year-old son, listening to a washed-up band in the basement of a suburban house—and then revisit him in 1979, at the height of his youth, shy and tender, reveling in San Francisco’s punk scene as he discovers his ardor for rock and roll and his gift for spotting talent. We learn what became of his high school gang—who thrived and who faltered—and we encounter Lou Kline, Bennie’s catastrophically careless mentor, along with the lovers and children left behind in the wake of Lou’s far-flung sexual conquests and meteoric rise and fall.

A Visit from the Goon Squad is a book about the interplay of time and music, about survival, about the stirrings and transformations set inexorably in motion by even the most passing conjunction of our fates. In a breathtaking array of styles and tones ranging from tragedy to satire to PowerPoint, Egan captures the undertow of self-destruction that we all must either master or succumb to; the basic human hunger for redemption; and the universal tendency to reach for both—and escape the merciless progress of time—in the transporting realms of art and music. Sly, startling, exhilarating work from one of our boldest writers.]]> 274 Jennifer Egan 0307592839 Mary 0 3.70 2010 A Visit from the Goon Squad
author: Jennifer Egan
name: Mary
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)]]> 12000020
But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other—and the power of their friendship—can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.]]> 390 Benjamin Alire Sáenz 1442408928 Mary 5 4.29 2012 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: Mary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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]]> Bossypants 9418327
She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon—from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.]]> 283 Tina Fey Mary 0 3.97 2011 Bossypants
author: Tina Fey
name: Mary
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> The Secret Garden 2998
Mary Lennox, a spoiled, ill-tempered, and unhealthy child, comes to live with her reclusive uncle in Misselthwaite Manor on England’s Yorkshire moors after the death of her parents. There she meets a hearty housekeeper and her spirited brother, a dour gardener, a cheerful robin, and her wilful, hysterical, and sickly cousin, Master Colin, whose wails she hears echoing through the house at night.

With the help of the robin, Mary finds the door to a secret garden, neglected and hidden for years. When she decides to restore the garden in secret, the story becomes a charming journey into the places of the heart, where faith restores health, flowers refresh the spirit, and the magic of the garden, coming to life anew, brings health to Colin and happiness to Mary.]]> 331 Frances Hodgson Burnett 0517189607 Mary 3 4.16 1911 The Secret Garden
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1911
rating: 3
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]]> My Sister’s Keeper 10917 New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13 she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged ... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.]]> 423 Jodi Picoult 0743454537 Mary 0 4.10 2004 My Sister’s Keeper
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, #4)]]> 1162543 "Don't be afraid," I murmured. "We belong together."
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words.
This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it.
His arms wrapped around me,
holding me against him....
It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
"Forever," he agreed.

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

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

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

THE ASTONISHING, BREATHLESSLY anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.]]> 756 Stephenie Meyer 031606792X Mary 0 3.74 2008 Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, #4)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Mary
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> Divergent (Divergent, #1) 13335037
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.]]> 487 Veronica Roth 0062024035 Mary 4 4.13 2011 Divergent (Divergent, #1)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Mary 0 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> Adaptation (Adaptation, #1) 10744752
Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.]]> 386 Malinda Lo 0316197963 Mary 0 3.63 2012 Adaptation (Adaptation, #1)
author: Malinda Lo
name: Mary
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> Funny Boy 111389
In FUNNY BOY we follow the life of the family through Arjie's eyes, as he comes to terms both with his own homosexuality and with the racism of the society in which he lives. In the north of Sri Lanka there is a war going on between the army and the Tamil Tigers, and gradually it begins to encroach on the family's comfortable life. Sporadic acts of violence flare into full scale riots and lead, ultimately, to tragedy.

Written in clear, simple prose, Syam Selvadurai's first novel is masterly in its mingling of the personal and political.]]> 320 Shyam Selvadurai 015600500X Mary 0 4.05 1994 Funny Boy
author: Shyam Selvadurai
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
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]]> The Complete Persepolis 991197
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom�Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.]]> 341 Marjane Satrapi 0375714839 Mary 0 4.38 2007 The Complete Persepolis
author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> Legend (Legend, #1) 9275658
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Alternate Cover edition for ISBN 9780399256752
]]> 305 Marie Lu Mary 0 4.16 2011 Legend (Legend, #1)
author: Marie Lu
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian]]> 693208
Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

With a foreward by Markus Zusak & interviews with Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney
]]> 230 Sherman Alexie 0316013684 Mary 0 4.05 2007 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
author: Sherman Alexie
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)]]> 12680907
But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.

Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . .]]> 576 Kristin Cashore 0803734735 Mary 0 3.99 2012 Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity, #1)]]> 11925514
When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage and failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

Harrowing and beautifully written, Elizabeth Wein creates a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other. Code Name Verity is an outstanding novel that will stick with you long after the last page.]]> 452 Elizabeth Wein 1405258217 Mary 5 3.99 2012 Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity, #1)
author: Elizabeth Wein
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> Tamarind Woman 1043382
Tamarind Woman is the author's debut novel.]]> 272 Anita Rau Badami 0747560218 Mary 0 3.60 1997 Tamarind Woman
author: Anita Rau Badami
name: Mary
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at: 2013/03/01
date added: 2014/07/04
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]]> <![CDATA[A Conspiracy of Kings (The Queen's Thief, #4)]]> 6527841
In Attolia, Eugenides, the new and unlikely king, has never stopped wondering what happened to Sophos. Nor has the Queen of Eddis. They send spies. They pay informants. They appeal to the gods. But as time goes by, it becomes less and less certain that they will ever see their friend alive again.

Across the small peninsula battles are fought, bribes are offered, and conspiracies are set in motion. Darkening the horizon, the Mede Empire threatens, always, from across the sea. And Sophos, anonymous and alone, bides his time. Sophos, drawing on his memories of Gen, Pol, the Magus and Eddis, sets out on an adventure that will change all of their lives forever.]]> 316 Megan Whalen Turner 0061870935 Mary 5 4.10 2010 A Conspiracy of Kings (The Queen's Thief, #4)
author: Megan Whalen Turner
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The King of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #3)]]> 40159
Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.]]> 387 Megan Whalen Turner 006083577X Mary 5 4.38 2006 The King of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #3)
author: Megan Whalen Turner
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #2)]]> 40158 Revenge

When Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered... she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.

...but

Eugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.

…at what price?

When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph—and his greatest loss—comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago...

Books for the Teen Age 2001 (NYPL) and Bulletin Blue Ribbon Best of 2000 Award.]]> 362 Megan Whalen Turner 0060841826 Mary 5 4.17 2000 The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #2)
author: Megan Whalen Turner
name: Mary
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1)]]> 448873 Instead of Three Wishes, the first book by Megan Whalen Turner. Her second book more than fulfills that promise.

The king's scholar, the magus, believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure. To attain it for his king, he needs a skillful thief, and he selects Gen from the king's prison. The magus is interested only in the thief's abilities. What Gen is interested in is anyone's guess. Their journey toward the treasure is both dangerous and difficult, lightened only imperceptibly by the tales they tell of the old gods and goddesses.

Megan Whalen Turner weaves Gen's stories and Gen's story together with style and verve in a novel that is filled with intrigue, adventure, and surprise.]]> 280 Megan Whalen Turner 0060824972 Mary 5 3.86 1996 The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1)
author: Megan Whalen Turner
name: Mary
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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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 Mary 3 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Mary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 3
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles, #3)]]> 10165761 There's a babe in my belly that whispers the valley, Froi. I follow the whispers and come to the road . . .

Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi must travel through Charyn to search for Quintana, the mother of Charyn's unborn king, and protect her against those who will do anything to gain power. But what happens when loyalty to family and country conflict? When the forces marshalled in Charyn's war gather and threaten to involve the whole of the land, including Lumatere, only Froi can set things right, with the help of those he loves.]]> 516 Melina Marchetta 0670076244 Mary 5 4.30 2012 Quintana of Charyn (Lumatere Chronicles, #3)
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles, #2)]]> 10165727 Blood sings to blood, Froi . . .
Those born last will make the first . . .
For Charyn will be barren no more.

Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home... Or so he believes...

Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been trained roughly and lovingly by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds. Here he encounters a damaged people who are not who they seem, and must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad Princess.

And in this barren and mysterious place, he will discover that there is a song sleeping in his blood, and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen.

Gripping and intense, complex and richly imagined, Froi of the Exiles is a dazzling sequel to Finnikin of the Rock, from the internationally best-selling and multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca, On the Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son.]]> 593 Melina Marchetta 0670076082 Mary 5 4.27 2011 Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles, #2)
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles, #1)]]> 4932435
Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.]]> 416 Melina Marchetta 0670072818 Mary 5 3.89 2008 Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles, #1)
author: Melina Marchetta
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/06/16
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]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Mary 3 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Mary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/05
date added: 2014/06/05
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]]> My Year of Meats 12349 A cross-cultural tale of two women brought together by the intersections of television and industrial agriculture, fertility and motherhood, life and love—the breakout hit by the celebrated author of A Tale for the Time Being

Ruth Ozeki’s mesmerizing debut novel has captivated readers and reviewers worldwide. When documentarian Jane Takagi-Little finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show that just happens to be sponsored by an American meat-exporting business, she uncovers some unsavory truths about love, fertility, and a dangerous hormone called DES. Soon she will also cross paths with Akiko Ueno, a beleaguered Japanese housewife struggling to escape her overbearing husband.

Hailed by USA Today as “rare and provocative� and awarded the Kirayama Prize for Literature of the Pacific Rim, My Year of Meats is a modern-day take on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle for fans of Michael Pollan, Margaret Atwood, and Barbara Kingsolver.]]> 366 Ruth Ozeki 0140280464 Mary 3 4.02 1998 My Year of Meats
author: Ruth Ozeki
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/05
date added: 2014/06/05
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]]> Lolita 7604 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141182537.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.]]> 368 Vladimir Nabokov 0679723161 Mary 3 3.87 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Mary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1955
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/05
date added: 2014/06/05
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]]> Outlander (Outlander, #1) 10964
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.]]> 850 Diana Gabaldon 0440242940 Mary 3 4.25 1991 Outlander (Outlander, #1)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Mary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/05
date added: 2014/06/05
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]]>