Laura's bookshelf: read en-US Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:43:09 -0700 60 Laura's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Let Them Theory 216351768
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words�Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins�New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control Stop comparing yourself to other peopleBreak free from fear and self-doubtRelease the grip of people's expectationsBuild the best friendships of your lifeCreate the love you deservePursue what truly matters to you with confidenceBuild resilience against everyday stressors and distractionsDefine your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory now and discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words.]]> 311 Mel Robbins 1401971377 Laura 0 4.17 2024 The Let Them Theory
author: Mel Robbins
name: Laura
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?]]> 61796683 REESE'S BOOK CLUB MAY 2023 PICK

BOOK OF THE MONTH MAY 2023 PICK

A multigenerational saga that traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz

When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions.

A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could—and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty.

The truth behind Kitty's ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them.

As Elise digs deeper into Kitty's past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine, an insightful and nuanced look at the inheritances of family, race, and gender—and the choices some women make to break free of them.]]> 416 Crystal Smith Paul 1250815304 Laura 3 The ending took something super complex and just glossed over it and quit.]]> 3.70 2023 Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
author: Crystal Smith Paul
name: Laura
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/28
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I absolutely hated Elise. Is she ever not smoking a joint?
The ending took something super complex and just glossed over it and quit.
]]> <![CDATA[Understanding and Clarifying Your Values (Assessment Included)]]> 16195867 76 William O. Blackwood 1475108621 Laura 0 3.67 2012 Understanding and Clarifying Your Values (Assessment Included)
author: William O. Blackwood
name: Laura
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/28
date added: 2025/04/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]> 233817
Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.]]> 233 Robert C. O'Brien 0689710682 Laura 4 4.23 1971 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
author: Robert C. O'Brien
name: Laura
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

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

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

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Laura 3 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Laura
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
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]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Laura 3 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Laura
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
It was interesting. I had a feeling about the twist before it came out, but wasn’t sure. Way too much use of the f word in reference to sex.
]]> Tress of the Emerald Sea 60531406 #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?]]> 443 Brandon Sanderson Laura 5 4.35 2023 Tress of the Emerald Sea
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7]]> 185965151
The Year is 1884 and Emma M. Lion has, at long last, gained her majority. Entering a golden age of friendship with Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes, Emma is confident she will manage whatever comes her way. It is The Season she must help Arabella secure a husband, while navigating the threat of Aunt Eugenia, the unflagging adoration of Charles Goddard, and the amusing unpredictability of St. Crispian’s. But the secrets of her trusted friends are what might very well bring about disaster.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

Readers have compared The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion to Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse, L. M. Montgomery, and Jean Webster.]]> 313 Beth Brower 1957492015 Laura 5
I just love Hawkes. Oh, but I just love Islington. And I also just love Pierce. But can I just say that I love how Hawkes came through in this book with the most unexpected thing?! And I need to know what his story is. All of it. I feel like they each come through for Emma at different times, always just when needed. It’s like things were set in motion long before so that all 3 of them would come into her life to be the family she needed. Was it all plotted out? Because I got that feeling when we discovered that Islington knew her father. And then again with Hawkes. So now I’m just wondering if Pierce also knew her family somehow.
I think what really hits me in this book is that Emma has people who will do whatever it takes to support her and protect her and love her, who have no ulterior motives, who are loyal and aren’t going to turn on her, and it brings me so much joy because that is not something I felt often in my life at her age. It’s sort of healing and gives me hope. ]]> 4.77 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 7
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.77
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:
Again I am left uncertain how to express my love for this series.

I just love Hawkes. Oh, but I just love Islington. And I also just love Pierce. But can I just say that I love how Hawkes came through in this book with the most unexpected thing?! And I need to know what his story is. All of it. I feel like they each come through for Emma at different times, always just when needed. It’s like things were set in motion long before so that all 3 of them would come into her life to be the family she needed. Was it all plotted out? Because I got that feeling when we discovered that Islington knew her father. And then again with Hawkes. So now I’m just wondering if Pierce also knew her family somehow.
I think what really hits me in this book is that Emma has people who will do whatever it takes to support her and protect her and love her, who have no ulterior motives, who are loyal and aren’t going to turn on her, and it brings me so much joy because that is not something I felt often in my life at her age. It’s sort of healing and gives me hope.
]]> The Rom-Commers 195790586 She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.� Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?]]> 336 Katherine Center 1250283809 Laura 0 4.06 2024 The Rom-Commers
author: Katherine Center
name: Laura
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6]]> 63027990 There is bedlam, and there is delightful bedlam.
This afternoon touched on the second, much to my pleasure.

The Year is 1884 and Emma M. Lion has, at long last, gained her majority. Entering a golden age of friendship with Pierce, Islington, and Hawkes, Emma is confident she will manage whatever comes her way. It is The Season she must help Arabella secure a husband, while navigating the threat of Aunt Eugenia, the unflagging adoration of Charles Goddard, and the amusing unpredictability of St. Crispian’s. But the secrets of her trusted friends are what might very well bring about disaster.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.

Readers have compared The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion to Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse, L. M. Montgomery, and Jean Webster.]]> 249 Beth Brower Laura 5
I don’t know that I can gather my thoughts about this book. So many feelings. I just loved it. I love the relationships and how you see glimpses of such deep compassion. Every book gives you just a bit more about each person, but never enough. And I just love them all. Well, except maybe not Cousin Archibald. ]]> 4.79 2022 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.79
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:
How could it end like that?! I must say, I am so grateful I’ve read it when I can go straight in to the next volume. I can’t imagine having read it when first released and then spending a torturous wait for volume 7 to be published.

I don’t know that I can gather my thoughts about this book. So many feelings. I just loved it. I love the relationships and how you see glimpses of such deep compassion. Every book gives you just a bit more about each person, but never enough. And I just love them all. Well, except maybe not Cousin Archibald.
]]> <![CDATA[Be Ready When the Luck Happens]]> 209192698 In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten—aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon—shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.Ěý

Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining, and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices, and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose.

From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences, and always Be Ready When the Luck Happens.]]> 320 Ina Garten 0593799895 Laura 0 4.24 2024 Be Ready When the Luck Happens
author: Ina Garten
name: Laura
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia, #7)]]> 84369 288 C.S. Lewis 0007202326 Laura 0 4.03 1956 The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia, #7)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Laura
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> Maame 60784605 Shortlisted for the TikTok Book Awards in the Book of the Year, 2023 and the Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Debut and Fiction Book of the Year, 2023.

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts�: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it's not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils—and rewards—of putting her life on the line.

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George's Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.]]> 320 Jessica George Laura 1 4.03 2023 Maame
author: Jessica George
name: Laura
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
A 25 year old woman in England whose mother basically abandoned her for her home country of Ghana finally decides to stop letting everyone use her and moves out. She decides she needs to be a new version of herself by saying yes when people offer her drinks and ask her out. She googles everything. It’s obnoxious. It’s like a book chronicling google results. It just follows her as she lives life for a short period of time. Her brother and mother are selfish. She has some growth, I suppose, in that she finally moves out and experiences life and finds a job where she eventually speaks up for herself. The amount of language in this book was a bit much. I skipped the sex scenes, but the one at the very end (maybe 5 minutes left in the book after it ended) was hard to skip without missing the end. It was completely unnecessary. I would have skipped this book had I known.
]]> Good Dirt 213618132 The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that's exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family's history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future.

In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.]]> 368 Charmaine Wilkerson 0593358368 Laura 3
Overall, it was an excellent story. I love how they turned tragedy into something beautiful in the end.]]> 4.04 2025 Good Dirt
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
I wish this book didn’t have language in it. It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t really necessary for the storytelling. I also didn’t appreciate her sleeping with a different guys 2 days in a row. At least it wasn’t explicit. I would have respected the main character more if she hadn’t given in and said no. That’s what I was really hoping for when I was reading it.

Overall, it was an excellent story. I love how they turned tragedy into something beautiful in the end.
]]> <![CDATA[Dial A for Aunties (Aunties, #1)]]> 53310061 What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business�"Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!"—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?]]> 299 Jesse Q. Sutanto 0593336739 Laura 2 3.67 2021 Dial A for Aunties (Aunties, #1)
author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
name: Laura
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:
I read this for a book club and wouldn’t have finished it otherwise. The excessive use of language is obnoxious. It’s just not necessary. I think it’s supposed to be a funny book, but I don’t find dead bodies funny. It’s basically Weekend at Bernie’s in book form only worse. Every situation in this book is absurd and over the top. Totally unbelievable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5]]> 59041700 “What a lovely bible,� Mrs. Tribly said.
“Isn’t it just?� I replied, hoping she would not ask me to read a favorite verse aloud.
I do not believe the psalmist wrote,
Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.]]> 247 Beth Brower 0998063657 Laura 5 4.76 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.76
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
The funeralâ ď¸Ź. Each book just gets better and better. I laughed. I cried. This whole book was just so good. I love the 4 of them. I love that we saw Jack in a different light. I love how Emma does Christmas.
]]> The Briar Club 181110045 A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?]]> 432 Kate Quinn 0063244748 Laura 0 4.26 2024 The Briar Club
author: Kate Quinn
name: Laura
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
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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 Laura 0 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Laura
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at: 1992/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Leadership and Self-Deception, Fourth Edition: The Secret to Transforming Relationships and Unleashing Results]]> 202777330 With almost 3 million copies sold worldwide, this new edition of an enduring classic is the definitive guide to dramatically improve leadership effectiveness, transform personal and professional relationships, and unleash organizational results.

Significantly revised throughout, this edition includes updated stories, brand new content, and a practical group discussion guide.

Over two decades since first being published,ĚýLeadership and Self-DeceptionĚýcontinues to help readers discover and overcome the persistent lies that are at the heart of the people-related dysfunction that plagues relationships and hinders organizational results. Told through an engaging story, this book reveals the ways we blind ourselves to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotage our efforts to achieve success and rebuild broken relationships.

Completely rewritten throughout, this fourth edition features important updates:



A broader cast of characters who resonate with a wide and diverse audience
Updated stories and examples that help readers immediately apply these timeless concepts to the modern workplace
An individual study and group discussion guide to facilitate personal and team discoveries
Practical guides to apply the tools on a personal, team, and organization-wide level


Explore the ideas that have helped millions of people and thousands of organizations sustainably transform relationships and results.

]]> 176 The Arbinger Institute 1523006560 Laura 4
This is a book I need to read every few months to help me stay on track.

If you are familiar with the thought cycle, this book is basically how to change your thoughts which then changes your feelings, actions, and results.

“So rather than believing that our emotions say something objectively true about reality, it can be much more productive to recognize that our emotions say something true about our perception of reality.”]]> 3.65 2000 Leadership and Self-Deception, Fourth Edition: The Secret to Transforming Relationships and Unleashing Results
author: The Arbinger Institute
name: Laura
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:
I’ve read previous editions but I think I prefer this 4th edition. It seems a little more straightforward.

This is a book I need to read every few months to help me stay on track.

If you are familiar with the thought cycle, this book is basically how to change your thoughts which then changes your feelings, actions, and results.

“So rather than believing that our emotions say something objectively true about reality, it can be much more productive to recognize that our emotions say something true about our perception of reality.�
]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3]]> 55138117 "It has been a day ordained by the fates, for how else could one explain the wholly cursed chain of events?" The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London Neighbourhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plan for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian's. Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House. Readers have compared The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion to Jane Austen, P.G. Wodehouse, L. M. Montgomery, and Jean Webster.]]> 229 Beth Brower Laura 5 4.65 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2]]> 48677941
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
]]> 162 Beth Brower Laura 5 4.59 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1]]> 52085140
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.]]> 125 Beth Brower 0998063614 Laura 5 4.23 2019 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
I think I was hooked on page 1. I love the theme of literature and especially Shakespeare throughout the book. I pretty much chuckled to myself every other page. The hardest part is that I just want to talk about it with other people reading them but most of my people haven’t even heard of the books. This is a series I can see reading over and over again, and I am not a re-reader.
]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4]]> 56553921
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.]]> 208 Beth Brower Laura 5 4.75 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4
author: Beth Brower
name: Laura
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
I loved this series from the beginning but this volume really hit me. Her people taking care of her during her hardest time had me in tears. I cannot wait to read what happens next.
]]> <![CDATA[Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President]]> 10335318
But the shot didn’t kill Garfield. The drama of what hap­pened subsequently is a powerful story of a nation in tur­moil. The unhinged assassin’s half-delivered strike shattered the fragile national mood of a country so recently fractured by civil war, and left the wounded president as the object of a bitter behind-the-scenes struggle for power—over his administration, over the nation’s future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. A team of physicians administered shockingly archaic treatments, to disastrous effect. As his con­dition worsened, Garfield received help: Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, worked around the clock to invent a new device capable of finding the bullet.

Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republic will stand alongside The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman as a classic of narrative history.]]> 339 Candice Millard 0385526261 Laura 0 4.19 2011 Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
author: Candice Millard
name: Laura
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar]]> 58438618
Glucose, or blood sugar, is a tiny molecule in our body that has a huge impact on our health. It enters our bloodstream through the starchy or sweet foods we eat. Ninety percent of us suffer from too much glucose in our system—and most of us don't know it.

The symptoms? Cravings, fatigue, infertility, hormonal issues, acne, wrinkles� And over time, the development of conditions like type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome, cancer, dementia, and heart disease.

Drawing on cutting-edge science and her own pioneering research, biochemist Jessie Inchauspé offers ten simple, surprising hacks to help you balance your glucose levels and reverse your symptoms—without going on a diet or giving up the foods you love. For example:
* How eating foods in the right order will make you lose weight effortlessly
* What secret ingredient will allow you to eat dessert and still go into fat-burning mode
* What small change to your breakfast will unlock energy and cut your cravings

Both entertaining, informative, and packed with the latest scientific data, this book presents a new way to think about better health. Glucose Revolution is chock-full of tips that can drastically and immediately improve your life, whatever your dietary preferences.]]> 304 Jessie Inchauspé 1982179414 Laura 0 4.42 2022 Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar
author: Jessie Inchauspé
name: Laura
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The First Four Years (Little House, #9)]]> 8296 And so Laura Ingalls Wilder's adventure as a little pioneer girl ends, and her new life as a pioneer wife and mother begins. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier past and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.]]> 160 Laura Ingalls Wilder 0060885459 Laura 0 3.89 1971 The First Four Years (Little House, #9)
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Laura
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
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]]> When Breath Becomes Air 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naĂŻve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Laura 0 4.41 2016 When Breath Becomes Air
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Laura
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Glucose Goddess Method: The 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing]]> 62919439
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Glucose Revolution , a four-week, four-step program for living a healthier, happier life with balanced blood sugar including over 100 recipes, an interactive workbook, and the guidance to make the “new science of nutrition…practical for everyone� (Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL, New York Times bestselling author of Fat Chance ).

Do you suffer from cravings, chronic fatigue, or sugar addiction? Do you sometimes wake up in the morning feeling unable to face the day? Most of the population is stuck on a glucose roller coaster.

In her first book, the instant #1 internationally bestselling Glucose Revolution , Jessie Inchauspé offered a revolutionary framework for healing through science-backed nutrition hacks. Now, in The Glucose Goddess Method , she shares the “best practical guide for managing glucose to maximize health and longevity� (David Sinclair, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Lifespan ) with this four-week program to incorporating the principles of how to avoid glucose spikes into your everyday life.

Complete with 100 recipes and an interactive workbook, you are guided through four simple, science-proven ways to steady your blood sugar, gaining boundless energy, curbing your cravings, clearing your skin, slowing your ageing process, and sleeping better than you ever have before. You will create positive new habits for life. The best part? You won’t be counting calories and can still eat all the foods you love.]]> 288 Jessie Inchauspé 1668024527 Laura 0 4.12 2023 The Glucose Goddess Method: The 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing
author: Jessie Inchauspé
name: Laura
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley]]> 63354446 She’s out to prove that there’sĚýno such thing as choosing happiness.

Isadora Bentley follows the rules. Isadora Bentley likes things just so. Isadora Bentley believes that happiness is something that flat-out doesn’t exist in her life—and never will.

As a university researcher, Isadora keeps to herself as much as possible. She avoids the students she’s supposed to befriend and mentor. She stays away from her neighbors and lives her own quiet, organized life in her own quiet, organized apartment. And she will never get involved in a romantic relationship again—especially with another academic. It will be just Isadora and her research. Forever.

But on her thirtieth birthday, Isadora does something completely out of character. The young woman who never does anything “on a whim� makes an impulse purchase of a magazine featuring a silly article detailing “Thirty-One Ways to Be Happy”—which includes everything from smiling at strangers to exercising for endorphins to giving in to your chocolate cravings. Isadora decides to create her own secret research project—proving the writer of the ridiculous piece wrong.

As Isadora gets deeper into her research—and meets a handsome professor along the way—she’s stunned to discover that maybe, just maybe, she’s proving herself wrong. Perhaps there’s actually something to this happiness concept, and possibly there’s something to be said for loosening up and letting life take you somewhereĚý.Ěý.Ěý.Ěýhappy.


Contemporary Christian romance
Perfect for fans of Denise Hunter and Rachel Linden
Includes discussion questions for book clubs]]> 358 Courtney Walsh 0840712804 Laura 0 4.14 2023 The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley
author: Courtney Walsh
name: Laura
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves:
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]]> Great Expectations 2623
Pip must discover his true self, and his own set of values and priorities. Whether such values allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels.

This edition includes the original, discarded ending, Dickens's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions. It also uses the definitive Clarendon text.]]> 544 Charles Dickens 0192833596 Laura 5 3.78 1861 Great Expectations
author: Charles Dickens
name: Laura
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1861
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book for probably 3/4 of the book, but by the end I absolutely loved it. I love how Pip grows in this tale. I am so glad I stuck it out because it is a classic for good reason.
]]> The Princess and the Goblin 8735907 235 George MacDonald 0141332484 Laura 0 4.02 1872 The Princess and the Goblin
author: George MacDonald
name: Laura
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1872
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves:
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]]> Orbital 123136728
A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.

The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?]]> 207 Samantha Harvey 0802161545 Laura 1 3.55 2023 Orbital
author: Samantha Harvey
name: Laura
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves:
review:
This plotless book is so boring. If you like lists, then maybe you’ll find it interesting. In between lists, you hear some of the characters thoughts but that doesn’t give you much insight into any one person other than a teeny snippet of their life. You’ll hear the author list the many different types of topography and geography of the earth. Then there is the list of pop culture maybe - just think We Didn’t Start the Fire. Sure, there is some nice prose tucked in between lists, but it’s vapid. I only finished this book because it was for a bookclub.
]]> <![CDATA[The Knights of Crystallia: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, 3)]]> 59025097 Now in paperback for the first time, featuring all new covers, the Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians middle-grade series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.



In this third Alcatraz adventure, Alcatraz Smedry has made it to the Free Kingdoms at last. Unfortunately, so have the evil Librarians--including his mother! Now Alcatraz has to find a traitor among the Knights of Crystallia, make up with his estranged father, and save one of the last bastions of the Free Kingdoms from the Evil Librarians.]]> 320 Brandon Sanderson 076537899X Laura 0 4.19 2009 The Knights of Crystallia: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, 3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> The Christmas Book Hunt 220506847
A Christmas mission�

Mirren’s beloved great-aunt Violet is seriously ill. Her one Christmas wish is to be reunited with a long-lost hand-illustrated book from her childhood, a challenge Mirren gladly accepts to give Violet some much-needed festive cheer.

An enchanting journey�

With no sign of the cherished volume online, Mirren falls into the fascinating world of rare books. From London to snowy Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh’s cobbled streets, she chases leads from bookshop to bookshop—and bumps into mysterious, charming Theo, who, unbeknownst to her, is searching for the same book for reasons of his own�

The start of a new chapter?

As the two join forces to track the book down before time runs out for Violet, will Mirren find her Christmas miracle—and maybe even a kiss under the mistletoe� ?

For fans of Josie Silver, Jill Mansell and the Queen of Christmas herself, a snow-swept love story to warm even the coldest winter’s day.]]> 127 Jenny Colgan 1662522576 Laura 0 3.73 2024 The Christmas Book Hunt
author: Jenny Colgan
name: Laura
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)]]> 127280062 Torn apart by war. Reunited by love?

Two weeks have passed since Iris returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over.

Roman is missing, lost behind enemy lines, with no memory of his past, or Iris. Hoping his memories return, he begins to write again � but this time for the enemy.

When a strange letter arrives through his wardrobe door, he strikes up a correspondence with a penpal who seems at once mysterious� and strangely familiar.

As their connection deepens, the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.]]> 420 Rebecca Ross 1250857457 Laura 0 3.99 2023 Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment, #2)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Laura
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ]]> 323355 From the Introduction:

The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel.

The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. Thsi group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.

The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.

After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, the a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.

In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto him and obey the laws and ordinances of his gospel may be saved.

Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."

In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as "The Testimony of Three Witnesses" and "The Testimony of Eight Witnesses."

We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course an ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10: 3-5)

Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is his revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah.]]> 531 Joseph Smith Jr. 0967686563 Laura 0 4.22 1830 The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
author: Joseph Smith Jr.
name: Laura
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1830
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
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]]> Small Things Like These 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Laura 0 4.13 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Laura
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
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]]> Oona Out of Order 45046893 A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.]]> 339 Margarita Montimore 1250236606 Laura 1 dnf 3.84 2020 Oona Out of Order
author: Margarita Montimore
name: Laura
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: dnf
review:
DNF because it was just too trashy.
]]> <![CDATA[A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)]]> 159069 It was a dark and stormy night.

Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe.

Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet.]]> 247 Madeleine L'Engle 0312367546 Laura 0 3.90 1962 A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Laura
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
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]]> Mere Christianity 11144 Mere Cristianity has become regarded as the most popular and accessible of C.S. Lewis's works, reminding us of the truly important things in life and showing the way to joy and contentment.]]> 227 C.S. Lewis 0006280544 Laura 0 4.23 1952 Mere Christianity
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Laura
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Laura 0 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Laura
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/29
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Christmas in Chestnut Ridge (Chestnut Ridge, #2)]]> 203578963 A heartwarming love story set at Christmas time by USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle.

In the enchanting mountain town of Chestnut Ridge, where tree farms blanket the hillsides and the promise of a white Christmas is ever-present, a heartwarming holiday romance is about to blossom. When Sheila's best friend convinces her to help decorate a tree in the annual Christmas Tree Stroll fundraiser, she embarks on an unexpected journey of self-discovery, all wrapped in the cozy embrace of a tight-knit community. As she immerses herself in the joy of twinkling lights, hot cocoa, and the camaraderie of the townsfolk, Sheila's world begins to transform, and she finds the sense of belonging she never knew she needed.

Meanwhile, Tucker, the town's reliable fire captain, is gathering volunteers to help a family with four young children who have just lost their home to a devastating fire weeks before Christmas. Sheila offers her helping hand, and as the town rallies to support the family in their time of need, sparks of love begin to flicker between her and Tucker.

In this charming town where dreams come true, and Christmas magic is everywhere, come along for a tale of love, community, and the true spirit of the season.]]> 342 Nancy Naigle 1250794153 Laura 0 3.91 2024 Christmas in Chestnut Ridge (Chestnut Ridge, #2)
author: Nancy Naigle
name: Laura
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
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]]> Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Laura 0 3.98 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Laura
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of TED* The Empowerment Dynamic]]> 50859464 176 David Emerald 0996871810 Laura 0 4.01 The Power of TED* The Empowerment Dynamic
author: David Emerald
name: Laura
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
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]]> The Scarlet Pimpernel 8130065 321 Emmuska Orczy 1596743239 Laura 0 4.30 1905 The Scarlet Pimpernel
author: Emmuska Orczy
name: Laura
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1905
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)]]> 60784546 After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again�

All eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow wants to do is hold her family together. With a brother on the frontline forced to fight on behalf of the Gods now missing from the frontline and a mother drowning her sorrows, Iris’s best bet is winning the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

But when Iris’s letters to her brother fall into the wrong hands � that of the handsome but cold Roman Kitt, her rival at the paper � an unlikely magical connection forms.

Expelled into the middle of a mystical war, magical typewriters in tow, can their bond withstand the fight for the fate of mankind and, most importantly, love?

An epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.]]> 357 Rebecca Ross 1250857430 Laura 0 4.14 2023 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Laura
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting]]> 32670670
Fasting is not about starving oneself. When done right, it's an incredibly effective therapeutic approach that produces amazing results regardless of diet plan. In fact, Toronto-based nephrologist Dr. Jason Fung has used a variety of fasting protocols with more than 1,000 patients, with fantastic success. In The Complete Guide to Fasting he has teamed up with international bestselling author and veteran health podcaster Jimmy Moore to explain what fasting is really about, why it's so important, and how to fast in a way that improves health. Together, they make fasting as a therapeutic approach both practical and easy to understand.

The Complete Guide to Fasting
The book also provides tools to help readers get started and get through their fasts, including a 7-Day Kick-Start Fasting Plan and healing liquid recipes.]]> 304 Jason Fung Laura 0 4.25 2016 The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting
author: Jason Fung
name: Laura
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
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]]> A Christmas Miracle for Daisy 61061532 276 Jane Porter 1540857573 Laura 0 4.14 A Christmas Miracle for Daisy
author: Jane Porter
name: Laura
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/05
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]]> If We Were Villains 30319086
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.]]> 354 M.L. Rio 125009528X Laura 0 4.11 2017 If We Were Villains
author: M.L. Rio
name: Laura
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2024/10/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Awareness: Includes Awakened Imagination]]> 45313994
Before The Law of Attraction there was Neville Goddard and his message about changing reality through the power of the imagination. The author of ten inspirational books, Goddard was a popular speaker on metaphysical themes. In his 1952 publication The Power of Awareness , he voiced many of the ideas that are now in the mainstream of contemporary self-help circles, including the concept that your thoughts control your destiny and that in order to change your current physical state, you must first change your mind . His ten easy exercises help readers cultivate a positive attitude that makes all things possible.
This edition features another of Goddard's empowering titles , Awakened Imagination , in which the author expounds upon his belief that Christ is within each of us and can help us achieve our desires through imaginative effort . Goddard illuminates his philosophy with quotations from Yeats, Blake, and the Bible, as well as inspiring anecdotes of his personal experiences.

Strengthen your power of Access the amazing power of imagination to transform and manifest your dreams. Follow ten easy exercises to cultivate a positive attitude and unlock the secrets to success in life!
Understand how your thoughts control your destiny : Master the insights and knowledge shared by Neville Goddard, an early popular speaker on metaphysical themes and author of ten inspirational books. Cultivate a powerful mindset to alter circumstances and create positive outcomes.
Become empowered with creative energy : Awakened Imagination delves deeper into this concept, offering an enlightening read that will motivate readers towards self-improvement and lasting joy!
Unlock the inner strength within Experience the true potential of increased awareness with inspiring anecdotes from Goddard’s personal journey. Rediscover Christ within yourself. Unlock freedom from negative patterns with powerful quotes from Yeats, and Blake, insightful biblical references, and vivid metaphors.

The Power of Awareness includes the following 27 Awakened Imagination includes the following 8



Ěý]]> 144 Neville Goddard 0486836126 Laura 0 4.25 1951 The Power of Awareness: Includes Awakened Imagination
author: Neville Goddard
name: Laura
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/04
date added: 2024/10/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Laura 0 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Laura
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Father and I Were Ranchers (Little Britches, #1)]]> 233711
Newly republished in a hardcover edition with a 1950s cover, jacket and pictorial endpages. Interior illustrations by Edward Shenton.]]> 260 Ralph Moody 0803281781 Laura 0 4.27 1950 Father and I Were Ranchers (Little Britches, #1)
author: Ralph Moody
name: Laura
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1950
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Is God Disappointed in Me?: Removing Shame from a Gospel of Grace]]> 209059439
For a religion that preaches hope, the message of "do more" often seems to win out.

With so many programs, assignments, callings, commandments, standards, and honor codes, how can you keep up?

The adversary highlights the shame you feel when you constantly fall short. Do you feel only heaviness as you consider the Latter-Day Saint path to exaltation? How can God not be disappointed in someone like me?

The gospel was never meant to be exhausting, and God has never been disappointed in you.

God isn't frustrated with you, and He isn't looking to condemn you. Many are trying to gain strength by doing more, but true strength is found in turning to God.

In this book, you'll gain an understanding of the wants your heart, not your behaviorWhy you need commandments and covenants, when God already offers you so much graceHow God's acceptance and love propels you in to a relationship with HimSatan's most powerful tool is shame, and it controls you more that you realizeGod is strengthening us by revealing our identityStep into the pages of this book and discover a new relationship with a God who waits to shower you with love and approval. If you're a Latter-Day Saint, it's time for you to experience the hope, power, and redemption the gospel of Jesus Christ offers.]]> 180 Kurt Francom Laura 0 4.59 Is God Disappointed in Me?: Removing Shame from a Gospel of Grace
author: Kurt Francom
name: Laura
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
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]]> I Was Anastasia 33989585
Countless others have rendered their verdict. Now it is your turn.

Russia, July 17, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police force Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed.

Germany, February 17, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water or even acknowledge her rescuers, she is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious young woman claims to be the Russian grand duchess.
As rumors begin to circulate through European society that the youngest Romanov daughter has survived the massacre at Ekaterinburg, old enemies and new threats are awakened. The question of who Anna Anderson is and what actually happened to Anastasia Romanov spans fifty years and touches three continents. This thrilling saga is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted.]]> Ariel Lawhon 052549622X Laura 0 3.68 2018 I Was Anastasia
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Laura
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/10/04
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]]> <![CDATA[A Case for the Yarn Maker (Ainsley McGregor, #2)]]> 50610898 Spin a yarn� at your own risk.

Everyone at Bless Your Art in Sweet River, Texas, is excited about the Yarn Goddess (yes, that’s her real name) coming to town. Ainsley McGregor has set up a special event at the local community center, but when old Mrs. Whedon doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the Goddess about using quality yarn, a fight breaks out. Who knew the octogenarian had ninja moves like that?

It’s all fun and games until George Clooney, Ainsley’s Great Dane, finds Ms. Yarn’s dead body in a booth at Bless Your Art. Now the prime suspect is Mrs. Whedon, and while she’s not the easiest woman to get along with, there’s no way she’s the killer. At least, Ainsley doesn’t think so. As this yarn unravels, Ainsley and her quirky friends learn some interesting things about the case and the Goddess’s checkered past. But there’s a killer on the loose, and George may be the only thing protecting Ainsley from certain death.]]> 218 Candace Havens 1951786475 Laura 0 4.38 2020 A Case for the Yarn Maker (Ainsley McGregor, #2)
author: Candace Havens
name: Laura
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/10/03
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]]> The Mission Driven Life 44420301 Audrey Rindlisbacher Laura 0 4.62 The Mission Driven Life
author: Audrey Rindlisbacher
name: Laura
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/10/03
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]]> Warbreaker 1268479
Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.]]> 688 Brandon Sanderson Laura 5 4.29 2009 Warbreaker
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/09/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling]]> 40042453 368 Matthew Dicks 1608685497 Laura 0 4.43 2018 Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling
author: Matthew Dicks
name: Laura
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
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]]> The Same Bright Stars 199797895
Meanwhile, the DelDine group has been snapping up beloved eateries along this stretch of coast, and it is pursuing Jack with a very generous offer to take Schmidt’s off his hands. Jack craves companionship and maybe even a family. He wonders whether closing the door on the restaurant might open a window for him—but who would he be without Schmidt’s, and can he trust DelDine’s claims that it will continue to employ his staff and honor his family’s legacy?]]> 287 Ethan Joella 1668024608 Laura 0 3.71 2024 The Same Bright Stars
author: Ethan Joella
name: Laura
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
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]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Laura 0 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Laura
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments]]> 63033521 Ěý
Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.
Ěý
Vlahos was raised in a strict religious household, but began questioning her beliefs in high school after the sudden death of a friend. When she got pregnant at nineteen, she was shunned by her community and enrolled herself in nursing school to be able to support herself and her baby. But nursing soon became more than that when she focused on palliative care and hospice work, it became a calling.Ěý
Ěý
In The In-Between, Vlahos recounts the most impactful experiences she’s had with the people she’s worked with—from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her—while also sharing her own fascinating journey.
Ěý
Written with profound insight, humility, and respect, The In-Between is a heartrending memoir that shows how caring for others can transform a life while also offering wisdom and comfort for those dealing with loss and providing inspiration for how to live now.]]> 288 Hadley Vlahos 059349993X Laura 0 4.47 2023 The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
author: Hadley Vlahos
name: Laura
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Scrivener's Bones (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, #2)]]> 59025098
Their mission? A dangerous, library-filled one, of course!

They are on their way to the ancient and mysterious Library of Alexandria (which some silly people think was long ago destroyed!) where they must find Grandpa Smedry, look for clues leading to Alcatraz's potentially undead dead father, and battle the creepy, dangerous soul-sucking curators who await them.

An unabridged recording (7 hours, 7 minutes).]]> 368 Brandon Sanderson 0765378973 Laura 0 4.17 2008 The Scrivener's Bones (Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, #2)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Hyperthief: A Tale of the Cytoverse (Skyward, #3.1)]]> 203357152
Can Rig find the thief, resolve the issues, and get back in time to add a little joy to FM's birthday?]]> 18 Brandon Sanderson Laura 0 3.72 2023 Hyperthief: A Tale of the Cytoverse (Skyward, #3.1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
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]]> The Jane Austen Society 43557477 2020 Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction and for Debut Novel!

Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society.]]> 304 Natalie Jenner 1250248736 Laura 3 3.70 2020 The Jane Austen Society
author: Natalie Jenner
name: Laura
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
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Meh. It was a book. Wasn’t amazing, wasn’t horrid. Just kinda mid.
]]> <![CDATA[A Case for the Winemaker (Ainsley McGregor #1)]]> 48722279 The closer she gets to the truth, the more she finds herself drowning in trouble

It’s an exciting time in Sweet River, Texas, and the whole town is talking. Maybe, a little too much. Former English professor Ainsley McGregor has gambled everything on her new business: Bless Your Art, an artisan market where local artists sell their wares and teach classes.

The bright, white space is filled to the brim with colorful art, yarn, jewelry, pet treats, antiques and even a few medieval weapons. Oh, and there are wine tastings. Everything is better with wine. Ainsley is surprised by how well things are going–right up until the moment her Great Dane finds a dead body. With her friend accused of the murder, it’s up to Ainsley to find the real killer.

As the suspect list grows longer, Ainsley has her work cut out for her. The task is made more difficult by the fact her brother, the sheriff, doesn’t seem to want her help. If she doesn’t wrap up the case soon, she might be the next wine, um, one to die.]]> 238 Candace Havens 1951190882 Laura 0 4.25 2020 A Case for the Winemaker (Ainsley McGregor #1)
author: Candace Havens
name: Laura
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn, #0.5)]]> 22823333 Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection.

"This story was written specifically for the Mistborn Adventure Game, a tabletop RPG. Please keep in mind that the story was intended to help a GM bring his players up to speed on the world if they haven’t read the books. There are a few goodies for those who want to know more about Kelsier, but this story is not meant to stand wholly on its own."
~ Brandon Sanderson.]]> 21 Brandon Sanderson Laura 0 3.74 2012 The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn, #0.5)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> Defiant (Skyward, #4) 43606308 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes the final book in an epic series about a girl who will travel beyond the stars to save the world she loves from destruction.

Spensa has made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to face with the Delvers, and finally got answers to the questions she’s had about her own strange Cytonic gifts.

The Superiority didn’t stop in its fight for galactic dominance while she was gone, though. Spensa’s team, Skyward Flight, was able to hold Winzik off, and even collect allies to help with the cause, but it’s only a matter of time until humanity–and the rest of the galaxy–falls.

Defeating them will require all the knowledge Spensa gathered while in the Nowhere. But being Cytonic is more complicated than she ever could have imagined. Now, Spensa must ask herself: How far is she willing to go for victory, if it means losing herself–and her friends–in the process.

The final book in the Skyward series will free humanity, or see it fall forever.]]> 420 Brandon Sanderson 0593309715 Laura 0 4.28 2023 Defiant (Skyward, #4)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> The Giver of Stars 43925876 From the author of Me Before You, set in Depression-era America, a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond.

Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.

What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.

Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.]]> 390 Jojo Moyes 0399562486 Laura 0 4.27 2019 The Giver of Stars
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Laura
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/23
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]]> Friends with Secrets 203288914 In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.

What you see isn’t always what you get.

Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben—aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune—in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley has no idea what she’s doing and is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.

Nikki’s fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She’s a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation—and the paycheck—of the television news career she left behind.

When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past becomes a coach at her kids� school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.

Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives—and their new friendship—in the process?]]> 392 Christine Gunderson 1662517661 Laura 2 4.10 2024 Friends with Secrets
author: Christine Gunderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
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It was fine. It kept me interested. The author seemed to go back and forth between calling things bad and being okay with them. Ainsley wants to keep it a secret that she was a stripper, which she only did for a specific amount of time to get money to pay for her sister’s school, but then it sounds like it’s really not that bad, especially when it’s for Lady Godiva because she takes care of the girls and protects them. But Wyatt is bad because he goes to strip clubs. Which is it? It’s so back and forth that it’s ridiculous. It wraps up way too easily at the end. Nothing a little ADD medicine can’t fix. Please. It’s way more complicated than that when it comes to ADD.
]]> <![CDATA[Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don't Have To]]> 43723901
In this groundbreaking book, Dr. David Sinclair, leading world authority on genetics and longevity, reveals a bold new theory for why we age. As he writes: “Aging is a disease, and that disease is treatable.�

This book takes us to the frontlines of research many from Dr. David Sinclair’s own lab at Harvard—that demonstrate how we can slow down, or even reverse, aging. The key is activating newly discovered vitality genes, the descendants of an ancient genetic survival circuit that is both the cause of aging and the key to reversing it.]]> 432 David A. Sinclair 1501191977 Laura 1 This book, Lifespan, was basically a waste of my time. He talks about his research and the research of others and how they’ve made strides in understanding lifespan and health during your lifespan. He speculates a lot on how we can increase lifespan. He talks about the impact of increasing lifespan. He talks about how our world is overpopulated and we need GMOs to sustain the population of the planet. He talks about choosing when we die. His humanist worldview is clear. The conclusion sounds like his version of the humanist manifesto. Other than taking a few supplements -when he says he isn’t into supplements, so maybe they are really just molecules he’s taking- he doesn’t give an practical actionable advice on how to increase your lifespan. He gives a long list of all the cool people who work in the same building as him in the conclusion as well. I started out thinking it would lead to great insights and things I could do, but then it stopped short and became a soapbox for his vision of the world. ]]> 4.11 2019 Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don't Have To
author: David A. Sinclair
name: Laura
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves:
review:
If you want practical advice on how to increase your lifespan, then skip this book and read Outlive by Peter Attia.
This book, Lifespan, was basically a waste of my time. He talks about his research and the research of others and how they’ve made strides in understanding lifespan and health during your lifespan. He speculates a lot on how we can increase lifespan. He talks about the impact of increasing lifespan. He talks about how our world is overpopulated and we need GMOs to sustain the population of the planet. He talks about choosing when we die. His humanist worldview is clear. The conclusion sounds like his version of the humanist manifesto. Other than taking a few supplements -when he says he isn’t into supplements, so maybe they are really just molecules he’s taking- he doesn’t give an practical actionable advice on how to increase your lifespan. He gives a long list of all the cool people who work in the same building as him in the conclusion as well. I started out thinking it would lead to great insights and things I could do, but then it stopped short and became a soapbox for his vision of the world.
]]> The Woman With the Cure 61053897
A riveting novel based on the true story of the woman who stopped a pandemic, from the bestselling author of Mrs. Poe.

In 1940s and �50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Outbreaks of the virus across the country regularly put American cities in lockdown. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be a god.

But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background as the daughter of immigrants, to becoming a doctor –often the only woman in the room--she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood.

This discovery of hers, and an error by a competitor, catapults her closest colleague to a lead in the race. When his chance to win comes on a worldwide scale, she is asked to sink or validate his vaccine—and to decide what is forgivable, and how much should be sacrificed, in pursuit of the cure.]]> 400 Lynn Cullen 059343806X Laura 0 3.89 2023 The Woman With the Cure
author: Lynn Cullen
name: Laura
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/11
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]]> <![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.]]> 1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Laura 0 4.66 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[The Beauty of What Remains: How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift]]> 54705911 The national bestseller

From the author of the bestselling More Beautiful Than Before comes an inspiring book about loss based on his most popular sermon.

As the senior rabbi of one of the largest synagogues in the world, Steve Leder has learned over and over again the many ways death teaches us how to live and love more deeply by showing us not only what is gone but also the beauty of what remains.

This inspiring and comforting book takes us on a journey through the experience of loss that is fundamental to everyone. Yet even after having sat beside thousands of deathbeds, Steve Leder the rabbi was not fully prepared for the loss of his own father. It was only then that Steve Leder the son truly learned how loss makes life beautiful by giving it meaning and touching us with love that we had not felt before.

Enriched by Rabbi Leder's irreverence, vulnerability, and wicked sense of humor, this heartfelt narrative is filled with laughter and tears, the wisdom of millennia and modernity, and, most of all, an unfolding of the profound and simple truth that in loss we gain more than we ever imagined.]]> 240 Steve Leder 0593187555 Laura 0 4.43 2021 The Beauty of What Remains: How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift
author: Steve Leder
name: Laura
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, #1)]]> 59025100
AN ANCIENT RIVALRY REAWAKENS.

Everything I'd known about the world was a lie.

On my thirteenth birthday, I, Alcatraz Smedry ( yes, I got named after a prison, don’t ask ) received my a bag of sand . And then I accidentally destroyed my foster parents� kitchen. It’s not my fault, things just break around me, I swear !

I thought the sand was a joke until evil Librarians came to steal it. You’re probably thinking, “Librarians are nice people who recommend good books,� but that’s just what they want you to think! It turns out they’re actually a secret cult keeping the truth from you―a hidden world filled with magical eyeglasses, talking dinosaurs, and knights with crystal swords!

Or so my Grandpa Smedry claimed when he suddenly showed up to rescue me. So now I have to go with him to invade the local library and get that sand back, before it's used to conquer the world. And Grandpa says how I keep breaking things is actually an amazing talent. There’s no way that can all be true, right?

Will I ever make it back home alive?

"An excellent choice to read aloud to the whole family. Funny, exciting, and briskly paced." ―NPR]]> 320 Brandon Sanderson 0765378957 Laura 0 3.94 2007 Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well]]> 101021453 Learn how to reboot your metabolism, build strength, and extend your life with this accessible new guidebook that demonstrates the importance of muscle for health and longevity from the founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine®.

After years of watching patients cycle through her practice, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon noticed a pattern. While her patients struggled with a wide range of conditions, they all suffered from the same core problem: they had too little muscle rather than too much fat.

When we think about muscle, we tend to think about strength or aesthetics, but in reality, muscle accounts for so much more than that. As the body’s largest endocrine organ, muscle actually determines everything about the trajectory of health and aging. Many of the conditions Dr. Lyon’s patients were experiencing were actually symptoms of underdeveloped or unhealthy muscle.

Now, Dr. Lyon offers an easy-to-follow food, fitness, and self-care program anchored in evidence and pioneering research that teaches you how to optimize muscle—no matter your age or health background. Discover how to overcome everything from obesity to autoimmune disorders and avoid diseases like Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and diabetes by following Dr. Lyon’s powerful new approach to becoming forever strong.]]> 368 Gabrielle Lyon 1668007894 Laura 0 3.71 Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well
author: Gabrielle Lyon
name: Laura
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
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]]> The God of the Woods 200795767 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 704 Liz Moore Laura 0 3.96 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Laura
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity]]> 61222788 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

“One of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,� it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, readers will discover:

� Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
� That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
� Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.�
� Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
� Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.]]> 478 Peter Attia 0593236602 Laura 0 4.47 2023 Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
author: Peter Attia
name: Laura
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Grounded (May Hollow Trilogy, Book #1)]]> 17239214
With nowhere else to go, Annie leaves the city for the family farm in Kentucky, a place she’s avoided for years. She finds a shotgun-wielding grandmother, a farm in disrepair, and a suspicious stranger renting the old stone house.

The country quiet haunts Annie with reminders of a past that can’t be changed. She tries persuading her grandmother to sell the farm, but is met with stubborn refusal? Yet in the midst of her crashing life, Annie sees a glimmer of hope for a second chance.

Jake Wilder is contemplating jumping off the corporate ladder to follow his passion for sustainable farming. He’s almost ready to propose to Camille, a girl who wants more, not less. Annie believes Jake is about to make a terrible mistake, but does she have the right to tell him?

As the summer heats up, so do Annie’s unexpected feelings for Jake and her interest in the land. When a sudden phone call comes from New York, Annie is forced to choose between coming to terms with her past or leaving it all behind.]]> 274 Angela Correll 1938467566 Laura 0 3.93 2013 Grounded (May Hollow Trilogy, Book #1)
author: Angela Correll
name: Laura
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Laura 0 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Laura
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom]]> 6596 The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.]]> 152 Miguel Ruiz 1878424505 Laura 2 The points in the 4 agreements are pretty common sense: 1. use your words wisely - what you say has an impact on yourself and others.
2. don’t make it about you and get offended or lifted up - basically, the world doesn’t revolve around you and no one else is thinking about you so nothing anyone says or does is about you.
3. don’t assume - you know what they say. When you assume you make an ass out of u and me. Just ask questions because what you think is happening is most likely not what is really going on.
4. do your best - we should always strive to do our best, no more and no less.

These are pretty basic and nothing mind blowing. But when wrapped in a mystical sorry they seem to take on a whole new meaning that seems mind-blowing to some. Don’t be fooled. You don’t need a Toltec spiritual guide to get to these points. ]]> 4.20 1997 The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: Laura
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/11
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves:
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I have read this twice now. The first time, I took a few points as good advice and left the rest as unnecessary. Cosmic humanism or new age would be the underlying worldview upon which this whole book is based. He quotes a scripture and speaks of God and Jesus, but when you believe that everything is one and everything is God, you can use these things in a non-Christian way. He then tells you that “you don’t need to be religious or go to church every day. Your love and respect are growing. You can do it.� Basically you have the power all within yourself because everyone is just a perception in your mind. And based on everything and everyone being god in his worldview, this would make sense. Except that I do not believe in this. If you believe this worldview, then this book is for you. If you don’t, you can learn these 4 agreements elsewhere. Don’t be fooled into thinking it is symbolism. It is not. He means it literally. When you use the word incorrectly you cast a spell with black magic is not symbolism.
The points in the 4 agreements are pretty common sense: 1. use your words wisely - what you say has an impact on yourself and others.
2. don’t make it about you and get offended or lifted up - basically, the world doesn’t revolve around you and no one else is thinking about you so nothing anyone says or does is about you.
3. don’t assume - you know what they say. When you assume you make an ass out of u and me. Just ask questions because what you think is happening is most likely not what is really going on.
4. do your best - we should always strive to do our best, no more and no less.

These are pretty basic and nothing mind blowing. But when wrapped in a mystical sorry they seem to take on a whole new meaning that seems mind-blowing to some. Don’t be fooled. You don’t need a Toltec spiritual guide to get to these points.
]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 Laura 0 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Laura
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/10
date added: 2024/07/10
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]]> Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1) 50
Brian had been distraught over his parents' impending divorce and the secret he carries about his mother, but now he is truly desolate and alone. Exhausted, terrified, and hungry, Brian struggles to find food and make a shelter for himself. He has no special knowledge of the woods, and he must find a new kind of awareness and patience as he meets each day's challenges. Is the water safe to drink? Are the berries he finds poisonous?

Slowly, Brian learns to turn adversity to his advantage--an invading porcupine unexpectedly shows him how to make fire, a devastating tornado shows him how to retrieve supplies from the submerged airplane. Most of all, Brian leaves behind the self-pity he has felt about his predicament as he summons the courage to stay alive.

A story of survival and of transformation, this riveting book has sparked many a reader's interest in venturing into the wild.]]> 208 Gary Paulsen 0689840926 Laura 0 3.77 1987 Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1)
author: Gary Paulsen
name: Laura
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/29
date added: 2024/06/29
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]]> The Law of Attraction 212902007 From the USA Today bestselling author of The Shell Collector comes a delightful romance, perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, and Viola Shipman.

Whitney Winters and her sister-in-law Carina are thrust into the limelight when it hits the national news that a number of their former clients have fallen in love after their respective divorces. The rumor goes wild all over social media, and requests for their services skyrocket, raising the eyebrows of the firm’s partners.

To keep their jobs, Whitney and Carina must juggle their newfound fame and their clients� misadventures in love while attempting to preserve the law firm’s reputation.

But their efforts aren’t without distractions. Whitney begins to fall for charming artist Matthew McMahon, her complete opposite. Meanwhile, Carina wonders if all the time she’s putting into her career is shortchanging her marriage.

Will the sisters-in-law get more than they can handle? Especially when happily-ever-afters aren’t really in their job descriptions�

A swoon romantic jaunt that's as feel-good as your momma's apple pie. If you enjoyed the TV movies based on Nancy's books and are searching for more heartwarming romance, look no further!]]> 320 Nancy Naigle Laura 0 4.04 The Law of Attraction
author: Nancy Naigle
name: Laura
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/06/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts]]> 197516602 Filling a gaping hole in menopause care, everything a woman needs to know to thrive during her hormonal transition and beyond, as well as the tools to help her take charge of her health at this pivotal life stage--by the bestselling author of The Galveston Diet.

Menopause is inevitable, but suffering through it is not! This is the empowering approach to self-advocacy that pioneering women's health advocate Dr. Mary Claire Haver takes for women in the midst of hormonal change in The New Menopause. A comprehensive, authoritative book of science-backed information and lived experience, it covers every woman's needs:
- From changes in your appearance and sleep patterns to neurological, musculoskeletal, psychological, and sexual issues, a comprehensive A to Z toolkit of science-backed options for coping with symptoms.
- What to do to mediate the risks associated with your body's natural drop in estrogen production, including for diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain.
- How to advocate and prepare for annual midlife wellness visits, including questions for your doctor and how to insist on whole life care.
- The very latest research on the benefits and side effects of hormone replacement therapy.
Arming women with the power to secure vibrant health and well-being for the rest of their lives, The New Menopause is sure to become the bible of midlife wellness for present and future generations.]]> 304 Mary Claire Haver 059379625X Laura 0 4.26 The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts
author: Mary Claire Haver
name: Laura
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/26
date added: 2024/06/26
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]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 320 417 Gabriel García Márquez Laura 0 4.10 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Laura
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
shelves:
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]]> The Woman in Me 63133205 The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.]]> 288 Britney Spears 1668009048 Laura 0 3.83 2023 The Woman in Me
author: Britney Spears
name: Laura
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
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]]> All Good People Here 60142750 In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later.

You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?]]> 312 Ashley Flowers 0593496477 Laura 0 3.81 2022 All Good People Here
author: Ashley Flowers
name: Laura
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
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]]> Gift from the Sea 63061752
She helps us see ways to reconcile our most deeply personal needs with obligations to family, friends, lovers, and work, ways to separate loneliness from replenishing solitude, and ways to find solace in the simplest of daily tasks.

Now more than ever, Gift from the Sea serves as a spiritual compass guiding us toward inner tranquility in the face of life's deeper question."]]> 138 Anne Morrow Lindbergh Laura 0 4.20 1955 Gift from the Sea
author: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
name: Laura
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
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]]> The Frozen River 112975658 A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 432 Ariel Lawhon 0385546874 Laura 4 This book was heavy. Not so much at first, but definitely toward the end. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so heavy. I’m still. It sure how I feel. It was well written and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened and how it would end.

Content warnings: rape testimony that is graphic but not explicit, intense situations where rape is threatened, and male genital mutilation. ]]> 4.37 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: Laura
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves:
review:
Spoilers are in the content warning at the end.
This book was heavy. Not so much at first, but definitely toward the end. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so heavy. I’m still. It sure how I feel. It was well written and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened and how it would end.

Content warnings: rape testimony that is graphic but not explicit, intense situations where rape is threatened, and male genital mutilation.
]]> Finale (Caraval, #3) 40381392 A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.

It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.

With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.

Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.

Welcome, welcome to Finale . . . all games must come to an end.]]> 478 Stephanie Garber 1250157668 Laura 0 4.14 2019 Finale (Caraval, #3)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Laura
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves:
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]]> Legendary (Caraval, #2) 36329818
After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever...

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.]]> 451 Stephanie Garber 125009531X Laura 0 4.11 2018 Legendary (Caraval, #2)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Laura
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/03
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves:
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]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

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

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Laura 0 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Laura
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking]]> 8520610 The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.Ěý

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content.]]> 333 Susan Cain 0307352145 Laura 0 4.07 2012 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
author: Susan Cain
name: Laura
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Little House on the Prairie (Little House, #3)]]> 77767
Pa Ingalls decides to sell the little log house, and the family sets out for Indian country! They travel from Wisconsin to Kansas, and there, finally, Pa builds their little house on the prairie. Sometimes farm life is difficult, even dangerous, but Laura and her family are kept busy and are happy with the promise of their new life on the prairie.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE is the second book in the Laura Years series.
--back cover]]> 335 Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura 0 4.21 1935 Little House on the Prairie (Little House, #3)
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Laura
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/23
shelves:
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]]> Evershore (Skyward, #2.3) 58465495
With the government of Detritus in disarray because of Superiority treachery, and with Spensa still away on her mission in the Nowhere, Jorgen must work together with the alien Alanik to pick up the pieces. They intercept a strange transmission from the planet Evershore and its Kitsen inhabitants, who say they have some of Jorgen’s people and want to return them—but can the Kitsen be trusted? And can Jorgen learn to master his increasingly erratic cytonic powers before they spiral out of control and destroy all hope of forming an alliance against the Superiority?]]> 234 Brandon Sanderson Laura 0 4.31 2021 Evershore (Skyward, #2.3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves:
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]]> Cytonic (Skyward, #3) 57571215
Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa has seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.

The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.]]> 415 Brandon Sanderson 0399555854 Laura 0 4.03 2021 Cytonic (Skyward, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Laura
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up]]> 198332459 350 Abigail Shrier Laura 0 3.98 2024 Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up
author: Abigail Shrier
name: Laura
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves:
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]]> A Thousand Ships 53487148 This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.

A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.]]> 368 Natalie Haynes 0063065398 Laura 0 4.05 2019 A Thousand Ships
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Laura
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/20
date added: 2024/05/20
shelves:
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]]> Caraval (Caraval, #1) 27883214 A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.]]> 407 Stephanie Garber 1250095255 Laura 0 3.97 2016 Caraval (Caraval, #1)
author: Stephanie Garber
name: Laura
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God]]> 59317244
Unpacking the power of knowing our true identity in Christ, Winship takes us on a journey of telling ourselves the truth, changing our mindsets, and experiencing actual life transformation that leads to radical courage in the face of all that life throws at us. With humor, clarity, and real-life practicality, Living Fearless is your invitation to listen closely to what God is trying to say to you about himself, about the person he created you to be--and also about all those other people he created and loves.

If you want to discover the incredible difference abiding in Christ will make in your life and faith, get ready to do "a new thing" with God.]]> 176 Jamie Winship 0800740297 Laura 0 4.44 Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God
author: Jamie Winship
name: Laura
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves:
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