en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 05:46:36 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 214333691 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 400 Suzanne Collins 1546171479 Paula 0 to-read 4.72 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Paula
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> 61358638 Reimagining the debate on poverty, making a new and bracing argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.

Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom.]]> 304 Matthew Desmond 0593239911 Paula 0 4.27 2023
author: Matthew Desmond
name: Paula
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> 61922953
Isabella Shay is usually a very honest person.

But when she’s running late for her first day at a dream job and the barista yells for “Amy�� 3x with no answer, she does the unthinkable.

Izzy takes that PSL.

It’s the exact drink she ordered and paid for, only waaaay further ahead in the line, so she mutters “I’m Amy�� and grabs the cup.

But when she turns around and runs directly into the most attractive man she’s ever seen, spilling the drink all over his GQ shirt and tie, she ends up having the ultimate meet-cute. Sparks fly and things feel beyond promising until he says the words, “See you tomorrow, Amy.��

Uh, oh �� she’ll definitely have to straighten him out the following day.

Only when she gets to her new office and meets the VP of her department, it is none other than Blake Phillips - the hottie from Starbucks. And the man might’ve been charming to “Amy,�� but he is an arrogant grump to Izzy, an arrogant grump who dos not find her explanation funny at all.

MEET CUTE + GRUMPY/SUNSHINE + FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS = ACCIDENTALLY AMY]]> 320 Lynn Painter Paula 0 3.43 2022
author: Lynn Painter
name: Paula
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> 214537759 “Where are you, Mom?�� So began Amy’s quest to solve a mystery trapped in the deep recesses of her own memory—a journey that would take her into the burgeoning field of psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.

In her search for the truth, to understand and begin to recover from buried childhood trauma, Griffin interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women, asking, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? What kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are? With hope, heart, and relentless honesty, she points a way forward for all of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections—with others and ourselves.]]> 288 Amy Griffin 0593731204 Paula 0 4.28 2025
author: Amy Griffin
name: Paula
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> 195790788
Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia Levings learned that being a good Christian meant following a list of additional life principles—a series of secret, special rules to obey. Being a godly and submissive wife in Christian Patriarchy included strict discipline, isolation, and an alternative lifestyle that appeared wholesome to outsiders. Women were to be silent, “keepers of the home.��

Tia knew that to their neighbors her family was strange, but she also couldn't risk exposing their secret lifestyle to police, doctors, teachers, or anyone outside of their church. Christians were called in scripture to be “in the world, not of it.�� So, she hid in plain sight as years of abuse and pain followed. When Tia realized she was the only one who could protect her children from becoming the next generation of patriarchal men and submissive women, she began to resist and question how they lived. But in the patriarchy, a woman with opinions is in danger, and eventually, Tia faced an urgent and extreme stay and face dire consequences, or flee with her children.

Told in a beautiful, honest, and sometimes harrowing voice, A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable and timely memoir about a woman's race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.]]> 304 Tia Levings 1250288282 Paula 0 to-read 4.31 2024
author: Tia Levings
name: Paula
average rating: 4.31
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]]> 198276006 I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, he seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. After encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he eventually lands to find an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, a crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society. As his guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his wake.]]> 336 Leif Enger 0802162932 Paula 0 currently-reading 3.96 2024
author: Leif Enger
name: Paula
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 7909
There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy become such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy.

Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib.

Ever since their first publication in the 1940's, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers.]]> 144 Maud Hart Lovelace 0064400964 Paula 0 4.08 1940
author: Maud Hart Lovelace
name: Paula
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1940
rating: 0
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]]> 60487511
After agreeing they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realize they’re each other’s perfect wing-person in their searches for The One. They text each other about their dates, often scheduling them at the same restaurant so that if things don’t go well, the two of them can get tacos afterward.

Spoiler: they get a lot of tacos together.

Discouraged by the lack of prospects, Jack and Hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. As they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they both struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.]]> 315 Lynn Painter 0593437292 Paula 0 3.86 2023
author: Lynn Painter
name: Paula
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> 218371653 27 Lynn Painter 1665965193 Paula 0 to-read 4.49 2024
author: Lynn Painter
name: Paula
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> 44280848
Red is a rainbow color.
Green sits next to blue.
Yellow, orange, violet, indigo,
They are rainbow colors, too, but

My color is black . . .
And there’s no BLACK in rainbows.

From the wheels of a bicycle to the robe on Thurgood Marshall's back, Black surrounds our lives. It is a color to simply describe some of our favorite things, but it also evokes a deeper sentiment about the incredible people who helped change the world and a community that continues to grow and thrive.

Stunningly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree and Coretta Scott King Award winner Ekua Holmes, Black Is a Rainbow Color is a sweeping celebration told through debut author Angela Joy’s rhythmically captivating and unforgettable words.]]> 40 Angela Joy 1626726310 Paula 5 4.53 2020
author: Angela Joy
name: Paula
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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]]> 28954189 Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art�� of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

An alternate cover edition of ISBN: 9781442472426]]> 435 Neal Shusterman Paula 5 4.32 2016
author: Neal Shusterman
name: Paula
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
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]]> 223199392 Two good neighbors make the best of a bad Valentine’s Day in a funny and improbably romantic short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much. But when disaster traps them one flight up and no way down, an outrageously precarious predicament forces a tree-loving guy and a rattled girl next door to embrace their captivity. Soon their defenses are breaking away. Considering how close they both are to the edge, Charlotte and Seth could be in danger of falling—in love.]]> 82 Abby Jimenez 1662529082 Paula 0 4.12 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Paula
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
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]]> 38746485
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.]]> 426 Michelle Obama 1524763136 Paula 0 4.42 2018
author: Michelle Obama
name: Paula
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> 215749870 An “assiduous scholar and absorbing writer�� (New York Times) confronts the limits of the historian’s craft in this powerful memoir of family, color, and being Black, white, and other in America

A child of the civil rights era, Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But in Jones’s first semester of college, a Black Studies classmate challenged her right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of “Who do you think you are?��
��
Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her own family’s past for answers, only to find a story that archives alone ������’t tell, a story of race in America that takes us beyond slavery, Jim Crow, and civil rights. Ever since her great-great-great-grandmother Nancy emerged from bondage in 1865 determined to raise a free family, skin color has determined Jones’s ancestors�� lives. But color and race are not the same, and through her family’s story, Jones discovers the uneven, unpredictable relationship between the two.

Drawing readers along the shifting and jagged path of America’s color line, The Trouble of Color is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family.]]> 336 Martha S. Jones 1541601009 Paula 0 to-read 4.34 2025
author: Martha S. Jones
name: Paula
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2025
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]]> 55918599 Combining heart-wrenching emotion with edge-of-your-seat tension, Charles Martin explores the true power of sacrificial love.

He shows up when all hope is lost.

Murphy Shepherd has made a career of finding those no one else could—survivors of human trafficking. His life’s mission is helping others find freedom.

But then the nightmare strikes too close to home .

When his new wife, her daughter, and two other teenage girls are stolen, Murphy is left questioning all he has thought to be true. With more dead ends than leads, he has no idea how to find those he loves.

After everything is stripped away, love is what remains.

Hope feels lost, but Murphy is willing to expend his last breath trying to bring them home.

Preview from Charlie Martin:

“I don’t know how he does what he does. It sounds rhetorical at this point because I find myself saying the same thing after every book. I flip the last page over (usually after having read it multiple times to prolong the ending) and then say, usually out loud to myself, ‘How the h-e-double-hockey-stick did he just pull that off?�� This book is no exception. It is unequivocally, hands down, a remarkable read. It’s everything you want (and a whole lot more) from a sequel.

“David Bishop/Murphy Shepherd is the guy who shoots first and asks questions later. He’s got multiple secret identities, flies around on private jets, has several storage units with motorcycles, walls full of well-used handguns, rifles, shotguns, not to mention the storage unit in south Florida where he’s got a Hell’s Bay skiff . . . I mean c’mon. He makes Batman’s arsenal and gadgets look like a joke, and Jason Bourne look like a rookie in the world of taking out bad guys. AND on top of that, the dude’s a PRIEST . . . and he uses his priestly credentials to get in (and out) of some pretty shady situations (spoiler alert) taking out a respectable amount of bad guys in his white robes in the process . . . (spoiler alert #2). Too bad those robes don’t stop bullets . . . (spoiler alert #3 . . . my bad. I’ll stop.) And on top of that, he’s got the world’s greatest dog. The Shepherd/Gunnar duo is unstoppable, again, this time around.

“But amid all the secret identities and kicking butt he does, let’s face it . . . the dude’s got MAD game. For those who don’t know what that means, the dude is a total chick magnet—and not by choice. And if I can get serious for a minute, The Letter Keeper takes the character development between Bishop and his girls to the next level. By the end, you’re so invested and knitted into their stories and hearts, you’re left scratching your head thinking, ‘Are we sure this is fiction? There’s no way this is made up.��

“The way he/Dad/Charles walks us through the storyline of Bishop, Summer, and Angel is everything we, us readers, have been waiting for. It’s beautiful and deep and genuine, but thrilling and exciting all in one. Dad/Charles has had a couple of really phenomenal characters break the pages in the last 20+ years of his writing—Matthew Rising, Sunday, Ella Rain (love that lady), Tyler Steele . . . You know ’em, we love ’em all—but these—Bishop, Summer, Angel, Casey, Clay, Bones, yes even Gunnar—might be my favorite. Speaking of Bones, for those who were like me wondering who the heck this guy is in the first book, well, let’s just say there’s more to Bones than meets the eye.

“Y’all better get ready. Like I said last time, clear your schedule. When this book comes out, say you got a scratchy throat or something, muscle aches, play the COVID scare card for a day and say you need to quarantine. Then read this book . . . front to back. There will be more sweaty palms, fist pumps, tears, and laughter than the first one. I promise.

“And yes . . . in case you’re wondering . . . by the time this book ends, there’s not much room left on his back for more names. But something tells me that’s not going to stop Bishop.��

Praise for The Letter Keeper:

“Very few contemporary novelists have found acclaim within mainstream and evangelical markets, but Charles Martin is among them. His latest novel is both a stand-alone story and a sequel to his highly-praised The Water Keeper. It hinges on the Scriptural message of forsaking the found in order to seek the lost, a theme Martin brings to poetic and brilliant life. A man broken by events beyond his control accepts the challenge to walk dark ways in order to bring the lost and helpless home, but he comes close to losing himself in the process. Despite the hardship and heartache, Martin’s story shines with the light of eternal hope.�� ��Davis Bunn, writing for Christianity Today


Full-length novel
One of the Murphy Shepherd novels:
Book One: The Water Keeper

Book Two: The Letter Keeper

Book Three: Available June 2022!


Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Also by Charles Martin: The Mountain Between Us, Send Down the Rain, Long Way Gone, When Crickets Cry]]> 301 Charles Martin 0785230955 Paula 0 to-read 4.30 2021
author: Charles Martin
name: Paula
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
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]]> 207293948
Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com-worthy grand gestures she loves. Only . . . Liz will have none of it! Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend . . . a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.]]> 442 Lynn Painter 1665947136 Paula 0 3.99 2024
author: Lynn Painter
name: Paula
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
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]]> 200028726 From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.]]> 240 Catherine Newman 0063345161 Paula 0 3.55 2024
author: Catherine Newman
name: Paula
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
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]]> 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Paula 0 to-read 4.04 2022
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Paula
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/07
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]]> 43923951 Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone family, and the complicated reality of being a grown up. It is a searing debut for our times.]]> 310 Kiley Reid 052554190X Paula 0 3.76 2019
author: Kiley Reid
name: Paula
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> 55563927 311 Maryon Stewart 1608686833 Paula 0 to-read 3.78
author: Maryon Stewart
name: Paula
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/05
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]]> 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 Paula 0 to-read 4.26
author: Mary Claire Haver
name: Paula
average rating: 4.26
book published:
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]]> 55920809 'The book my patients have been waiting for.' Dr Peta Wright, gynaecologist and women's health advocate

The Hormone Repair Manual is a must-have guide to understanding and overcoming the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.

Naturopath Lara Briden, author of the international bestseller Period Repair Manual, has more than 20 years' experience in women's health. Her fresh approach aims to overturn the stigma of perimenopause and menopause and show women that:

- many symptoms are temporary and manageable
- emotional challenges can present an opportunity to thrive
- a focus on health during this period can bring benefits for years to come.

Addressing common symptoms such as hot flushes, insomnia, mood changes, migraines, weight gain, low libido and heavy periods, Lara offers practical solutions of diet, lifestyle, nutritional supplements and tips for how to speak to your doctor about hormone therapy.

The Hormone Repair Manual is backed by evidence-based research and case studies and is a reassuring guide to soothing, nourishing and strengthening your body, mind and spirit during this time of change.


PRAISE FOR HORMONE REPAIR MANUAL

'This lively, clear and supportive book provides positive and helpful information that many women need as they approach perimenopause and beyond.' Jerilynn C. Prior MD, author of Estrogen's Storm Season

'Essential reading for all women over 40, and their doctors!' Dr Natasha Andreadis, fertility specialist and host of the Fanny Mechanic podcast]]> 439 Lara Briden ND 1760985082 Paula 0 to-read 4.34
author: Lara Briden ND
name: Paula
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> 75665932
An award-winning author investigates the entangled history of her Jewish ancestors' land in South Dakota and the Lakota, who were forced off that land by the United States government

Growing up, Rebecca Clarren only knew the major plot points of her tenacious immigrant family’s origins. Her great-great-grandparents, the Sinykins, and their six children fled antisemitism in Russia and arrived in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, ultimately settling on a 160-acre homestead in South Dakota. Over the next few decades, despite tough years on a merciless prairie and multiple setbacks, the Sinykins became an American immigrant success story.

What none of Clarren’s ancestors ever mentioned was that their land, the foundation for much of their wealth, had been cruelly taken from the Lakota by the United States government. By the time the Sinykins moved to South Dakota, America had broken hundreds of treaties with hundreds of Indigenous nations across the continent, and the land that had once been reserved for the seven bands of the Lakota had been diminished, splintered, and handed for free, or practically free, to white settlers. In The Cost of Free Land , Clarren melds investigative reporting with personal family history to reveal the intertwined stories of her family and the Lakota, and the devastating cycle of loss of Indigenous land, culture, and resources that continues today.

With deep empathy and clarity of purpose, Clarren grapples with the personal and national consequences of this legacy of violence and dispossession. What does it mean to survive oppression only to perpetuate and benefit from the oppression of others? By shining a light on the people and families tangled up in this country’s difficult history, The Cost of Free Land invites readers to consider their own culpability and what, now, can be done.]]> 352 Rebecca Clarren 0593655079 Paula 0 4.45 2023
author: Rebecca Clarren
name: Paula
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry Paula 0 4.21 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: Paula
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
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]]> 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

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

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Paula 0 4.35 2018
author: Delia Owens
name: Paula
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Paula 0 4.46 2022
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Paula
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> 199798198
The Grand Canyon is an American treasure, visited by more than 6 million people a year, many of whom are rendered speechless by its vast beauty, mystery, and complexity. Now, in A Walk in the Park , author Kevin Fedarko chronicles his year-long effort to find a 750-mile path along the length of the Grand Canyon, through a vertical wilderness suspended between the caprock along the rims of the abyss and the Colorado River, which flows along its bottom.

Consisting of countless cliffs and steep drops, plus immense stretches with almost no access to water, and the fact that not a single trail links its eastern doorway to its western terminus, this jewel of national parks is so challenging that when Fedarko departed fewer people had completed the journey in one single hike than had walked on the moon. The intensity of the effort required him to break his trip into several legs, each of which held staggering dangers and unexpected discoveries.

Accompanying Fedarko through this sublime yet perilous terrain is the award-winning photographer Peter McBride, who captures the stunning landscape in breathtaking photos. Together, they encounter long-lost Native American ruins, the remains of Old West prospectors�� camps, present day tribal activists, and signs that commercial tourism is impinging on the park’s remote wildness.

An epic adventure, action-packed survival tale, and a deep spiritual journey, A Walk in the Park gives us an unprecedented glimpse of the crown jewel of America’s National an iconic landscape framed by ancient rock whose contours are recognized by all, but whose secrets and treasures are known to almost no one, and whose topography encompasses some of the harshest, least explored, most awe-inspiring terrain in the world.]]> 512 Kevin Fedarko 1501183052 Paula 0 to-read 4.22 2024
author: Kevin Fedarko
name: Paula
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,�� she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.��

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found��

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder�� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 Paula 0 to-read 4.04 2023
author: Evie Woods
name: Paula
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 92508
On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. With this celebrated sentence Thornton Wilder begins The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of the towering achievements in American fiction and a novel read throughout the world.By chance, a monk witnesses the tragedy. Brother Juniper then embarks on a quest to prove that it was divine intervention rather than chance that led to the deaths of those who perished in the tragedy. His search leads to his own death -- and to the author's timeless investigation into the nature of love and the meaning of the human condition.

This new edition of Wilder's 1928 Pulitzer Prize winning novel contains a new foreword by Russell Banks.]]> 160 Thornton Wilder 0060088877 Paula 0 to-read 3.80 1927
author: Thornton Wilder
name: Paula
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1927
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 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 Paula 5 4.36 2024
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Paula
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> 8680278 291 Jenny Han 1416995587 Paula 0 3.79 2011
author: Jenny Han
name: Paula
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2025/01/02
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]]> 18693771 A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.]]> 464 Bessel van der Kolk 0670785938 Paula 5 4.36 2014
author: Bessel van der Kolk
name: Paula
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
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]]> 17306293 579 Hugh Howey Paula 0 currently-reading 4.12 2013
author: Hugh Howey
name: Paula
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 6584188 The Summer I Turned Pretty from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (soon to be a major motion picture!), Jenny Han.

Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?

It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never come.

But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started—at Cousins Beach.]]> 275 Jenny Han 1416995552 Paula 0 3.78 2010
author: Jenny Han
name: Paula
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
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]]> 217163697 #1��New York Times��bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.]]> 448 Fredrik Backman 1982112824 Paula 0 to-read 4.59 2025
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Paula
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> 13453029
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Alternate cover for B0071XO8RA]]> 509 Hugh Howey Paula 4 4.22 2012
author: Hugh Howey
name: Paula
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
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]]> 204316955
In 2016, even as Ohio helped deliver victory to presidential candidate Donald Trump, Cincinnati voters also passed a ballot initiative for universal preschool. The margin was so large that many who elected Trump must have—paradoxically—also voted for the initiative: how could the same citizens support such philosophically disparate aims? What had convinced residents of this Midwestern, Rust Belt community to raise their own taxes to provide early childhood education focused on the poorest—and mostly Black—communities?

When political scientist Hahrie Han set out to answer that question, her investigations led straight to an unlikely origin: the white-dominant evangelical megachurch Crossroads, where Pastor Chuck Mingo had delivered a sermon the prior year that set in motion a chain of surprising events. Raised in the Black church, Mingo felt called by God, he told Crossroads parishioners, to combat racial injustice, and to do it through the very church in which they were gathered.

The result was Undivided, a faith-based program designed to foster antiracism and systemic change. The creators of Undivided recognized that any effort to combat racial injustice must move beyond recognizing and overcoming individual prejudices. Real change would have to be radical—from the very roots.

In Undivided, Han chronicles the story of four participants—two men, one Black and one white, and two women, one Black and one white—whose lives were fundamentally altered by the program. As each of their journeys unfolded, in unpredictable and sometimes painful ways, they came to better understand one another, and to believe in the transformative possibilities for racial solidarity in a moment of deep divisiveness in America. The lessons they learned have the power to teach us all what an undivided society might look like—and how we can help achieve it.]]> 304 Hahrie Han 0593318862 Paula 0 to-read 4.19 2024
author: Hahrie Han
name: Paula
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 58283993
Love and Missed is a whip-smart, incisive, and mordantly witty novel about love's gains and missteps. British writer Susie Boyt's seventh novel, and the first to be published in the United States, is a triumph.]]> Susie Boyt Paula 0 to-read 4.24 2023
author: Susie Boyt
name: Paula
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199531828 READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY

From the acclaimed author of Wahala, a “vibrant�� (Charmaine Wilkerson) decolonial retelling of Mansfield Park: Jane Austen meets The Vanishing Half

Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.

Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends.

But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.

Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.]]> 352 Nikki May 0063084295 Paula 0 to-read 4.22 2024
author: Nikki May
name: Paula
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 201465867
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future . . . if they can survive the journey.]]> 368 David Nicholls 0063394057 Paula 0 to-read 3.97 2024
author: David Nicholls
name: Paula
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Paula 2 3.69 2023
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Paula
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
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]]> 220152296 Christina Lauren Paula 0 4.27 2018
author: Christina Lauren
name: Paula
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
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]]> 203579143 A groundbreaking exploration of Native American identity, tribal enrollment, ancestry, and what all of this reveals about our understandings of race and politicsThe number of people in the United States who self-identify as Native has exploded in the last two decades. In the 2020 Census, more than twice as many people checked the box for “American Indian or Alaska Native�� than in 2000. Sure, there have been improvements to the ways that we are able to identify race in this once-a-decade survey, and there have been efforts to reduce the undercount of people living on reservations. But it’s clear that some people are lying, some people are wrong, and many are caught in a growing chasm between self-identity and verification.The concept of having evidence to determine your tribal identity through measurable, objective means, is somewhat unique to Native Americans who, unlike any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, undergo bureaucratic processes to prove themselves. Every tribe is different �� some trace lineage, others consult historic rolls, and some calculate blood quantum. Having a card to confirm your tribal enrollment is not synonymous with being Native, and yet it offers a way to validate something intangible.In The Indian Card, Carrie Schuettpelz dives deep into the idiosyncrasy and the often violent history of the ways that Native people establish an identity that is cultural, racial, and political all at once. How do blood, land, money, integrity, and tradition define tribal citizenship? How was kinship determined before colonization? And what would it look like to define community for ourselves?]]> 259 Carrie Schuettpelz 1250903165 Paula 0 to-read 4.32 2024
author: Carrie Schuettpelz
name: Paula
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 52346471
After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?]]> 496 Angeline Boulley Paula 5 4.32 2021
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Paula
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves:
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]]> 205064678 The New York Times bestselling author of The Lazy Genius Way brings her beloved Kind Big Sister Energy to a time management book for productivity-weary people who want to live an easier life, not do more homework.

Why do so-called life hacks leave us��drowning in tasks, schedules, and unfulfilled expectations?��In her straightforward, humorous style, author Kendra Adachi reveals why the problem is not you.

Most time management systems prioritize��optimization and greatness in service to an imagined future, but what if that's not your goal? What if you long for a book that helps you live wholeheartedly today? The PLAN is the answer.

Using the��memorable acronym "PLAN," you will learn to prepare, live, adjust, and notice like a Lazy Genius, all through the lens of what matters to you in your current season:
�� Discover two beliefs that will change time management forever
�� Integrate your hormones, personality, and life stage into your planning process
�� Learn the Lighten the Load to-do list framework to help you get your stuff done
�� Use The PLAN Pyramid to help you visualize a balanced life
�� Experience freedom from the crushing pressure of greatness, potential, and hustle

Refreshingly compassionate and immediately practical, The PLAN is the book you've been waiting for.]]> 233 Kendra Adachi 0593727932 Paula 0 currently-reading 3.90 2024
author: Kendra Adachi
name: Paula
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]> 68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Paula 0 to-read 3.94 2024
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Paula
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 38561954 351 Shane Bauer 0735223580 Paula 0 to-read 4.23 2018
author: Shane Bauer
name: Paula
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9437975 279 Ira J. Chasnoff MD 0984053158 Paula 5 4.30 2011
author: Ira J. Chasnoff MD
name: Paula
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
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]]> 3591262
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.

An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.
(front flap)]]> 560 Abraham Verghese 0375414495 Paula 0 to-read 4.32 2009
author: Abraham Verghese
name: Paula
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 71872840
“A riveting book that invites you into the personal journey of one of the finest writers alive today.”—Beth Moore, New York Times bestselling author of All My Knotted-Up Life

For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
��
But that narrative was called into question one night, when McCaulley answered the phone and learned that his father—whose absence defined his upbringing—died in a car crash.��McCaulley was being asked to deliver his father’s eulogy, to make sense of his complicated legacy in a country that only accepts Black men on the condition that they are exceptional, hardworking, perfect. ��
��
The resulting effort sent McCaulley back through his family history, seeking to understand the community that shaped him. In these pages, we meet his great-grandmother Sophia, a tenant farmer born with the gift of prophecy who scraped together a life in Jim Crow Alabama; his mother, Laurie, who raised four kids alone in an era when single Black mothers were demonized as “welfare queens��; and a cast of family, friends, and neighbors who won small victories in a world built to swallow Black lives.��With profound honesty and compassion, he raises questions that implicate us What does each person’s struggle to build a life teach us about what we owe each other? About what it means to be human?��
��
How Far to the Promised Land is a thrilling and tender epic about being Black in America.��It’s a book that questions our too-simple narratives about poverty and upward mobility; a book in which the people normally written out of the American Dream are given voice.]]> 240 Esau McCaulley 0593241088 Paula 0 to-read 4.58 2023
author: Esau McCaulley
name: Paula
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 48848554 She helps others manage their desperate lives--but who will help her? Clinical psychologist Camille Brooks isn't put off by the lifestyle of her hoarding clients. After all, she lost her mother to the crippling anxiety disorder. She'll go a long way to help others avoid the same pain and loss.

Despite Camille's expertise, her growing audience for her Let in the Light podcast, and the national recognition she's gaining for her creative coaching methods, there are some things she isn't prepared for. A client who looks far too much like her mom catches her off guard. And the revelation that she's also hoarding something sends her spinning.

Can she stand to let the light into her own life with the help of a friend who wants to stand by her for life and the God who created and loves her? Or will she find that defeating her demons proves too much to bear?]]> 352 Cynthia Ruchti 0825446570 Paula 0 4.29 2020
author: Cynthia Ruchti
name: Paula
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/02
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]]> 25852784 Evicted, Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America's most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.]]> 418 Matthew Desmond 0553447432 Paula 5 4.47 2016
author: Matthew Desmond
name: Paula
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
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]]> 29099264 480 Michael W. Twitty 0062379283 Paula 0 to-read 3.80 2017
author: Michael W. Twitty
name: Paula
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> 205173767
I didn’t think that was too much to ask. With my fiancé in California, I was back home for three months to plan my wedding. I had colors to pick, cows to milk, and a wedding dress to squeeze into.

Which was why I didn’t need anybody messing with me.

Especially not the guy who had dedicated his whole life to making mine a joke. The guy who filled my high school locker with frogs and my hot car with cans of tuna. I mean…I always got him back. But not this summer. Things were different now. I was engaged. I had grown up. I would NOT fall victim to Cade’s pranks, teasing, or his manly charms.

If only my dad hadn’t hired the moron to cowboy for him this summer.

Now my childhood enemy is living on our ranch and seems to think we have a score to settle.

And all bets are off.]]> 288 Cindy Steel Paula 0 3.88 2021
author: Cindy Steel
name: Paula
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
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]]> 210137119 Moving Forward When You’re Skeptical of Others, Afraid of What God Will Allow, and Doubtful of Your Own Discernment

Trust is the oxygen of all human relationships. But it's also what trips you up after you've been burned. Maybe a friend constantly lets you down. A leader or organization you respect turns out to be different than they portray themselves to be. A spouse cheats on you. A family member betrays you. You're exhausted by other people's choices and starting to question your own discernment. And you're wondering,��If God let this happen, can he even be trusted?��

How can you live well and step into the future when you keep stumbling over trust issues? Lysa TerKeurst says it's not simply about finding better people to walk with. It's about developing the stability you long for within yourself and with God, so you don't become cynical and carry a broken belief system into every new relationship.

In��I Want to Trust You, but I Don't Bible Study, Lysa digs into the Scriptures and helps you apply how to identify which of the eleven relational red flags are stirring up distrust, so you can pinpoint why you're feeling uneasy;stop having more faith in your fears coming true than God coming through for you by asking crucial "what if" questions to better process your doubts;recognize when a fractured relationship can be repaired by considering a reasonable list of characteristics necessary for rebuilding trust; and understand the physical, emotional, and neurological impact of the betrayals you've experienced and start healing from the inside out.]]> 208 Lysa TerKeurst 0310145708 Paula 0 to-read 4.36
author: Lysa TerKeurst
name: Paula
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 71872910 Christianity Today editor-in-chief Russell Moore calls for repentance and renewal in American evangelicalism

American evangelical Christianity has lost its way. While the witness of the church before a watching world is diminished beyond recognition, congregations are torn apart over Donald Trump, Christian nationalism, racial injustice, sexual predation, disgraced leaders, and covered-up scandals. Left behind are millions of believers who counted on the church to be a place of belonging and hope. As greater and greater numbers of younger Americans bleed out from the church, even the most rooted evangelicals are wondering, “Can American Christianity survive?��

In Losing Our Religion, Russell Moore calls his fellow evangelical Christians to conversion over culture wars, to truth over tribalism, to the gospel over politics, to integrity over influence, and to renewal over nostalgia. With both prophetic honesty and pastoral love, Moore offers a word of counsel for how a new generation of disillusioned and exhausted believers can find a path forward after the crisis and confusion of the last several years. Believing the gospel is too important to leave it to hucksters and grifters, he shows how a Christian can avoid both cynicism and complicity in order to imagine a different, hopeful vision for the church.

The altar call of the old evangelical revivals was both a call to repentance and the offer of a new start. In the same way, this book invites unmoored and discouraged Christians to step out into an uncertain future, first by letting go of the kind of cultural, politicized, status quo Christianity that led us to this moment of reckoning. Only when we see how lost we are, we can find our way again. Only when we bury what’s dead can we experience life again. Only when we lose our religion can we be amazed by grace again.]]> 272 Russell D. Moore 0593541782 Paula 5 4.31
author: Russell D. Moore
name: Paula
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
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]]> 57939719 32 Diane Alber Paula 0 to-read 4.52
author: Diane Alber
name: Paula
average rating: 4.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 57811880 17 Diane Alber Paula 0 to-read 4.70
author: Diane Alber
name: Paula
average rating: 4.70
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 54734550 0 Diane Alber Paula 0 to-read 4.57
author: Diane Alber
name: Paula
average rating: 4.57
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 50951019 It can be really hard to handle BIG Emotions, especially when your ANGRY SPOT��shows up!�� Whether it's when someone takes your toy or you feel like you can't do something, you have the power to turn your BIG ANGRY SPOT into a calm PEACEFUL SPOT!


By associating��emotions with something a child can visual (bright red spot), they are able to see when a small feeling of frustration can easily turn into into a big ANGRY emotion. They will realize they can manage their spots of emotions with fun counting and breathing techniques by watching a fun illustrated��ANGRY SPOT start to shrink down.]]> 17 Diane Alber Paula 0 to-read 4.53 2019
author: Diane Alber
name: Paula
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 51045912 32 Diane Alber Paula 5 4.63
author: Diane Alber
name: Paula
average rating: 4.63
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
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]]> 51686030
Riley the Brave is the story of a little bear with big feelings! Join this super-cool, cape-wearing cub as he embarks on a journey to face his fears.

Riley is joined by all of his animal friends who care for him as he faces his difficult feelings. Along the way, Riley learns how sometimes, being tough or loud isn't the bravest thing to be - sometimes it's asking for help, or being brave enough to let someone into your heart.

Written for any child who is looking to unlock their inner courage, and particularly those healing from difficult life experiences or trauma, this book creates a safe space for conversations about complex thoughts and feelings. It also features an educational afterword for grown-ups which explains how the book helps children, and how to get the most out of it.]]> 48 Jessica Sinarski 1787755169 Paula 5 4.69
author: Jessica Sinarski
name: Paula
average rating: 4.69
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/26
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]]> 38743 ��Associated Press

The second volume in the multimillion copy bestselling series

Millions of readers have delighted in the wonderful storytelling and everyday miracles of James Herriot in the over thirty years since his delightful animal stories were first introduced to the world.

Now in a new edition for the first time in a decade, All Things Bright and Beautiful is the beloved sequel to Herriot's first collection, All Creatures Great and Small, and picks up as Herriot, now newly married, journeys among the remote hillside farms and valley towns of the Yorkshire Dales, caring for their inhabitants—both two- and four-legged. Throughout, Herriot's deep compassion, humor, and love of life shine out as we laugh, cry, and delight in his portraits of his many, varied animal patients and their equally varied owners.

"Humor, realism, sensitivity, earthiness; animals comic and tragic; and people droll, pathetic, courageous, eccentric—all of whom he views with the same gentle compassion and a lively sense of the sad, the ridiculous, and the admirable."
��Columbus Dispatch]]> 378 James Herriot 0312330863 Paula 0 currently-reading 4.32 1976
author: James Herriot
name: Paula
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 25489625 “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.��
��
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,�� a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
��
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.]]> 152 Ta-Nehisi Coates Paula 0 4.40 2015
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Paula
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves:
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]]> 16691891
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care, looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is "To the End of June," an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children at the critical points in their search for a stable, loving family.

The book mirrors the life cycle of a foster child and so begins with the removal of babies and kids from birth families. There's a teenage birth mother in Texas who signs away her parental rights on a napkin only to later reconsider, crushing the hopes of her baby's adoptive parents. Beam then paints an unprecedented portrait of the intricacies of growing up in the system--the back-and-forth with agencies, the shuffling between pre-adoptive homes and group homes, the emotionally charged tug of prospective adoptive parents and the fundamental pull of birth parents. And then what happens as these system-reared kids become adults? Beam closely follows a group of teenagers in New York who are grappling with what aging out will mean for them and meets a woman who has parented eleven kids from the system, almost all over the age of eighteen, and all still in desperate need of a sense of home and belonging.

Focusing intensely on a few foster families who are deeply invested in the system's success, "To the End of June" is essential for humanizing and challenging a broken system, while at the same time it is a tribute to resiliency and offers hope for real change.]]> 337 Cris Beam 0547999534 Paula 0 4.01 2013
author: Cris Beam
name: Paula
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2019/03/25
date added: 2024/09/12
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]]> 203166736 Create a lifetime of connection with your children.Therapist and wildly popular attachment research expert Eli Harwood (a.k.a. Attachment Nerd) illuminates attachment theory as foundational to the only parenting approach proven to have a lasting impact.��How do you raise kids who are confident, capable, and caring?��The first ingredient is a secure and close relationship—key to helping them self-regulate and thrive later in life. When children feel seen, heard, and supported, all other parenting tips and tricks start to work.��Groundbreaking author Eli Harwood makes attachment theory (the science that explores the innate human need to bond with other humans) accessible and actionable in how it can help our children learn and grow into compassionate, warm adults.��For anyone looking to build a better life for their kids, no matter what you went through growing up yourself, these simple, real-life strategies will help ·�������������� Help you create a secure attachment relationship with your kids by choosing connection over control·�������������� Prompt reflection on attachment patterns you developed in childhood and why you respond in certain ways during emotional moments with your children·�������������� Help you resolve past attachment traumas so you can gain effective skills to offer calm, connected, and secure base·�������������� Provide scripts and practical tools to build and reinforce a strong foundation of trust·�������������� Encourage you to release the reins of influence as their independence grows��Hopeful and inspiring, this essential evidence-based guide will show parents across different ages and stages everywhere that they are not alone in the questions and concerns they may have about their children's development. Though there have been countless studies on how attachment styles affect our romantic relationships, Raising Securely Attached Kids reframes the subject for cultivating a strong relationship between parent and child to bring transformative change to your relationships of all stripes.]]> 288 Eli Harwood 1632175460 Paula 0 to-read 4.58
author: Eli Harwood
name: Paula
average rating: 4.58
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 203956674 America’s favorite government teacher offers thrilling, heartfelt stories of ordinary American heroes.Most pundits and historians sell a dangerously naïve version of the American story—either praising its most consequential figures uncritically or criticizing them unfairly.��Sharon McMahon believes the truth is more human. In her debut book The Small and the Mighty, she tells the inpiring stories of twelve Americans--regular people with human foibles--whose extraordinary heroism in the face of mounting trials created the character of our country.��With the same clarity and candor that's earned her millions of fans, McMahon follows the daughter of formerly enslaved parents who sparked a reformation in Black education, a Japanese immigrant who nearly died in combat and became a consequential Senator, and even the electrician who saved her husband’s life. Her unforgettable prose and meticulous research tell the story of America from the perspective of the unsung heroes whose devotion to their country will restore your faith in the American dream.The portraits of our nation’s most improbable champions, innovators, and rebels in this book celebrate the United States and reveal our common humanity. The Small and the Mighty is the encouragement we all need in an age of doomscrolling and division.]]> 320 Sharon McMahon 0593541677 Paula 0 to-read 4.45 2024
author: Sharon McMahon
name: Paula
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 128029
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Paula 5 4.44 2007
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Paula
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves:
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]]> 212097475
Megan Hill understands that church can be hard. In forty thoughtful meditations, she lays out reliable biblical truths for your encouragement and healing. You’ll explore the source of your struggle, find ways to express your sorrow, and consider wise actions to take. Others have struggled as well—and found hope. There’s hope for you too.

Endorsements“Though the church may hurt us, Christ and his Word will never fail us. There is healing on the other side of church hurt, and these devotions are a great place to start.��

—Winfree Brisley, Editor, The Gospel Coalition

“Provides welcome counsel, relief, and balm for the Christian pained in or by the church. These pages are filled with gracious abiding truths from the loving Lord of the church.��

—Jason Helopoulos, Senior Pastor, University Reformed Church, East Lansing, Michigan

“Megan Hill has done us all a service by taking us back to the Scriptures and to the heart of Christ, offering words of wisdom and warning, as we seek healing in the body of Christ where we’ve experienced hurt.��

—Trevin Wax, Author, The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Rethink Your Self, and Gospel-Centered Teaching

“Megan’s book is an invitation to exhale and think biblically as we encounter the inevitable disappointments in Christ’s church.��

—Karen Hodge, Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Presbyterian Church in America

“Will encourage those who are weary from the deep hurts inflicted by their church family while providing helpful direction for navigating the complexities in the days ahead.��

—Darby Strickland, Faculty, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation]]> 152 Megan Hill 1629959855 Paula 0 to-read 4.25
author: Megan Hill
name: Paula
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 60417459 Love isn't always by the books in this charming romantic comedy about a bookseller discovering how to be the main character in her story.

As a self-proclaimed book hater and a firm believer that the movie is always better, Drew Young didn't anticipate inheriting her grandma's bookstore, the Book Nook. She's in way over her head even before the shop's resident book club, comprising seven of the naughtiest old ladies ever, begin to do what they do best--meddle.

Bestselling author Jasper Williams is a hopeless romantic. When he meets Drew at his Book Nook signing event, he becomes determined to show her the beauty of reading. He curates a book bucket list in exchange for her help exploring the local Denver scene for his current manuscript. From river rafting to local restaurants, Drew begins to connect with Jasper in a way she only thought happened in fiction.

When messy family ties jeopardize the future of the Book Nook, Drew is caught between a bookshelf and a hard place. She's reminded that real life isn't always big dreams and sweeping romance. But Jasper is the plot twist she never saw coming and he's writing a happily ever after just for them.]]> 336 Alexa Martin 0593337220 Paula 0 to-read 3.38 2022
author: Alexa Martin
name: Paula
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 33815781 A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend...

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...

They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...]]> 317 Jasmine Guillory Paula 0 to-read 3.56 2018
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Paula
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58950845 A tale as old as time—for a new generation��

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing right out of college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, living at home, still an editorial assistant, and the only Black employee at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.

All she has to do is go to the author’s Santa Barbara mansion and give him a quick pep talk or three. How hard could it be?

But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn't there before.

Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is a romantic triumph of love and acceptance and learning that sometimes to truly know a person you have to read between the lines. ]]> 320 Jasmine Guillory 1368053386 Paula 0 to-read 3.68 2022
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: Paula
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 19189315 40 Denise B. Lacher Paula 0 to-read 4.00 2012
author: Denise B. Lacher
name: Paula
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie�� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Paula 4 4.59 2024
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Paula
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/16
date added: 2024/08/16
shelves:
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]]> 41301821 For wives who are starving for real intimacy—and searching for real answers.

After years of buying into the same old messages about sex like “do it for your husband�� or “it’s just physical�� Ruth Buezis went searching for God’s truth and it transformed her marriage. Now, she's "getting naked" with readers and baring her journey of discovering an incredible sex life with her husband of over thirty years to help other women create real intimacy in their own marriages.

Built on simple concepts of creative intentionality, she invites women into the delights awaiting them and dares to ask the question: Why have we built a chasm between being godly and being sensual? Whether purity messages in the church felt manipulative and set you up for failure, you’ve experienced past sexual trauma or abuse, or you’ve allowed yourself to believe lies about your own beauty, Ruth invites you into a community ready for change and something deeper. In doing so, she opens the door for wives to embrace freedom and become truly known in their marriages.]]> 262 Ruth Buezis 1732445907 Paula 0 to-read 4.48
author: Ruth Buezis
name: Paula
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 194803824
When Kristina Kuzmič started to see signs that her otherwise sunny, resilient teenage son was struggling, she was sure a few simple fixes could right the ship. But over the following months, the issues her family faced became more nuanced, complicated, and pervasive than she could've predicted—and what began as a clear to do list spiraled into an emotionally fraught and seemingly endless push and pull between signs of progress and overwhelming fear.

Despite her best efforts, Kuzmič had internalized a set of obligations, ideas, and unrealistic standards from parenting culture and social media that left her unprepared to guide her child when he needed her most. Featuring an urgent and affirming foreword by renowned and New York Times bestselling clinician Dr. Shefali Tsabary—Kuzmič's new book debunks ten "parenting truths�� that kept her in crisis, and delves into her insecurities and the mistakes she made to reveal invaluable lessons and transformative approaches that worked.

While her family stands on the other side now stronger than ever, Kuzmič's journey calls to parents who have felt the instinct to say “I can fix this�� in situations where good intentions far exceed our abilities to enact change.]]> 240 Kristina Kuzmic 0593653335 Paula 0 to-read 4.62
author: Kristina Kuzmic
name: Paula
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 34964905 A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit.

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.

But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon—transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.

With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you ������’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.]]> 272 Anthony Ray Hinton 1250124719 Paula 0 to-read 4.64 2018
author: Anthony Ray Hinton
name: Paula
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 64631561 New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors�� credit cards.

Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the “shot caller,�� showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.

When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, prove to herself that she is more good than bad, and much more.

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.]]> 319 Lara Love Hardin 1982197668 Paula 5 4.46 2023
author: Lara Love Hardin
name: Paula
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/30
date added: 2024/07/30
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]]> 25883048 Archival photos and prints, source notes, bibliography, index.]]> 198 Claire Hartfield Paula 0 to-read 3.64 2017
author: Claire Hartfield
name: Paula
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/28
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]]> 31173 Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë's most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette. The first pain brings others, and with them comes the heartache Lucy has tried so long to escape. Yet in spite of adversity and disappointment, Lucy Snowe survives to recount the unstinting vision of a turbulent life's journey - a journey that is one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman's consciousness in English literature.]]> 573 Charlotte Brontë Paula 0 currently-reading 3.78 1853
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Paula
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1853
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 61918816 A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin��-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass�� scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,�� and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she ������’t refuse.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 1538704390 Paula 0 4.29 2023
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Paula
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/07/21
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]]> 122544071 Shed your shame. Renew your hope. Rediscover the parent you know you can be.
Is your adoption journey turning out differently than you imagined? You had so much love to give, but now you feel ashamed and bewildered by your lack of compassion.

You may be experiencing blocked care—a self-protective mechanism in your nervous system that makes it difficult to connect with your child and maintain compassion. When it happens, it’s like your heart seems to have left the relationship. But the good news is you are not a bad parent. You can heal from blocked care, and compassion can be rekindled in your heart.

Written by two adoptive parents who have overcome blocked care, Reclaim Compassion answers the questions, “How did this happen?�� and “Will it ever get better?�� You’ll recognize yourself in the honest stories from the authors and other parents and come to realize that you are not alone.

Rooted in faith and backed by neuroscience, this practical and powerful guide offers a simple step-by-step process for reclaiming compassion for your child and yourself.“Lisa and Melissa’s holistic–brain, body, and spirit–approach to understanding and overcoming blocked care will lead you to personal healing and meaningful connection with your children. Every foster and adoptive parent should read this book!��
~Jamie Finn, author of Foster the Family, Director, Foster the Family

��Reclaim Compassion practically and compassionately addresses part of parenting that no one wants to talk about. Lisa C. Qualls and Melissa Corkum are the go-to experts on blocked care, and this book is proof. No one understands it better than they do. We can't recommend this book enough!"
~Mike and Kristin Berry, hosts of The Honestly Adoption Podcast, coauthors of Securely AttachedLisa C. Qualls and Melissa Corkum serve thousands of adoptive parents by providing post-adoption support through their podcast, books, speaking, and coaching.]]> 0 Lisa Qualls Paula 5 5.00
author: Lisa Qualls
name: Paula
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2024/07/17
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]]> 58684524
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere�� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she ������’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]> 389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 Paula 0 4.26 2022
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Paula
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/07/06
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]]> 50498335 A debut YA novel-in-verse that is both a coming-of-age and a ghost story.

Moth has lost her family in an accident. Though she lives with her aunt, she feels alone and uprooted.

Until she meets Sani, a boy who is also searching for his roots. If he knows more about where he comes from, maybe he’ll be able to understand his ongoing depression. And if Moth can help him feel grounded, then perhaps she too will discover the history she carries in her bones.

Moth and Sani take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors. The way each moves forward is surprising, powerful, and unforgettable.

Here is an exquisite and uplifting novel about identity, first love, and the ways that our memories and our roots steer us through the universe.]]> 256 Amber McBride 1250780365 Paula 0 currently-reading 4.04 2021
author: Amber McBride
name: Paula
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 42201431
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035.]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501128035 Paula 0 3.88 2019
author: Christina Lauren
name: Paula
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/28
date added: 2024/06/28
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]]> 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 Paula 0 to-read 3.70 2023
author: Crystal Smith Paul
name: Paula
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/19
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]]> 766917 The comic genius of Robert McCloskey and his wry look at small-town America has kept readers in stitches for generations!

]]> 149 Robert McCloskey 0140309276 Paula 5 4.09 1943
author: Robert McCloskey
name: Paula
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/06/15
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]]> 18857202 138 Sarah Nathan 1423197178 Paula 0 4.17 2013
author: Sarah Nathan
name: Paula
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
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]]> 123230323 Every favorite character from Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times best-selling Mercy Watson books makes an appearance in this extended, riotously funny series crescendo.

When Mercy Watson the pig goes missing, all of Deckawoo Drive is in an uproar. The Watsons are inconsolable, and the local police, fire, and animal control departments are no help whatsoever. Bossy neighbor Eugenia Lincoln is not quite as sad as she might be, but thankfully her sister, Baby Lincoln, has the idea to hire a private investigator. Granted, Percival Smidgely, PI, may be more bumbler than gumshoe, but his pigeon, Polly, is there to point the way. Meanwhile, Frank and Stella Endicott and Stella’s friend Horace Broom are ready to do some investigating of their own. Will the clever neighborhood sleuths manage to follow the trail of hoofprints—and a certain overwhelmingly enticing scent—and recover their porcine wonder?

With deftly paced narrative comedy, visual slapstick, abundant artwork in both black and white and full color, and warm affection for their cast of characters, Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen bring us a highly satisfying, extra-special series finale that rewards loyal fans—and invites new readers to explore the stories that came before.]]> 177 Kate DiCamillo 1536210234 Paula 0 4.34
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Paula
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/04
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]]> 122825102 '"I t most certainly does not!", is probably your first reaction.

Parenting and neuroscience expert Robyn Gobbel is here to reveal how all behavior, no matter how baffling, can be explained and remedied. You just need to look past the behavior and understand what's going on inside.

Robyn decodes the latest brain science into easy-to-understand principles and metaphors to help you become an expert in your child's behavior. She reveals simple ways to help you regulate and connect with your child, with brain-, body- and sensory-based strategies to overcome day-to-day challenges . She also provides you with the knowledge to understand and regulate your own brain so that you don't flip your lid when your child flips theirs.

Let this be your lifeline for parenting or caring for any child with baffling behaviors and hidden challenges , including kids who have experienced adversity, or with additional needs.]]> 272 Robyn Gobbel 1839974281 Paula 0 to-read 4.64
author: Robyn Gobbel
name: Paula
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/30
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]]> 15015218
Gold is the story of Zoe and Kate, world-class athletes who have been friends and rivals since their first day of Elite training. They've loved, fought, betrayed, forgiven, consoled, gloried, and grown up together. Now on the eve of London 2012, their last Olympics, both women will be tested to their physical and emotional limits. They must confront each other and their own mortality to decide, when lives are at stake: What would you sacrifice for the people you love, if it meant giving up the thing that was most important to you in the world?]]> 384 Chris Cleave 145167273X Paula 0 to-read 3.73 2012
author: Chris Cleave
name: Paula
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 40392297
Following practices outlined in the first chapter of 2 Peter, Alexandra Kuykendall lays out the framework for where to begin. From practicing humility to listening with understanding to being generous in our relationships, Loving My Actual Neighbor offers practical, start-now steps readers can take to love their neighbors. With her approachable, friendly tone and down-to-earth advice, Kuykendall has carved out for herself a place in the hearts of readers, who will be thrilled to extend her commonsense approach into this sphere of their lives.]]> 224 Alexandra Kuykendall 0801075378 Paula 0 to-read 3.93
author: Alexandra Kuykendall
name: Paula
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/28
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]]> 58570960 192 Brittany Salmon 0802424155 Paula 0 to-read 4.54
author: Brittany Salmon
name: Paula
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/28
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]]> 200033357 New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates�� are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask��what if we actually met?

Christina Lauren’s The Exception to the Rule is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.]]> 101 Christina Lauren 1662519893 Paula 0 4.21 2024
author: Christina Lauren
name: Paula
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/05/21
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]]> 200034606
Holly is dealing with the impending death of her grandmother and still reeling from a bad breakup. One bright spot: a Valentine’s Day card on Holly’s windshield—even if it wasn’t meant for her. An amusing mistake soon turns into a lovely exchange of anonymous notes, little acts of kindness, and a growing affection between two strangers. What happens when one of them has to say goodbye?]]> 61 Abby Jimenez 166251963X Paula 0 3.99 2024
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Paula
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/05/21
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]]> 13800006 135 Michael Reeves 0830839836 Paula 0 to-read 4.56 2012
author: Michael Reeves
name: Paula
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> 197773418 Do fewer things. Work at a natural pace. Obsess over quality.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work, a groundbreaking philosophy for pursuing meaningful accomplishment while avoiding overload.

Our current definition of “productivity�� is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?

Long before the arrival of pinging inboxes and clogged schedules, history’s most creative and impactful philosophers, scientists, artists, and writers mastered the art of producing valuable work with staying power. In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs. Drawing from deep research on the habits and mindsets of a varied cast of storied thinkers—from Galileo and Isaac Newton, to Jane Austen and Georgia O’Keefe—Newport lays out the key principles of “slow productivity,�� a more sustainable alternative to the aimless overwhelm that defines our current moment. Combining cultural criticism with systematic pragmatism, Newport deconstructs the absurdities inherent in standard notions of productivity, and then provides step-by-step advice for workers to replace them with a slower, more humane alternative.

From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.]]> 244 Cal Newport 0593544854 Paula 0 to-read 3.65 2024
author: Cal Newport
name: Paula
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> 25744928 One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.

In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.]]> 296 Cal Newport 1455586692 Paula 0 to-read 4.16 2016
author: Cal Newport
name: Paula
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> 42279228 This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood's only salvation is his friendship with fellow "delinquent" Turner, which deepens despite Turner's conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead 0385537077 Paula 4 4.28 2019
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Paula
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/11
date added: 2024/05/11
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]]> 195834342
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?]]> 400 Abby Jimenez Paula 0 4.47 2024
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Paula
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/05/07
shelves:
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]]>