Mf's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 28 Oct 2015 05:08:19 -0700 60 Mf's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques (Classiques hachette)]]> 77998 El Horla y otros cuentos fantásticos agrupa dieciocho relatos de Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) cuyos ingredientes son el misterio, la locura, los crímenes de oscuro origen, el suicidio, el miedo y la soledad. En ellos, el elemento fantástico no constituye una brutal intrusión en la normalidad, sino que se acompasa, de forma mucho más insidiosa, con la vida cotidiana; es lo incognoscible que ronda en torno al hombre, pero también el reflejo de los fantasmas que habitan su cerebro. En el prólogo que precede a la recopilación, Esther Benítez, traductora del volumen, explica sus criterios de selección y sitúa los relatos en el contexto de la obra y la personalidad de Maupassant.]]> 120 Guy de Maupassant 2011665833 Mf 3 3.89 1886 Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques (Classiques hachette)
author: Guy de Maupassant
name: Mf
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1886
rating: 3
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date added: 2015/10/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Mf 5 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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date added: 2014/04/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Holy Bible: New International Version]]> 280111 Special This red-letter edition eBook has been optimized for reading on color screens, but will still function effectively on other devices. The Bible is the bestselling book in history, and the New International Version (NIV) Bible is the bestselling version year after year. This bestselling modern-English Bible has sold more than 450 million copies since its first full publication in 1978. It is also the bestselling modern-English Bible eBook, and it’s designed for an intuitive user experience. The font is crisp and clear, and readability is great on both E-Ink® screens and color screens. With quick page turns and a numbered footnoting system that allows you to easily jump from Bible text to footnote and back again, this NIV eBook is faster and more robust than ever before. And with a “How to Use This Bible� page included, navigating the Bible has never been easier. Read the Bible on your device just as if you were reading a physical book. NIV ©2011 The New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible is the world’s most popular modern English Bible � easy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages.

]]> 1213 Anonymous 0310902711 Mf 3 4.61 Holy Bible: New International Version
author: Anonymous
name: Mf
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2014/01/09
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Really interesting, but it tries to hard to be enlightening, the plot moves at a "Lost moses in desert pace" and the prose is a little dull. I am however, looking forward to the authors next work Bible 2: The Son Returns.
]]> CivilWarLand in Bad Decline 331688
Bizarre but familiar, fierce but always humane, these are stunningly original stories by a master of the form.

Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 1573225797 (ISBN13: 9781573225793)

An alternate cover edition exists here.]]> 179 George Saunders Mf 5
He writes in first person which is cool, except that I haven't read anything of his that was outside of first person. He frequently uses the idea of ghosts or coming back from the dead and often sets his stories in theme parks or areas of recreation. His sentences are short and direct, much like the way humans think.

What deserves the 5 stars however, is that by going into first person ( so deeply) Saunders allows his charactersand stories to speak for themselves. His stories are similar but everytime I'm shocked and hurt a little when the characters are berated by the tyrannical bosses. These stories shouldn't have surprised me considering his trends and simularities, but every time he starts writing, I am expecting different than what is delivered. There were moments during "Offloading for Mrs. Shwartz" and "The 400 Pound Ceo", that were truly devastating, even though they shouldn't been. I wanted to think that Jeffery was sorry for himself and I wanted to think that the Protag in Mrs. Shwartz needed to get over his wifes death, but Saunders writes so closely that all we care about is what they care about. We experience what they do as they do, we are the characters.

Highlights-
The 400 Pound Ceo
The Wavemaker Falters
Offloading for Mrs. Shwartz.
]]> 4.12 1996 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
author: George Saunders
name: Mf
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2009/02/06
date added: 2013/08/11
shelves:
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The thing I love about Saunders is that you immediately tell when you are reading Saunders. This is also his greatest fault.

He writes in first person which is cool, except that I haven't read anything of his that was outside of first person. He frequently uses the idea of ghosts or coming back from the dead and often sets his stories in theme parks or areas of recreation. His sentences are short and direct, much like the way humans think.

What deserves the 5 stars however, is that by going into first person ( so deeply) Saunders allows his charactersand stories to speak for themselves. His stories are similar but everytime I'm shocked and hurt a little when the characters are berated by the tyrannical bosses. These stories shouldn't have surprised me considering his trends and simularities, but every time he starts writing, I am expecting different than what is delivered. There were moments during "Offloading for Mrs. Shwartz" and "The 400 Pound Ceo", that were truly devastating, even though they shouldn't been. I wanted to think that Jeffery was sorry for himself and I wanted to think that the Protag in Mrs. Shwartz needed to get over his wifes death, but Saunders writes so closely that all we care about is what they care about. We experience what they do as they do, we are the characters.

Highlights-
The 400 Pound Ceo
The Wavemaker Falters
Offloading for Mrs. Shwartz.

]]> The Old Man and the Sea 1513127 128 P.G. Rama Rao 8126907096 Mf 5 3.82 The Old Man and the Sea
author: P.G. Rama Rao
name: Mf
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2012/03/29
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]]> Bartleby the Scrivener 114230 Moby-Dick�Bartleby the Scrivener is simply one of the most absorbing and moving novellas ever. Set in the mid-19th century on New York City's Wall Street, it was also, perhaps, Herman Melville's most prescient story: what if a young man caught up in the rat race of commerce finally just said, "I would prefer not to"?

The tale is one of the final works of fiction published by Melville before, slipping into despair over the continuing critical dismissal of his work after Moby-Dick, he abandoned publishing fiction. The work is presented here exactly as it was originally published in Putnam's magazine—to, sadly, critical disdain.]]> 64 Herman Melville 0974607800 Mf 4 3.91 1853 Bartleby the Scrivener
author: Herman Melville
name: Mf
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1853
rating: 4
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date added: 2011/04/07
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]]> Erasure 355862 We's Lives in Da Ghetto, the exploitative debut novel of a young, middle-class black woman who once visited "some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days." Hailed as an authentic representation of the African American experience, the book is a national bestseller and its author feted on the Kenya Dunston television show. The book's success rankles all the more as Monk's own most recent novel has just notched its seventh rejection.

Even as his career as a writer appears to have stalled, Monk finds himself coping with changes in his personal life. In need of distraction from old memories, new responsibilities, and his professional stagnation, Monk composes, in a heat of inspiration and energy, a fierce parody of the sort of exploitative, ghetto wanna-be lit represented by We's Lives in Da Ghetto.

But when his agent sends this literary indictment (included here in its entirety) out to publishers, it is greeted as an authentic new voice of black America. Monk -- or his pseudonymous alter ego, Stagg R. Leigh -- is offered money, fame, success beyond anything he has known. And as demand begins to build for meetings with and appearances by Leigh, Monk is faced with a whole new set of problems.]]> 280 Percival Everett 0786888156 Mf 5 4.17 2001 Erasure
author: Percival Everett
name: Mf
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/07/08
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]]> In Persuasion Nation 28746 In Persuasion Nation are easily his best work yet. "The Red Bow," about a town consumed by pet-killing hysteria, won a 2004 National Magazine Award and "Bohemians," the story of two supposed Eastern European widows trying to fit in in suburban USA, is included in The Best American Short Stories 2005. His new book includes both unpublished work, and stories that first appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, and Esquire. The stories in this volume work together as a whole whose impact far exceeds the simple sum of its parts. Fans of Saunders know and love him for his sharp and hilarious satirical eye. But In Persuasion Nation also includes more personal and poignant pieces that reveal a new kind of emotional conviction in Saunders's writing.

Saunders's work in the last six years has come to be recognized as one of the strongest—and most consoling—cries in the wilderness of the millennium's political and cultural malaise. In Persuasion Nation's sophistication and populism should establish Saunders once and for all as this generation's literary voice of wisdom and humor in a time when we need it most.]]> 228 George Saunders 159448242X Mf 4 4.11 2006 In Persuasion Nation
author: George Saunders
name: Mf
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/07/08
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]]> Watchmen 472331 Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history—the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in full effect.

Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award-winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the superhero is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes.]]> 416 Alan Moore 0930289234 Mf 5 4.38 1987 Watchmen
author: Alan Moore
name: Mf
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1987
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/07/08
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]]> The Elements of Style 33514 105 William Strunk Jr. Mf 5 4.15 1918 The Elements of Style
author: William Strunk Jr.
name: Mf
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1918
rating: 5
read at: 2009/05/11
date added: 2009/05/11
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]]> <![CDATA[No One Belongs Here More Than You]]> 113429 205 Miranda July 0743299396 Mf 0 3.83 2007 No One Belongs Here More Than You
author: Miranda July
name: Mf
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/03/25
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]]> English Romantic Poetry 203919
This volume contains a rich selection of poems by England's six greatest Romantic poets: William Blake (24 poems, including "The Tyger" and "Auguries of Innocence"), William Wordsworth (27 poems, including "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" and "I wandered lonely as a cloud"), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (10 poems, including "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan"), Lord Byron (16 poems, including "The Prisoner of Chillon" and selections from Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage), Percy Bysshe Shelley (24 poems, including "Ode to the West Wind" and "Adonais") and John Keats (22 poems, including all the great odes, "Isabelle" and "The Eve of St. Agnes").

For this edition, Stanley Appelbaum has provided a concise Introduction to the Romantic period and brief commentaries on the poets represented. The result is a carefully selected anthology that will be welcomed by lovers of poetry, students and teachers alike.]]> 240 Stanley Appelbaum 0486292827 Mf 3 3.93 1996 English Romantic Poetry
author: Stanley Appelbaum
name: Mf
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1996
rating: 3
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date added: 2009/03/21
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]]> Lost in the Funhouse 12885 205 John Barth 0385240872 Mf 0 currently-reading 3.69 1968 Lost in the Funhouse
author: John Barth
name: Mf
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/03/18
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories]]> 432341 here.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find is Flannery O'Connor's most famous and most discussed story. O'Connor herself singled it out by making it the title piece of her first collection and the story she most often chose for readings or talks to students.

It is an unforgettable tale, both riveting and comic, of the confrontation of a family with violence and sudden death. More than anything else O'Connor ever wrote, this story mixes the comedy, violence, and religious concerns that characterize her fiction.

This now-classic book revealed Flannery O'Connor to be one of the most original and provocative writers to emerge from the South. Her apocalyptic vision of life is expressed through grotesque, often comic, situations in which the principal character faces a problem of salvation: the grandmother, in the title story, confronting the murderous Misfit; a neglected four-year-old boy looking for the Kingdom of Christ in the fast-flowing waters of the river; General Sash, about to meet the final enemy.]]> 265 Flannery O'Connor 0156364654 Mf 0 to-read 4.17 1955 A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
author: Flannery O'Connor
name: Mf
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at: 2009/03/18
date added: 2009/03/18
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]]> Wise Blood 337107 232 Flannery O'Connor 0374505845 Mf 0 to-read 3.83 1952 Wise Blood
author: Flannery O'Connor
name: Mf
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/03/12
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]]> The Age of Wire and String 155677 The Age of Wire and String, hailed by Robert Coover as "the most audacious literary debut in decades," Ben Marcus welds together a new reality from the scrapheap of the past. Dogs, birds, horses, automobiles, and the weather are some of the recycled elements in Marcus's first collection—part fiction, part handbook—as familiar objects take on markedly unfamiliar meanings. Gradually, this makeshift world, in its defiance of the laws of physics and language, finds a foundation in its own implausibility, as Marcus produces new feelings and sensations—both comic and disturbing—in the definitive guide to an unpredictable yet exhilarating plane of existence.]]> 160 Ben Marcus 1564781968 Mf 0 currently-reading 3.71 1995 The Age of Wire and String
author: Ben Marcus
name: Mf
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2009/03/09
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Dubliner. 1456231 228 James Joyce 3518389548 Mf 5 3.91 1914 Dubliner.
author: James Joyce
name: Mf
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1914
rating: 5
read at: 2009/03/09
date added: 2009/03/09
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]]> Notable American Women 155641
On a farm in Ohio, American women led by Jane Dark practice all means of behavior modification in an attempt to attain complete stillness and silence. Witnessing (and subjected to) their cultish actions is one Ben Marcus, whose father, Michael Marcus, may be buried in the back yard, and whose mother, Jane Marcus, enthusiastically condones the use of her son for (generally unsuccessful) breeding purposes, among other things. Inventing his own uses for language, the author Ben Marcus has written a harrowing, hilarious, strangely moving, altogether engrossing work of fiction that will be read and argued over for years to come.]]> 243 Ben Marcus 0375713786 Mf 0 to-read 3.83 2002 Notable American Women
author: Ben Marcus
name: Mf
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/02/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Mf 5 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mf
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/01/30
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]]> The Edge of Europe 1797979 164 Pentti Saarikoski 0976569264 Mf 0 currently-reading 4.06 1982 The Edge of Europe
author: Pentti Saarikoski
name: Mf
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/30
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Dreams of Distant Lives: Stories]]> 1043933 The happy parts
Here in time and not
Dreams of distant lives
Revolutionaries
Once upon a time
Why I live in Hanoi
Driving his Buick home
The era of great numbers
1963]]> 206 Lee K. Abbott 1877727148 Mf 0 to-read 4.25 1989 Dreams of Distant Lives: Stories
author: Lee K. Abbott
name: Mf
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Batman: The Long Halloween 106069 376 Jeph Loeb 1563894696 Mf 5 4.33 1997 Batman: The Long Halloween
author: Jeph Loeb
name: Mf
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/01/28
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]]> House of Leaves 24800
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.]]> 710 Mark Z. Danielewski Mf 0 to-read 4.11 2000 House of Leaves
author: Mark Z. Danielewski
name: Mf
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Rotters' Club 41038 415 Jonathan Coe 0375713123 Mf 0 to-read 3.99 2001 The Rotters' Club
author: Jonathan Coe
name: Mf
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Oblivion 6749
Mister squishy --
The soul is not a smithy --
Incarnations of burned children --
Another pioneer --
Good old neon --
Philosophy and the mirror of nature --
Oblivion --
The suffering channel]]> 329 David Foster Wallace 0316010766 Mf 0 to-read 4.09 2004 Oblivion
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Mf
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Libra 400
In this powerful, unsettling novel, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald's odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When "history" presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the president will galvanize the nation against communism, the scales are irrevocably tipped.

A gripping, masterful blend of fact and fiction, alive with meticulously portrayed characters both real and created, Libra is a grave, haunting, and brilliant examination of an event that has become an indelible part of the American psyche.]]> 480 Don DeLillo 0140156046 Mf 0 to-read 4.05 1988 Libra
author: Don DeLillo
name: Mf
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Gravity’s Rainbow 415 776 Thomas Pynchon 0143039946 Mf 0 to-read 4.01 1973 Gravity’s Rainbow
author: Thomas Pynchon
name: Mf
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Infinite Jest 6759
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.]]> 1088 David Foster Wallace Mf 0 to-read 4.26 1996 Infinite Jest
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Mf
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Special Topics in Calamity Physics]]> 3483
Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer.]]> 514 Marisha Pessl 067003777X Mf 0 to-read 3.72 2006 Special Topics in Calamity Physics
author: Marisha Pessl
name: Mf
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories]]> 90871
Award-winning author of Notable American Women Ben Marcus brings us this engaging and comprehensive collection of short stories that explore the stylistic variety of the medium in America today.

Sea Oak by George Saunders
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
Do Not Disturb by A.M. Homes
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender
The Caretaker by Anthony Doerr
The Old Dictionary by Lydia Davis
The Father’s Blessing by Mary Caponegro
The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders by Aleksandar Hemon
People Shouldn’t Have to be the Ones to Tell You by Gary Lutz
Histories of the Undead by Kate Braverman
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri
Down the Road by Stephen Dixon
X Number of Possibilities by Joanna Scott
Tiny, Smiling Daddy by Mary Gaitskill
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
The Sound Gun by Matthew Derby
Short Talks by Anne Carson
Field Events by Rick Bass
Scarliotti and the Sinkhole by Padgett Powell]]> 496 Ben Marcus 1400034825 Mf 5 3.95 2004 The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories
author: Ben Marcus
name: Mf
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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date added: 2009/01/28
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]]> The Yiddish Policemen's Union 16703
But homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. But when word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, Landsman soon finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, hopefulness, evil, and salvation that are his heritage—and with the unfinished business of his marriage to Bina Gelbfish, the one person who understands his darkest fears.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, an homage to 1940s noir, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.
(front flap)]]> 414 Michael Chabon 0007149824 Mf 0 to-read 3.72 2007 The Yiddish Policemen's Union
author: Michael Chabon
name: Mf
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> Adverbs 79129
"Adverbs" is a novel about love -- a bunch of different people, in and out of different kinds of love. At the start of the novel, Andrea is in love with David -- or maybe it's Joe -- who instead falls in love with Peter in a taxi. At the end of the novel, it's Joe who's in the taxi, falling in love with Andrea, although it might not be Andrea, or in any case it might not be the same Andrea, as Andrea is a very common name. So is Allison, who is married to Adrian in the middle of the novel, although in the middle of the ocean she considers a fling with Keith and also with Steve, whom she meets in an automobile, unless it's not the same Allison who meets the Snow Queen in a casino, or the same Steve who meets Eddie in the middle of the forest. . . .

It might sound confusing, but that's love, and as the author -- me -- says, "It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done." This novel is about people trying to find love in the ways it is done before the volcano erupts and the miracle ends. Yes, there's a volcano in the novel. In my opinion a volcano automatically makes a story more interesting.]]> 288 Daniel Handler 0060724412 Mf 4 3.42 2006 Adverbs
author: Daniel Handler
name: Mf
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/01/28
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]]> Atmospheric Disturbances 2410293
When Dr. Leo Liebenstein’s wife disappears, she leaves behind a single, confounding clue: a woman who looks, talks, and behaves exactly like her—or almost exactly like her—and even audaciously claims to be her. While everyone else is fooled by this imposter, Leo knows better than to trust his senses in matters of the heart. Certain that the original Rema is alive and in hiding, Leo embarks on a quixotic journey to reclaim his lost love.

With the help of his psychiatric patient Harvey—who believes himself to be a secret agent who can control the weather—Leo attempts to unravel the mystery of the spousal switch. His investigation leads him to the enigmatic guidance of the meteorologist Dr. Tzvi Gal-Chen, the secret workings of the Royal Academy of Meteorology in their cosmic conflict with the 49 Quantum Fathers, and the unwelcome conviction that somehow he—or maybe his wife, or maybe even Harvey—lies at the center of all these unfathomables. From the streets of New York to the southernmost reaches of Patagonia, Leo’s erratic quest becomes a test of how far he is willing to take his struggle against the seemingly uncontestable truth he knows in his heart to be false.

Atmospheric Disturbances is at once a moving love story, a dark comedy, a psychological thriller, and a deeply disturbing portrait of a fracturing mind. With tremendous compassion and dazzling literary sophistication, Rivka Galchen investigates the moment of crisis when you suddenly realize that the reality you insist upon is no longer one you can accept, and the person you love has become merely the person you live with. This highly inventive debut explores the mysterious nature of human relationships, and how we spend our lives trying to weather the storms of our own making.]]> 240 Rivka Galchen 0374200114 Mf 0 to-read 3.20 2008 Atmospheric Disturbances
author: Rivka Galchen
name: Mf
average rating: 3.20
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2009/01/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present]]> 493359 352 David Lehman 0743243501 Mf 3 4.05 2003 Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present
author: David Lehman
name: Mf
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2003
rating: 3
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date added: 2009/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Writing In General And The Short Story In Particular]]> 87013 208 Lawrence Rust Hills 0618082344 Mf 4 3.77 1977 Writing In General And The Short Story In Particular
author: Lawrence Rust Hills
name: Mf
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1977
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/01/20
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]]> My Noiseless Entourage 175035 Both sharp and sympathetic, the poems of this collection confirm Simic's place as one of the most important and appealing poets of our time.

To Dreams

I'm still living at all the old addresses,
Wearing dark glasses even indoors,
On the hush-hush sharing my bed
With phantoms, visiting in the kitchen

After midnight to check the faucet.
I'm late for school, and when I get there
No one seems to recognize me.
I sit disowned, sequestered and withdrawn.

These small shops open only at night
Where I make my unobtrusive purchases,
These back-door movie houses in seedy neighborhoods
Still showing grainy films of my life,

The hero always full of extravagant hope
Losing it all in the end?-whatever it was-
Then walking out into the cold, disbelieving light
Waiting close-lipped at the exit.]]> 64 Charles Simic 0151012148 Mf 5 3.89 2005 My Noiseless Entourage
author: Charles Simic
name: Mf
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> A Wedding in Hell 175032 ]]> 96 Charles Simic 0156001292 Mf 4 4.09 1994 A Wedding in Hell
author: Charles Simic
name: Mf
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1994
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/01/19
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]]> Bang Crunch 2291827
Bang Crunch creates an extraordinary world inhabited by all-too-human characters, and heralds the arrival of a literary talent with an unfailing, exacting concern for the profundities of our lives.]]> 242 Neil Smith 0307386104 Mf 4 3.79 2007 Bang Crunch
author: Neil Smith
name: Mf
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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]]> Girl With Curious Hair 45760 Girl with Curious Hair is replete with his remarkable and unsettling re-imaginations of reality. From the eerily "real," almost holographic evocations of historical figures like Lyndon Johnson and overtelevised game-show hosts and late-night comedians to the title story, where terminal punk nihilism meets Young Republicanism, Wallace renders the incredible comprehensible, the bizarre normal, the absurd hilarious, the familiar strange.]]> 373 David Foster Wallace 0393313964 Mf 0 currently-reading 3.88 1988 Girl With Curious Hair
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Mf
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
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]]> V. 5809 640 Thomas Pynchon 2020418770 Mf 0 currently-reading 3.97 1963 V.
author: Thomas Pynchon
name: Mf
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
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shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> R.U.R. 436562 58 Karel ÄŚapek Mf 5 3.85 1920 R.U.R.
author: Karel ÄŚapek
name: Mf
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1920
rating: 5
read at:
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]]> <![CDATA[Various Antidotes: A Collection of Short Fiction]]> 155143
The miraculous, transformative stories of Joanna Scott's Various Antidotes range across the world of history and science, alighting on figures both real and imaginary. The stories within are those of obsession and brilliance, of the ultimately human recognition that the world is larger than we believe it to be and that we, as figures within it, have through understanding the power to change that world. Whether through learning or madness or accident, the scientists and students within Various Antidotes expose us to the glorious blossom of the natural world.]]> 256 Joanna Scott 031242387X Mf 3 4.02 1994 Various Antidotes: A Collection of Short Fiction
author: Joanna Scott
name: Mf
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1994
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling Mf 3 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling Mf 4 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Mf 4 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 Mf 5 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Mf 4 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Mf 3 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Mf
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 3
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]]> Lolita 7604 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141182537.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.]]> 368 Vladimir Nabokov 0679723161 Mf 5 3.87 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Mf
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1955
rating: 5
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]]> Fahrenheit 451 4381 158 Ray Bradbury 0307347974 Mf 5 3.96 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Mf
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1953
rating: 5
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]]> A Grief Observed 49221
Written in longhand in notebooks that Lewis found in his home, A Grief Observed probes the "mad midnight moments" of Lewis's mourning and loss, moments in which he questioned what he had previously believed about life and death, marriage, and even God. Indecision and self-pity assailed Lewis. "We are under the harrow and can't escape," he writes. "I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace." Writing A Grief Observed as "a defense against total collapse, a safety valve," he came to recognize that "bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love."

Lewis writes his statement of faith with precision, humor, and grace. Yet neither is Lewis reluctant to confess his continuing doubts and his awareness of his own human frailty. This is precisely the quality which suggests that A Grief Observed may become "among the great devotional books of our age."]]> 76 C.S. Lewis 0060652381 Mf 5 4.18 1961 A Grief Observed
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Mf
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1961
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)]]> 100915
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they've been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch's sinister spell.]]> 206 C.S. Lewis Mf 5 4.24 1950 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Mf
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at:
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]]> Brave New World 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Mf 5 3.99 1932 Brave New World
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Mf
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Machine Stops and Other Stories]]> 135676 206 E.M. Forster 0233991670 Mf 5 3.97 1947 The Machine Stops and Other Stories
author: E.M. Forster
name: Mf
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1947
rating: 5
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]]> Death of a Salesman 12898 'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.'

Willy Loman has been a salesman for 34 years. At 60, he is cast aside, his usefulness now exhausted. With no future to dream about he must face the crushing disappointments of his past. He takes one final brave action, but is he heroic at last?, or a self-deluding fool?]]> 144 Arthur Miller 0435233076 Mf 5 3.57 1949 Death of a Salesman
author: Arthur Miller
name: Mf
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at:
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]]> The Crucible 17250
Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing, "Political opposition... is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence."

WIth an introduction by Christopher Bigsby.
(back cover)]]> 143 Arthur Miller 0142437336 Mf 3 3.60 1953 The Crucible
author: Arthur Miller
name: Mf
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1953
rating: 3
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]]> Black No More 827686
Black No More is the story of Max Disher, a dapper black rogue of an insurance man who, through a scientific transformation process, becomes Matthew Fisher, a white man. Matt dreams up a scam that allows him to become the leader of the Knights of Nordica, a white supremacist group, as well as to marry the white woman who rejected him when he was black. Black No More is a hysterical exploration of race and all its self-serving definitions. If you can't beat them, turn into them.

Ishmael Reed, one of today's top black satirists and the author of Mumbo Jumbo and Japanese by Spring, provides a spirited Introduction.

The fertile artistic period now known as the Harlem Renaissance (1920- 1930) gave birth to many of the world-renowned masters of black literature and is the model for today's renaissance of black writers.]]> 180 George S. Schuyler 037575380X Mf 5 4.00 1931 Black No More
author: George S. Schuyler
name: Mf
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1931
rating: 5
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]]> Choke 29059 Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times.

Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved� by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him.

When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park.

His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, renowned author of classics like Fight Club, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.]]> 293 Chuck Palahniuk 0385720920 Mf 3 3.71 2001 Choke
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Mf
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2001
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Paperback)]]> 7214 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 0785263705 here.

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened." ―Donald Miller

In Donald Miller's early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.

For anyone wondering if the Christian faith is still relevant in a postmodern culture.

For anyone thirsting for a genuine encounter with a God who is real.

For anyone yearning for a renewed sense of passion in  life.

Blue Like Jazz is a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.

]]> 243 Donald Miller 0785263705 Mf 5 3.90 2003 Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Paperback)
author: Donald Miller
name: Mf
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road]]> 29597
Day 1: "Trips  like ours are greener grass left unknown for fear of believing trite sayings; sayings that are sometimes true. But our friends back home live an existence under the weight and awareness of times; a place we are slowly escaping; a world growing fainter by the hour and the mile."

Day 13: "It feels again that we are leaving who we were, moving on into the people we will become, hopefully, people with some kind of answers, some kind of thing to believe tht makes sense of beauty, of romance. Something that would explain the red glow against Paul's face, the red glow that seems to be coming off the console . . . 'Did you notice the engine light is lit, bud?' I ask . . ."

Day 83: "I sit in the van, waiting for her to come out when I notice a window in one of the classrooms open, and a backpack comes falling out, spilling a few books onto the lawn. After the backpack comes Elida, falling atop the pack and laying low, peeking back into the window to see if the teacher noticed. She gathers her books, reaches into the classroom and closes the window, then runs toward the van as though this were a prison break."

As you read Through Painted Deserts, you'll soon realize this is not just one man's account of finding light, God, and beauty on the open road. Rather, this book maps the journey you're already traveling . . . or soon will be.]]> 256 Donald Miller 0785209824 Mf 4 3.91 2005 Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road
author: Donald Miller
name: Mf
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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]]> The Trial 17690 The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers.]]> 255 Franz Kafka Mf 4 4.00 1925 The Trial
author: Franz Kafka
name: Mf
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1925
rating: 4
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]]> The Metamorphosis 485894 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0553213695 / 9780553213690

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

With it's startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, "Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man."]]> 201 Franz Kafka 0553213695 Mf 5 3.90 1915 The Metamorphosis
author: Franz Kafka
name: Mf
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1915
rating: 5
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]]> Tender Buttons 778310 96 Gertrude Stein 0486298973 Mf 3 3.68 1914 Tender Buttons
author: Gertrude Stein
name: Mf
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1914
rating: 3
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]]> White Noise 11762 310 Don DeLillo 0140283307 Mf 5 3.86 1985 White Noise
author: Don DeLillo
name: Mf
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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]]> Night 1617 Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel's testimony to what happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must simply never be allowed to happen again.]]> 120 Elie Wiesel 0374500010 Mf 4 4.38 1956 Night
author: Elie Wiesel
name: Mf
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1956
rating: 4
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]]> The Richest Man in Babylon 1052
The Success Secrets of the Ancients�
An Assured Road to Happiness and Prosperity

Countless readers have been helped by the famous “Babylonian parables,� hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth. In language as simple as that found in the Bible, these fascinating and informative stories set you on a sure path to prosperity and its accompanying joys. Acclaimed as a modern-day classic, this celebrated bestseller offers an understanding of—and a solution to—your personal financial problems that will guide you through a lifetime. This is the book that holds the secrets to keeping your money—and making more.

The Richest Man in Babylon
Read it and recommend it to loved ones�
and get on the road to riches.

MORE THAN TWO MILLION BOOKS SOLD]]> 194 George S. Clason 0451205367 Mf 2 4.25 1926 The Richest Man in Babylon
author: George S. Clason
name: Mf
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1926
rating: 2
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]]> Passing 349929 Alternate Cover Edition for 9780142437278.

“I’ve often wondered why more coloured girls…never â€passedâ€� over. It’s such a frightfully easy thing to do. If one’s the type, all that’s needed is a little nerve.â€�

Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past. Clare’s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family’s happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others—and the secret fears they have buried within themselves.

First published in 1929, Passing is a remarkably candid exploration of shifting racial and sexual boundaries. As acclaimed Larsen biographer Thadious M. Davis writes in her introduction, this landmark novel by the Harlem Renaissance’s premier woman writer also depicts “the golden days of black cultural consciousness.�

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Thadious M. Davis]]> 122 Nella Larsen Mf 4 3.93 1929 Passing
author: Nella Larsen
name: Mf
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1929
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Walking to Martha's Vineyard: Poems]]> 148155

From the Hardcover edition.]]> 75 Franz Wright 0375710019 Mf 4 4.09 2003 Walking to Martha's Vineyard: Poems
author: Franz Wright
name: Mf
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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]]> It Can't Happen Here 11371 Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith, It Can't Happen Here is a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy, an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America. Written during the Great Depression when America was largely oblivious to Hitler's aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a President who becomes a dictator to "save the nation." Now finally back in print, It Can't Happen Here remains uniquely important, a shockingly prescient novel that's as fresh and contemporary as today's news.]]> 400 Sinclair Lewis 045121658X Mf 5 3.77 1935 It Can't Happen Here
author: Sinclair Lewis
name: Mf
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1935
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 213 Stephen Chbosky Mf 3 4.24 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Mf
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1999
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)]]> 37781 Things Fall Apart is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe's keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.]]> 215 Chinua Achebe Mf 4 3.73 1958 Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1)
author: Chinua Achebe
name: Mf
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1958
rating: 4
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]]> A Lost Lady 48200 167 Willa Cather 184408373X Mf 4 3.69 1923 A Lost Lady
author: Willa Cather
name: Mf
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1923
rating: 4
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]]> When She Was Good 29746
When she was still a child, Lucy Nelson had her alcoholic failure of a father thrown in jail. Ever since then she has been trying to reform the men around her, even if that ultimately means destroying herself in the process. With his unerring portraits of Lucy and her hapless, childlike husband, Roy, Roth has created an uncompromising work of fictional realism, a vision of provincial American piety, yearning, and discontent that is at once pitiless and compassionate.]]> 320 Philip Roth 0679759255 Mf 5 3.56 1966 When She Was Good
author: Philip Roth
name: Mf
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1966
rating: 5
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]]> How We Are Hungry 4955 "Another"

"What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust"

"The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water"

"On Wanting to Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home"

"Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance"

"She Waits, Seething, Blooming"

"Quiet"

"Your Mother and I"

"Naveed"

"Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone"

"About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her"

"Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly"

"After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned"




From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 218 Dave Eggers 1400095565 Mf 4 3.76 2004 How We Are Hungry
author: Dave Eggers
name: Mf
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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]]> Coraline 17061
In Coraline's family's new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.

The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only it's different.

At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there's another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.

Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Neil Gaiman will delight readers with his first novel for all ages.]]> 176 Neil Gaiman 0061139378 Mf 5 4.13 2002 Coraline
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mf
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[A Model World and Other Stories]]> 16699 208 Michael Chabon 0060790601 Mf 5 3.55 1991 A Model World and Other Stories
author: Michael Chabon
name: Mf
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1991
rating: 5
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]]> The Mysteries of Pittsburgh 16697
Chabon masterfully renders the funny, tender, and captivating first-person narrative of Art Bechstein, whose confusion and heartache echo the tones of literary forebears like The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield and The Great Gatsby’s Nick Carraway.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh incontrovertibly established Chabon as a powerful force in contemporary fiction, even before his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay set the literary world spinning. An unforgettable story of coming of age in America, it is also an essential milestone in the movement of American fiction, from a novelist who has become one of the most important and enduring voices of this generation.]]> 320 Michael Chabon 0060790598 Mf 5 3.65 1988 The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
author: Michael Chabon
name: Mf
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1988
rating: 5
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]]> Wonder Boys 16707 The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Chabon presents a hilarious and heartbreaking work—the story of the friendship between the "wonder boys"—Grady, an aging writer who has lost his way, and Crabtree, whose relentless debauchery is capsizing his career.]]> 383 Michael Chabon 3423124172 Mf 5 3.94 1995 Wonder Boys
author: Michael Chabon
name: Mf
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1995
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay]]> 3985 639 Michael Chabon 0312282990 Mf 5 4.18 2000 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
author: Michael Chabon
name: Mf
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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]]> Mother Night 9592 Librarian note: Alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all.]]> 282 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334141 Mf 5 4.23 1961 Mother Night
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mf
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1961
rating: 5
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]]> Breakfast of Champions 4980 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.]]> 303 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334206 Mf 5 4.08 1973 Breakfast of Champions
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mf
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1973
rating: 5
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]]> Cat’s Cradle 135479 Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh...]]> 306 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Mf 5 4.17 1963 Cat’s Cradle
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mf
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1963
rating: 5
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]]> The Book of the Damned 284019 228 Charles Fort 1585092789 Mf 4 3.72 1919 The Book of the Damned
author: Charles Fort
name: Mf
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1919
rating: 4
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]]> Anansi Boys 2744 God is dead. Meet the kids.

Fat Charlie Nancy's normal life ended the moment his father dropped dead on a Florida karaoke stage. Charlie didn't know his dad was a god. And he never knew he had a brother.

Now brother Spider's on his doorstep -- about to make Fat Charlie's life more interesting... and a lot more dangerous.]]> 387 Neil Gaiman 0060515198 Mf 5 4.03 2005 Anansi Boys
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Mf
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

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

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Mf 5 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Mf
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 5
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]]> The Dangerous Summer 184808 Experience Hemingway’s firsthand chronicle of a brutal season of bullfights in Spain.

In the 1950s, Hemingway and his wife return to Spain, where Hemingway had visited before as a war correspondent to cover the Spanish Civil War, in order to see friends and follow bullfighting events. Hemingway’s time in Spain is most often remembered as his experiences with bullfighting, his passion often conveyed through his writing. He and his wife follow summer-long series events and witness the complexities and danger within the bullfighting community.

In this vivid account, Hemingway captures the exhausting pace and pressure of the season, the camaraderie and pride of the matadors, and the mortal drama as in fight after fight the rival matadors try to outdo each other with ever more daring performances. At the same time, Hemingway offers an often complex and deeply personal self-portrait that reveals much about one of the twentieth century's preeminent writers.]]> 240 Ernest Hemingway 0684837897 Mf 5 3.69 1985 The Dangerous Summer
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Mf
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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]]> In Our Time 4652
"In Our Time" provides key insights into Hemingway's later works.]]> 156 Ernest Hemingway Mf 4 3.74 1924 In Our Time
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Mf
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1924
rating: 4
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]]> A Farewell to Arms 10799 A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield - the weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion—this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep. Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote his ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right.]]> 293 Ernest Hemingway 0099910101 Mf 5 3.83 1929 A Farewell to Arms
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Mf
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1929
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More]]> 6671 Seven stories of fantasy and fun by the fantastic Roald Dahl.

Henry Sugar is a man with an amazing talent: he can see with his eyes closed. But will he use his power for good or personal gain? Find out in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar," one of seven short stories in this extraordinary collection.

A clever mix of fact and fiction, this volume also includes the tale of a boy who can understand animals, the magical true story of Mildenhall treasure, and Roald Dahl's own account of how he became a writer (with a wealth of tips for aspiring authors).

Included in this volume:
- The Boy Who Talked With Animals - in which a stranded sea turtle and a small boy have more in common than meets the eye.
- The Hitchhiker - proves that in a pinch a professional pickpocket can be the perfect pal.
- The Mildenhall Treasure - a true tale of fortune found and an opportunity lost.
- The Swan - a fantastic story about youthful misdeeds.
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - in which a modern-day Robin Hood brings joy to the hearts of orphans - and fear to the souls of casino owners around the world.
- Lucky Break: How I Became a Writer - an account in Dahl's own words on how he came to be.
- A Piece of Cake: First Story - 1942 - Dahl's first story, which tells of how he was shot down over the Libyan Desert.]]> 232 Roald Dahl Mf 5 4.15 1977 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mf
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1977
rating: 5
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]]> George's Marvellous Medicine 74532 120 Roald Dahl 0224064908 Mf 5 4.05 1981 George's Marvellous Medicine
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mf
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1981
rating: 5
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]]> Fantastic Mr. Fox 6693 96 Roald Dahl 0375822070 Mf 5 4.09 1970 Fantastic Mr. Fox
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mf
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1970
rating: 5
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]]> The Twits 31456 96 Roald Dahl 0141318309 Mf 5 3.97 1980 The Twits
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mf
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1980
rating: 5
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]]> The BFG 6319
When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!]]> 199 Roald Dahl 0141311371 Mf 5 4.23 1982 The BFG
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mf
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1982
rating: 5
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]]> Animal Farm / 1984 5472 This edition features George Orwell’s best-known novels�1984 and Animal Farm—with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.

In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organisation called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Animal Farm is Orwell’s classic satire of the Russian Revolution - an account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones’s Manor Farm into Animal Farm - a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they? AUTHOR: George Orwell (1903-1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works.]]> 400 George Orwell Mf 5 4.29 1949 Animal Farm / 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Mf
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1949
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Down and Out in Paris and London]]> 393199 213 George Orwell 015626224X Mf 5 4.10 1933 Down and Out in Paris and London
author: George Orwell
name: Mf
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1933
rating: 5
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]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell Mf 5 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Mf
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
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]]> A Scanner Darkly 14817
The undercover narcotics agent who calls himself Bob Arctor is desperate to discover the ultimate source of supply. But to find any kind of lead he has to pose as a user and, inevitably, without realising what is happening, Arctor is soon as addicted as the junkies he works among...]]> 324 Philip K. Dick 057507681X Mf 4 4.03 1977 A Scanner Darkly
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Mf
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1977
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]> 7082 244 Philip K. Dick Mf 5 4.08 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Mf
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1968
rating: 5
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]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Mf 1 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Mf
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 1
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]]> <![CDATA[The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps]]> 50507 352 Charles Bukowski 1574231669 Mf 5 4.07 2001 The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Mf
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]>