Maureen's bookshelf: all

Maureen's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 20 Jun 2024 19:09:33 -0700 60 Maureen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans]]> 1290325
The koan collection Wick explores here is highly esteemed as both literature and training material in the Zen tradition, in which koan-study is one of two paths a practitioner might take. This collection is used for training in many Zen centers in the Americas and in Europe but has never before been available with commentary from a contemporary Zen master. Wick's Book of Equanimity includes new translations of the preface, main case and verse for each koan, and modern commentaries on the koans by Wick himself.]]> 320 Hongzhi Zhengjue 0861713877 Maureen 0 to-read 4.24 1224 The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans

The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans

author: Hongzhi Zhengjue
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1224
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]]> <![CDATA[The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip]]> 28748 From the bestselling author of Tenth of December comes a splendid new edition of his acclaimed collaboration with the illustrator behind The Stinky Cheese Man and James and the Giant Peach! Featuring fifty-two haunting and hilarious images, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a modern fable for people of all ages that touches on the power of kindness, generosity, compassion, and community.

In the seaside village of Frip live three families: the Romos, the Ronsens, and a little girl named Capable and her father. The economy of Frip is based solely on goat’s milk, and this is a problem because the village is plagued by gappers: bright orange, many-eyed creatures the size of softballs that love to attach themselves to goats. When a gapper gets near a goat, it lets out a high-pitched shriek of joy that puts the goats off giving milk, which means that every few hours the children of Frip have to go outside, brush the gappers off their goats, and toss them into the sea. The gappers have always been everyone’s problem, until one day they get a little smarter, and instead of spreading out, they gang up: on Capable’s goats. Free at last of the tyranny of the gappers, will her neighbors rally to help her? Or will they turn their backs, forcing Capable to bear the misfortune alone?

Featuring fifty-two haunting and hilarious illustrations by Lane Smith and a brilliant story by George Saunders that explores universal themes of community and kindness, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip is a rich and resonant story for those that have all and those that have not.]]> 84 George Saunders 1932416374 Maureen 0 4.13 2000

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2000
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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 Maureen 0 4.11 2006 In Persuasion Nation

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
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]]> CivilWarLand in Bad Decline 28747 179 George Saunders 0099595818 Maureen 0 4.25 1996

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1996
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]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 Maureen 0 currently-reading 4.22 2018 Circe

author: Madeline Miller
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/06/21
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]]> Between the World and Me 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 Maureen 0 to-read 4.40 2015

author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
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]]> The Water Dancer 43982054 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here and here.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.]]> 416 Ta-Nehisi Coates Maureen 0 4.03 2019

author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
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]]> Salvage the Bones 10846336 Winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction

A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn't show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; she's fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull's new litter, dying one by one in the dirt, while brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting. As the twelve days that comprise the novel's framework yield to the final day and Hurricane Katrina, the unforgettable family at the novel's heart—motherless children sacrificing for each other as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce—pulls itself up to struggle for another day. A wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, "Salvage the Bones" is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.]]> 261 Jesmyn Ward 1608195228 Maureen 0 to-read 3.95 2011

author: Jesmyn Ward
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2011
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]]> White Is for Witching 6277227
Slipping away from them -

And when one dark night she vanishes entirely, the survivors are left to tell her story.

"Miri I conjure you "

This is a spine-tingling tale that has Gothic roots but an utterly modern sensibility. Told by a quartet of crystalline voices, it is electrifying in its expression of myth and memory, loss and magic, fear and love.]]> 256 Helen Oyeyemi 0330458140 Maureen 0 to-read 3.54 2009 White Is for Witching

author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2009
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]]> Mr. Fox 10335337 “You’re a villain,�� she tells him. ‘A serial killer . . . can you grasp that?��
Will Mr Fox meet his muse’s challenge, to stop murdering his heroines and explore something of love? What will his wife Daphne think of this sudden change in her husband? Can there be a happy ending �� this time?]]> 278 Helen Oyeyemi 0330536265 Maureen 0 to-read 3.56 2011 Mr. Fox

author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2011
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]]> Gingerbread 40634915 Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel.

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories--equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can--beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval--a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.

Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader.]]> 372 Helen Oyeyemi 1984882899 Maureen 0 to-read 3.04 2019 Gingerbread

author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.04
book published: 2019
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]]> Boy, Snow, Bird 18079683 Boy, Snow, Bird is a deeply moving novel about three women and the strange connection between them. It confirms Helen Oyeyemi’s place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of her generation.]]> 308 Helen Oyeyemi 1594631395 Maureen 0 to-read 3.33 2013 Boy, Snow, Bird

author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2013
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race]]> 28505023 , The Fire Next Time, as a jumping off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time.

In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin’s 1962 “Letter to My Nephew,�� which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his fifteen-year-old namesake on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: “You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon.��

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin’s words ring as true as ever today. In response, she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. And she has turned to some of her generation’s most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns.

The Fire This Time is divided into three parts that shine a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestle with our current predicament, and envision a better future. Of the eighteen pieces, ten were written specifically for this volume.

In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin’s essay was published, entire generations have dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a “postracial�� society, is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin’s “fire next time�� is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about.]]> 226 Jesmyn Ward 1501126342 Maureen 0 to-read 4.35 2016 The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race

author: Jesmyn Ward
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
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date added: 2020/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes]]> 23754
In PRELUDES & NOCTURNES, an occultist attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his 70 year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On his arduous journey, Morpheus encounters Lucifer, John Constantine, and an all-powerful madman.

This book also includes the story "The Sound of Her Wings," which introduces us to the pragmatic and perky goth girl Death.

Includes issues 1-8 of the original series.]]> 240 Neil Gaiman 1563892278 Maureen 0 to-read 4.25 1988 The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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]]> The Bone People 460635 The powerful, visionary, Booker Award–winning novel about the complicated relationships between three outcasts of mixed European and Maori heritage.

“This book is just amazingly, wondrously great.�� —Alice Walker

In a tower on the New Zealand sea lives Kerewin Holmes: part Maori, part European, asexual and aromantic, an artist estranged from her art, a woman in exile from her family.

One night her solitude is disrupted by a visitor—a speechless, mercurial boy named Simon, who tries to steal from her and then repays her with his most precious possession.

As Kerewin succumbs to Simon’s feral charm, she also falls under the spell of his Maori foster father Joe, who rescued the boy from a shipwreck and now treats him with an unsettling mixture of tenderness and brutality.

Out of this unorthodox trinity Keri Hulme has created what is at once a mystery, a love story, and an ambitious exploration of the zone where indigenous and European New Zealand meet, clash, and sometimes merge.

Winner of both a Booker Prize and Pegasus Prize for Literature, The Bone People is a work of unfettered wordplay and mesmerizing emotional complexity.]]> 450 Keri Hulme 0140089225 Maureen 0 to-read 4.05 1984

author: Keri Hulme
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1984
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]]> <![CDATA[Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)]]> 13538873
Clay Jannon tells how serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has sent him from Web Drone to night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. After just a few days on the job, Clay realizes just how curious this store is.

A few customers come in repeatedly without buying anything. Instead they “check out�� obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. All runs according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes.

He embarks on a complex analysis of the customers�� behavior and ropes in friends to help. Once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore. A quest to New York City dips in a world conspiracy for eternal life. The current of romance pulls Clay onward.]]> 288 Robin Sloan 0374214913 Maureen 0 to-read 3.71 2012 Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)

author: Robin Sloan
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2012
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (The How To Talk Series)]]> 12371502 “This parenting book actually made me a better parent.”—Lydia Kiesling, The New York Times From #1 New York Times bestselling authors, the ultimate “parenting bible�� (The Boston Globe)—a timeless, beloved book on how to effectively communicate with your child.This bestselling classic by internationally acclaimed experts on communication between parents and children includes fresh insights and suggestions, as well as the author’s time-tested methods to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships, including innovative ways · Cope with your child’s negative feelings, such as frustration, anger, and disappointment · Express your strong feelings without being hurtful · Engage your child’s willing cooperation · Set firm limits and maintain goodwill · Use alternatives to punishment that promote self-discipline · Understand the difference between helpful and unhelpful praise · Resolve family conflicts peacefully Enthusiastically praised by parents and professionals around the world, Faber and Mazlish’s down-to-earth, respectful approach makes relationships with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.]]> 405 Adele Faber 1451663897 Maureen 0 currently-reading 4.34 1980 How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (The How To Talk Series)

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk (The How To Talk Series)

author: Adele Faber
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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]]> The Graveyard Book 2213661
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.

But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.

A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.]]> 312 Neil Gaiman 0060530928 Maureen 0 4.15 2008 The Graveyard Book

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
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]]> Pretty Monsters: Stories 2939570 Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!]]> 389 Kelly Link 0670010901 Maureen 4 3.92 2008

author: Kelly Link
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/15
date added: 2019/04/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales]]> 20697444 Fifteen top voices in speculative fiction explore the intersection of fear and love in a haunting, at times hilarious, darkly imaginative volume.

Predatory kraken that sing with - and for - their kin; band members and betrayed friends who happen to be demonic; harpies as likely to attract as to repel. Welcome to a world where humans live side-by-side with monsters, from vampires both nostalgic and bumbling, to an eight-legged alien who makes tea. Here you'll find mercurial forms that burrow into warm fat, spectral boy toys, a Maori force of nature, a landform that claims lives, and an architect of hell on earth. Through these, and a few monsters that defy categorization, some of today's top young-adult authors explore ambition and sacrifice, loneliness and rage, love requited and avenged, and the boundless potential for connection, even across extreme borders.

Moriabe's Children / Paolo Bacigalupi --
Old souls / Cassandra Clare --
Ten rules for being an intergalactic smuggler (the successful kind) / Holly Black --
Quick hill / M.T. Anderson --
The diabolist / Nathan Ballingrud --
This whole demoning thing / Patrick Ness --
Wings in the morning / Sarah Rees Brennan --
Left foot, right / Nalo Hopkinson --
The Mercurials / G. Carl Purcell --
Kitty Capulet and the invention of underwater photography / Dylan Horrocks --
Son of abyss / Nik Houser --
A small wild magic / Kathleen Jennings --
The new boyfriend / Kelly Link --
The woods hide in plain sight / Joshua Lewis --
Mothers, lock up your daughters because they are terrifying / Alice Sola Kim]]> 480 Kelly Link 0763664731 Maureen 0 to-read 3.74 2014 Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales

Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales

author: Kelly Link
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
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]]> <![CDATA[Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories]]> 10635363 422 Kelly Link 0763648434 Maureen 0 to-read 3.68 2011

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

author: Kelly Link
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2011
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]]> Get in Trouble 22125258
Link has won an ardent following for her ability to take readers deep into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe with each new story. In “The Summer People,�� a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house. In “I Can See Right Through You,�� a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show. In “The New Boyfriend,�� a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll.

Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids...These are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded in sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailty—and the hidden strengths—of human beings. In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.]]> 336 Kelly Link 0804179689 Maureen 0 to-read 3.67 2015

author: Kelly Link
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
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]]> Awayland 35792793 An inventive story collection that spans the globe as it explores love, childhood, and parenthood with an electric mix of humor and emotion.

Acclaimed for the grace, wit, and magic of her novels, Ramona Ausubel introduces us to a geography both fantastic and familiar in eleven new stories, some of them previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Elegantly structured, these stories span the globe and beyond, from small-town America and sunny Caribbean islands to the Arctic Ocean and the very gates of Heaven itself. And though some of the stories are steeped in mythology, they remain grounded in universal loss of identity, leaving home, parenthood, joy, and longing.

Crisscrossing the pages of Awayland are travelers and expats, shadows and ghosts. A girl watches as her homesick mother slowly dissolves into literal mist. The mayor of a small Midwestern town offers a strange prize, for stranger reasons, to the parents of any baby born on Lenin's birthday. A chef bound for Mars begins an even more treacherous journey much closer to home. And a lonely heart searches for love online--never mind that he's a Cyclops.

With her signature tenderness, Ramona Ausubel applies a mapmaker's eye to landscapes both real and imagined, all the while providing a keen guide to the wild, uncharted terrain of the human heart.]]> 240 Ramona Ausubel 0698410866 Maureen 0 to-read 3.58 2018 Awayland

author: Ramona Ausubel
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2018
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]]> The Price Guide to the Occult 35879387 From the author of The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender comes a haunting maelstrom of magic and murder in the lush, moody Pacific Northwest.

When Rona Blackburn landed on Anathema Island more than a century ago, her otherworldly skills might have benefited friendlier neighbors. Guilt and fear instead led the island’s original eight settlers to burn “the witch�� out of her home. So Rona cursed them. Fast-forward one hundred–some years: All Nor Blackburn wants is to live an unremarkable teenage life. She has reason to hope: First, her supernatural powers, if they can be called that, are unexceptional. Second, her love life is nonexistent, which means she might escape the other perverse side effect of the matriarch’s backfiring curse, too. But then a mysterious book comes out, promising to cast any spell for the right price. Nor senses a storm coming and is pretty sure she’ll be smack in the eye of it.

In her second novel, Leslye Walton spins a dark, mesmerizing tale of a girl stumbling along the path toward self-acceptance and first love, even as the Price Guide’s malevolent author �� Nor’s own mother �� looms and threatens to strangle any hope for happiness.]]> 272 Leslye Walton 0763691100 Maureen 0 to-read 3.35 2018 The Price Guide to the Occult

author: Leslye Walton
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[All the Names They Used for God]]> 35082451 A haunting, diverse debut story collection that explores the isolation we experience in the face of the mysterious, often dangerous forces that shape our lives

Anjali Sachdeva's debut collection spans centuries, continents, and a diverse set of characters but is united by each character's epic struggle with fate: A workman in Andrew Carnegie's steel mills is irrevocably changed by the brutal power of the furnaces; a fisherman sets sail into overfished waters and finds a secret obsession from which he can't return; an online date ends with a frightening, inexplicable disappearance. Her story "Pleiades" was called "a masterpiece" by Dave Eggers. Sachdeva has a talent for creating moving and poignant scenes, following her highly imaginative plots to their logical ends, and depicting how one small miracle can affect everyone in its wake.

The world by night --
Glass-lung --
Logging lake --
Killer of kings --
All the names for God --
Robert Greenman and the mermaid --
Anything you might want --
Manus --
Pleiades]]> 259 Anjali Sachdeva 0399593004 Maureen 0 to-read 4.02 2018 All the Names They Used for God

author: Anjali Sachdeva
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Beartown (Beartown, #1) 31443394
A victory would send star player Kevin onto a brilliant professional future in the NHL. It would mean everything to Amat, a scrawny fifteen-year-old treated like an outcast everywhere but on the ice. And it would justify the choice that Peter, the team's general manager, and his wife, Kira, made to return to his hometown and raise their children in this beautiful but isolated place.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semifinal match is the catalyst for a violent act that leaves a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Hers is a story no one wants to believe since the truth would mean the end of the dream. Accusations are made, and like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.]]> 418 Fredrik Backman 1501160761 Maureen 0 to-read 4.26 2016 Beartown (Beartown, #1)

author: Fredrik Backman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> Tenth of December 39712929 One of the most important and blazingly original writers of his generation, George Saunders is an undisputed master of the short story, and Tenth of December is his most honest, accessible, and moving collection yet.

In the taut opener, “Victory Lap,�� a boy witnesses the attempted abduction of the girl next door and is faced with a harrowing choice: Does he ignore what he sees, or override years of smothering advice from his parents and act? In “Home,�� a combat-damaged soldier moves back in with his mother and struggles to reconcile the world he left with the one to which he has returned. And in the title story, a stunning meditation on imagination, memory, and loss, a middle-aged cancer patient walks into the woods to commit suicide, only to encounter a troubled young boy who, over the course of a fateful morning, gives the dying man a final chance to recall who he really is. A hapless, deluded owner of an antiques store; two mothers struggling to do the right thing; a teenage girl whose idealism is challenged by a brutal brush with reality; a man tormented by a series of pharmaceutical experiments that force him to lust, to love, to kill—the unforgettable characters that populate the pages of Tenth of December are vividly and lovingly infused with Saunders’s signature blend of exuberant prose, deep humanity, and stylistic innovation.

Writing brilliantly and profoundly about class, sex, love, loss, work, despair, and war, Saunders cuts to the core of the contemporary experience. These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human.

Unsettling, insightful, and hilarious, the stories in Tenth of December—through their manic energy, their focus on what is redeemable in human beings, and their generosity of spirit—not only entertain and delight; they fulfill Chekhov’s dictum that art should “prepare us for tenderness.”]]> 271 George Saunders Maureen 5 4.00 2013 Tenth of December

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/16
date added: 2018/12/16
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]]> Pastoralia 14295
The stories in Pastoralia are set in a slightly skewed version of America, where elements of contemporary life have been merged, twisted, and amplified, casting their absurdity—and our humanity—in a startling new light. Whether he writes a gothic morality tale in which a male exotic dancer is haunted by his maiden aunt from beyond the grave, or about a self-help guru who tells his followers his mission is to discover who's been "crapping in your oatmeal," Saunders's stories are both indelibly strange and vividly real.]]> 188 George Saunders 0747553866 Maureen 0 to-read 4.10 2000 Pastoralia

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/03
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]]> Exit West 30688435
Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.]]> 231 Mohsin Hamid 0735212171 Maureen 4 3.74 2017 Exit West

author: Mohsin Hamid
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/16
date added: 2018/09/16
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review:

]]> Sing, Unburied, Sing 33620321 A finalist for the Kirkus Prize, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Aspen Words Literary Prize, and a New York Times bestseller, this majestic, stirring, and widely praised novel from two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, the story of a family on a journey through rural Mississippi, is a “tour de force�� (O, The Oprah Magazine) and a timeless work of fiction that is destined to become a classic.

Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is “perfectly poised for the moment�� (The New York Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. “Ward’s writing throbs with life, grief, and love�� this book is the kind that makes you ache to return to it�� (Buzzfeed).

Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.

His mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.

When the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.

Rich with Ward’s distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic and unforgettable family story and “an odyssey through rural Mississippi’s past and present�� (The Philadelphia Inquirer).]]> 299 Jesmyn Ward Maureen 4 4.08 2017

author: Jesmyn Ward
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/10
date added: 2018/09/10
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]]> The Song of Achilles 13537029
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles�� mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.

Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career.]]> 351 Madeline Miller Maureen 3 4.31 2011 The Song of Achilles

author: Madeline Miller
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2018/08/21
date added: 2018/08/21
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]]> Stardust 16793 Alternate cover edition can be found here

Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.]]> 248 Neil Gaiman 0061142026 Maureen 0 to-read 4.10 1999 Stardust

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/08/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> North American Lake Monsters 16057298
These are love stories. And also monster stories. Sometimes these are monsters in their traditional guises, sometimes they wear the faces of parents, lovers, or ourselves. The often working-class people in these stories are driven to extremes by love. Sometimes, they are ruined; sometimes redeemed. All are faced with the loneliest corners of themselves and strive to find an escape.

Nathan Ballingrud was born in Massachusetts but has spent most of his life in the South. He worked as a bartender in New Orleans and New York City and a cook on offshore oil rigs. His story "The Monsters of Heaven" won the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his daughter.]]> 205 Nathan Ballingrud 1618730592 Maureen 0 to-read 3.97 2013 North American Lake Monsters

author: Nathan Ballingrud
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/08/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Hall of Small Mammals: Stories]]> 22309576 A wild, inventive ride of a short story collection from a distinctive new American storyteller.

The stories in Thomas Pierce’s Hall of Small Mammals take place at the confluence of the commonplace and the cosmic, the intimate and the infinite.��A fossil-hunter, a comedian, a hot- air balloon pilot, parents and children, believers and nonbelievers, the people in these stories are struggling to understand the absurdity and the magnitude of what it means to exist in a family, to exist in the world.

In “Shirley Temple Three,�� a mother must shoulder her son’s burden—a cloned and resurrected wooly mammoth who wreaks havoc on her house, sanity, and faith. In “The Real Alan Gass,�� a physicist in search of a mysterious particle called the “daisy�� spends her days with her boyfriend, Walker, and her nights with the husband who only exists in the world of her dreams, Alan Gass.�� Like the daisy particle itself—“forever locked in a curious state of existence and nonexistence, sliding back and forth between the two”—the stories in Thomas Pierce’s Hall of Small Mammals are exquisite, mysterious, and inextricably connected.

From this enchanting primordial soup, Pierce’s voice emerges—a distinct and charming testament of the New South, melding contemporary concerns with their prehistoric roots to create a hilarious, deeply moving symphony of stories.]]> 294 Thomas Pierce 1594632529 Maureen 0 to-read 3.71 2015 Hall of Small Mammals: Stories

author: Thomas Pierce
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/08/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer]]> 26873424 ��
Thousands of parents, from regular moms and dads to Hollywood superstars, have come to baby expert Dr. Harvey Karp to learn his remarkable techniques for soothing babies and increasing sleep. Now his landmark book—fully revised and updated with the latest insights into infant sleep, bedsharing, breastfeeding, swaddling, and SIDS risk—can teach you too! Dr. Karp’s highly successful method is based on four revolutionary
��
1. The Fourth Why babies still yearn for a womblike atmosphere . . . even after birth
2. The Calming An “off switch�� all babies are born with
3. The 5 S�� Five easy steps to turn on your baby’s amazing calming reflex
4. The Cuddle How to combine the 5 S’s to calm even colicky babies
��
With Dr. Karp’s sensible advice, parents and grandparents, nurses and nannies, will be able to transform even the fussiest infant into the happiest baby on the block!
��
Praise for The Happiest Baby on the Block
��
“Dr. Karp’s book is fascinating and will guide new parents for years to come.��—Julius Richmond, M.D., Harvard Medical School, former Surgeon General of the United States
��
��The Happiest Baby on the Block is fun and convincing. I highly recommend it.��—Elisabeth Bing, co-founder of Lamaze International
��
“Will fascinate anyone who wants to know how babies experience the world, and wants to answer their cries lovingly and effectively.��The San Diego Union-Tribune]]> 329 Harvey Karp 0804179972 Maureen 1 4.08 2002 The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer

The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer

author: Harvey Karp
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2002
rating: 1
read at: 2018/08/13
date added: 2018/08/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Work Pause Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career]]> 29502463 NA 384 Lisen Stromberg 1942952732 Maureen 0 currently-reading 4.00

Work Pause Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career

author: Lisen Stromberg
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/08/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Nimona 19351043
Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from N.D. Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.]]> 272 N.D. Stevenson Maureen 5 4.16 2015 Nimona

author: N.D. Stevenson
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2018/05/13
date added: 2018/08/13
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]]> Lincoln in the Bardo 29906980 Lincoln in the Bardo is a literary experience unlike any other—for no one but Saunders could conceive it.

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?]]> 368 George Saunders 0812995341 Maureen 4 3.75 2017 Lincoln in the Bardo

author: George Saunders
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2018/07/20
date added: 2018/08/13
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]]> Willful Creatures 46205 The New York Times Book Review
Aimee Bender s Willful Creatures conjures a fantastical world in which authentic love blooms. This is a place where a boy with keys for fingers is a hero, a woman's children are potatoes, and a little boy with an iron for a head is born to a family of pumpkin heads. With her singular mix of surrealism, musical prose, and keenly felt emotion, Bender once again proves herself to be a masterful chronicler of the human condition.]]> 224 Aimee Bender 0385720971 Maureen 0 to-read 4.02 2005 Willful Creatures

author: Aimee Bender
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender]]> 18166936
Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.]]> 301 Leslye Walton 0763665665 Maureen 0 to-read 4.03 2014 The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

author: Leslye Walton
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/04/08
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]]> The House of the Spirits 9328
The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.]]> 448 Isabel Allende 0553383809 Maureen 0 to-read 4.26 1982

author: Isabel Allende
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/08
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]]> Dog Songs: Poems 17707772 Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet's relationship to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver's poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers, but through her extraordinary vision these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.

Dog Songs includes visits with old friends, like Oliver's beloved Percy, and introduces still others in poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver's life emerge as fellow travelers and guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection.]]> 127 Mary Oliver 1594204780 Maureen 5 4.23 2013 Dog Songs: Poems

author: Mary Oliver
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2018/04/08
date added: 2018/04/08
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)]]> 18131
It was a dark and stormy night.

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

A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet.]]> 211 Madeleine L'Engle 0440498058 Maureen 3 4.04 1962 A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)

A Wrinkle in Time (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, #1)

author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at: 2018/04/04
date added: 2018/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters]]> 12534
Here, in this compelling assembly of writings, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard explores the world of natural facts and human meanings. Veering away from the long, meditative studies of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or Holy the Firm, Annie Dillard explores and celebrates moments of spirituality, dipping into descriptions of encounters with flora and fauna, stars, and more, from Ecuador to Miami. There is no writer quite like Dillard when it comes to the mysteries and wonder of the natural world.]]> 175 Annie Dillard 0060915412 Maureen 4 4.17 1982 Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

author: Annie Dillard
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2018/02/18
date added: 2018/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep]]> 18856427 306 Gary Ezzo Maureen 4 3.89 1993

On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep

author: Gary Ezzo
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2018/03/25
date added: 2018/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (Learn In and Use It for Life)]]> 8117472 One of the world’s leading creative artists, choreographers, and creator of the smash-hit Broadway show, Movin�� Out, shares her secrets for developing and honing your creative talents—at once prescriptive and inspirational, a book to stand alongside The Artist’s Way and Bird by Bird.All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career. In "Where's Your Pencil?" Tharp reminds you to observe the world -- and get it down on paper. In "Coins and Chaos," she gives you an easy way to restore order and peace. In "Do a Verb," she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In "Build a Bridge to the Next Day," she shows you how to clean the clutter from your mind overnight. Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin...]]> 260 Twyla Tharp 1439106568 Maureen 0 currently-reading 4.07 2003 The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (Learn In and Use It for Life)

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life (Learn In and Use It for Life)

author: Twyla Tharp
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/03/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)]]> 6219133 Librarian Note: An alternative cover edition for this ASIN exists HERE in the GR database.

The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a ghost that walks through walls. Half the city believes him to be a legendary champion of the poor. The other half believe him to be a foolish myth. Nobody has it quite right.

Slightly built, unlucky in love, and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. He certainly didn't invite the rumors that swirl around his exploits, which are actually confidence games of the most intricate sort. And while Locke does indeed steal from the rich (who else, pray tell, would be worth stealing from?), the poor never see a penny of it. All of Locke's gains are strictly for himself and his tight-knit band of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards.

Locke and company are con artists in an age where con artistry, as we understand it, is a new and unknown style of crime. The less attention anyone pays to them, the better! But a deadly mystery has begun to haunt the ancient city of Camorr, and a clandestine war is threatening to tear the city's underworld, the only home the Gentlemen Bastards have ever known, to bloody shreds. Caught up in a murderous game, Locke and his friends will find both their loyalty and their ingenuity tested to the breaking point as they struggle to stay alive...]]> 752 Scott Lynch Maureen 0 currently-reading 4.34 2006 The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)

author: Scott Lynch
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/02/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Ina May's Guide to Childbirth 32127
Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

�� Reducing the pain of labor without drugs—and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
�� What really happens during labor
�� Orgasmic birth—making birth pleasurable
�� Episiotomy—is it really necessary?
�� Common methods of inducing labor—and which to avoid at all costs
�� Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
�� How to avoid postpartum bleeding—and depression
�� The risks of anesthesia and cesareans—what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
�� The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
�� How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
�� And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention.]]> 348 Ina May Gaskin 0553381156 Maureen 4 4.36 2003 Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

author: Ina May Gaskin
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2018/02/22
date added: 2018/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories]]> 13531832 Swamplandia! �� a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize �� comes a magical and uniquely daring collection of stories that showcases the author’s gifts at their inimitable best.

Within these pages, a community of girls held captive in a Japanese silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms and plot revolution; a group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow that bears an uncanny resemblance to a missing classmate that they used to torment; a family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West has grave consequences; and in the marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try to slake their thirst for blood and come to terms with their immortal relationship.

Vampires in the lemon grove --
Reeling for the Empire --
Seagull army descends on Strong Beach, 1979 --
Proving up --
Barn at the end of our term --
Dougbert Shackleton's rules for Antarctic tailgating --
New veterans --
Graveless doll of Eric Mutis]]> 243 Karen Russell 0307957233 Maureen 4 3.68 2013 Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories

author: Karen Russell
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2018/01/21
date added: 2018/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)]]> 33607642 Better Than Before and The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin reveals the one simple question that will transform what you do at home, at work, and in life.

During her multibook investigation into understanding human nature, Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question "How do I respond to expectations?" we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively.

More than 600,000 people have taken her online quiz, and managers, doctors, teachers, spouses, and parents already use the framework to help people make significant, lasting change.

The Four Tendencies hold practical answers if you've ever thought...

· People can rely on me, but I can't rely on myself.
· How can I help someone to follow good advice?
· People say I ask too many questions.
· How do I work with someone who refuses to do what I ask or who keeps telling me what to do?

With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative. It's far easier to succeed when you know what works for you.]]> 257 Gretchen Rubin 1524760919 Maureen 0 to-read 3.85 2017 The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)

The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too)

author: Gretchen Rubin
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2017
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]]> What Makes You Not a Buddhist 409890 The Cup and Travelers and Magicians), this provocative teacher, artist, and poet is widely known and admired by Western Buddhists.

Moving away from conventional presentations of Buddhist teachings, Khyentse challenges readers to make sure they know what they're talking about before they claim to be Buddhist. With wit and irony, Khyentse urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism beyond a romance with beads, incense, and exotic people in robes straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught.

In essence, this book explains what a Buddhist really is, namely, someone who deeply understands the truth of impermanence and how our emotions can trap us in cycles of suffering. Khyentse presents the fundamental tenets of Buddhism in simple language, using examples we can all relate to.]]> 128 Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse 1590304063 Maureen 0 to-read 3.99 2006 What Makes You Not a Buddhist

author: Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse
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]]> <![CDATA[A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"]]> 845977 A Course in Miracles and her insights on the application of love in the search for inner peace.

Williamson reveals how we each can become a miracle worker by accepting God and by the expression of love in our daily lives. Whether psychic pain is in the area of relationships, career, or health, she shows us how love is a potent force, the key to inner peace, and how by practicing love we can make our own lives more fulfilling while creating a more peaceful and loving world for our children.]]> 300 Marianne Williamson 0060927488 Maureen 0 to-read 4.25 1992 A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

author: Marianne Williamson
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1992
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seeker's Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure]]> 546069 In The Seeker's Guide, she synthesizes the lessons learned from an immersion into the world's wisdom traditions and intertwines them with illuminating stories from her daily life. Recounting her own trials and errors and offering meditative exercises, she shows the reader how to create a personal practice, gauge one's progress, and choose effective spiritual teachers and habits. Warm, accessible, and wise, this book provides directions through the four landscapes of the spiritual journey:
THE MIND: learning meditation to ease stress and anxiety
THE HEART: dealing with grief, loss, and pain; opening the heart and becoming fully alive
THE BODY: returning the body to the spiritual fold to heal and
overcome the fear of aging and death
THE SOUL: experiencing daily life as an adventure of meaning and mystery]]> 436 Elizabeth Lesser 0679783598 Maureen 0 to-read 3.85 1999 The Seeker's Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure

The Seeker's Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure

author: Elizabeth Lesser
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1999
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have]]> 7581 436 Mark Nepo 1573241172 Maureen 0 to-read 4.18 1999

The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

author: Mark Nepo
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1999
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment]]> 6708 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781577314806.

To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.�� Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question-and-answer format to guide us.

A word-of-mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.]]> 229 Eckhart Tolle Maureen 0 to-read 4.16 1997 The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

author: Eckhart Tolle
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.16
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]]> <![CDATA[Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead]]> 13588356 Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.�� —Theodore Roosevelt

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.]]> 287 Brené Brown 1592407331 Maureen 0 to-read 4.29 2012 Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

author: Brené Brown
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are]]> 60551
In The Book, Alan Watts provides us with a much-needed answer to the problem of personal identity, distilling and adapting the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.

A revelatory primer on what it means to be human, from "the perfect guide for a course correction in life" (Deepak Chopra)—and a mind-opening manual of initiation into the central mystery of existence.]]> 163 Alan W. Watts 0679723005 Maureen 0 to-read 4.22 1966 The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

author: Alan W. Watts
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.22
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]]> Mortality 13529055 Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens was stricken in his New York hotel room with excruciating pain in his chest and thorax. As he would later write in the first of a series of award-winning columns for "Vanity Fair," he suddenly found himself being deported "from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady." Over the next eighteen months, until his death in Houston on December 15, 2011, he wrote constantly and brilliantly on politics and culture, astonishing readers with his capacity for superior work even in extremis.

Throughout the course of his ordeal battling esophageal cancer, Hitchens adamantly and bravely refused the solace of religion, preferring to confront death with both eyes open. In this account of his affliction, he describes the torments of illness, discusses its taboos, and explores how disease transforms experience and changes our relationship to the world around us. By turns personal and philosophical, Hitchens embraces the full panoply of human emotions as cancer invades his body and compels him to grapple with the enigma of mortality.]]> 104 Christopher Hitchens 1455502758 Maureen 0 to-read 4.09 2012

author: Christopher Hitchens
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.09
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]]> The Alchemist 865 197 Paulo Coelho 0061122416 Maureen 0 to-read 3.85 1988

author: Paulo Coelho
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1988
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]]> The Little Prince 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]> 96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 Maureen 0 to-read 4.32 1943 The Little Prince

author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
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]]> Thirst 42632 Thirst, a collection of forty-three new poems from the Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, introduces two new directions in the poet's work. Grappling with grief at the death of the love of her life and partner of over forty years, the remarkable photographer Molly Malone Cook, she strives to experience sorrow as a path to spiritual progress, grief as part of loving and not its end. And within these pages she chronicles for the first time her discovery of faith, without abandoning the love of the physical world that has been a hallmark of her work for four decades. In three stunning long poems, Oliver explores the dimensions and tests the parameters of religious doctrine, asking of being good, for example, "To what purpose? / Hope of Heaven? Not that. But to enter / the other kingdom: grace, and imagination, / and the multiple sympathies: to be as a leaf, a rose,/ a dolphin."]]> 88 Mary Oliver 0807068969 Maureen 0 to-read 4.31 2006 Thirst

author: Mary Oliver
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.31
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]]> Sophie’s World 10959 An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.]]> 403 Jostein Gaarder 1857993284 Maureen 0 to-read 3.94 1991 Sophie’s World

author: Jostein Gaarder
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1991
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]]> <![CDATA[The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories]]> 18143905
Marina Keegan’s star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.

As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, “The Opposite of Loneliness,�� went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord.

Even though she was just twenty-two when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assemblage of Marina’s essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.]]> 208 Marina Keegan 147675361X Maureen 0 to-read 3.86 2014 The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories

The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories

author: Marina Keegan
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
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]]> The Phantom Tollbooth 378 Librarian's Note: For an alternate cover edition of the same ISBN, click here.

This beloved story -first published more than fifty years ago- introduces readers to Milo and his adventures in the Lands Beyond.

For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . .]]> 248 Norton Juster 0394820371 Maureen 0 reconnect, to-read 4.19 1961 The Phantom Tollbooth

author: Norton Juster
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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]]> Borne (Borne, #1) 31451186
At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.

Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.

Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.

Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,�� a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?]]> 323 Jeff VanderMeer 0374115249 Maureen 4 3.93 2017 Borne (Borne, #1)

author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/12/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Maureen 4 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

author: Suzanne Collins
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch]]> 12067
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons �� well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel �� would quite like the Rapture not to happen.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…]]> 491 Terry Pratchett Maureen 0 to-read 4.27 1990 Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

author: Terry Pratchett
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)]]> 119322
Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want--but what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other.]]> 399 Philip Pullman 0679879242 Maureen 5 4.02 1995 The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)

author: Philip Pullman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1995
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Maureen 5 4.47 1997

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

author: J.K. Rowling
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen]]> 41464
Kazuaki Tanahashi, collaborating with several other Zen authorities, has produced sensitive and accurate translations of Dogen's most important texts. Moon in a Dewdrop contains the key essays of the great master, as well as extensive background materials that will help Western readers to approach this significant work. There is also a selection of Dogen's poetry, most of which has not appeared in English translation before.

Dogen's thought runs counter to conventional logic, employing paradoxical language and startling imagery. It illuminates such fundamental concerns as the nature of time, existence, life, death, the self, and what is beyond self.]]> 356 ��ō�� 086547186X Maureen 0 4.28 1985 Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen

Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen

author: ��ō��
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1985
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]]> The Bhagavad Gita 99944 Mahabharata incorporates Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred Hindu text that takes the form of a philosophical dialogue in which Krishna instructs Arjuna, the prince, in ethical matters and the nature of God.

Krishna expounds the nature and the way that humans can come to know God to Arjuna, the warrior prince in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic, contains the text of the Bhagavad-Gita.

This early epic poem recounts the conversation between the warrior and his charioteer, the divine manifestation. It sets out the important lessons to learn to change the outcome of the war in the moments before a great battle that the warrior fights, and culminates in revealing the true cosmic warrior and counselling him to search for the universal perfection of life. This most important work ranges from yoga postures to dense moral discussion and serves as a practical guide to living well.]]> 160 Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa 0140449183 Maureen 0 4.13 -400 The Bhagavad Gita

author: Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.13
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]]> Siddhartha 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Maureen 4 4.07 1922

author: Hermann Hesse
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Waking Gods (Themis Files, #2)]]> 30134847
Now humankind faces a nightmare invasion scenario made real, as more colossal machines touch down across the globe. But Rose and her team at the Earth Defense Corps refuse to surrender. They can turn the tide if they can unlock the last secrets of an advanced alien technology. The greatest weapon humanity wields is knowledge in a do-or-die battle to inherit the Earth . . . and maybe even the stars.]]> 336 Sylvain Neuvel 1101886722 Maureen 0 to-read 3.99 2017 Waking Gods (Themis Files, #2)

author: Sylvain Neuvel
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1)]]> 25489134
After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

The Bear and the Nightingale is a magical debut novel from a gifted and gorgeous voice. It spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent.]]> 319 Katherine Arden 1101885939 Maureen 0 to-read 4.07 2017 The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1)

The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1)

author: Katherine Arden
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.07
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]]> <![CDATA[A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3)]]> 29939230 Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED...
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.]]> 624 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387468 Maureen 0 to-read 4.30 2017 A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3)

A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3)

author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (Fantastic Beasts: The Original Screenplay, #1)]]> 29363501
When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone��

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best.

Whether an existing fan or new to the wizarding world, this is a perfect addition to any reader's bookshelf.]]> 293 J.K. Rowling 1338109065 Maureen 0 to-read 4.12 2016 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (Fantastic Beasts: The Original Screenplay, #1)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (Fantastic Beasts: The Original Screenplay, #1)

author: J.K. Rowling
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
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]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 14201
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.]]> 1006 Susanna Clarke Maureen 4 3.84 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

author: Susanna Clarke
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work]]> 6261332
Called "the sleeper hit of the publishing season" (The Boston Globe), Shop Class as Soulcraft became an instant bestseller, attracting readers with its radical (and timely) reappraisal of the merits of skilled manual labor. On both economic and psychological grounds, author Matthew B. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing. Using his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford presents a wonderfully articulated call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.]]> 241 Matthew B. Crawford 1594202230 Maureen 3 3.74 2009 Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work

author: Matthew B. Crawford
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2015/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]> 662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Maureen 5 4.52 2007 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
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 Maureen 3 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby

author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 3
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]]> The Gospel of Judas 104278 The Gospel of Judas has been translated from its original Coptic into clear prose. It's accompanied by commentary that explains its history in the context of the early Church, offering a new way of understanding the message of Jesus.]]> 186 Rodolphe Kasser 1426200420 Maureen 3 3.78 2006 The Gospel of Judas

author: Rodolphe Kasser
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2006
rating: 3
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]]> East of Eden 4406
Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.]]> 601 John Steinbeck 0142000655 Maureen 5 4.41 1952

author: John Steinbeck
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1952
rating: 5
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]]> American Gods 30165203
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...]]> 635 Neil Gaiman Maureen 4 4.11 2001

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2001
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Shiva (The Hindu Gods, #2)]]> 1799910 MANIL SURI 560 Manil Suri 0747591792 Maureen 4 3.34 2008

author: Manil Suri
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2008
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements]]> 9155060 Develop and harness a powerful, sustainable word-of-mouth movementHow did the 360-year-old scissor company, Fiskars, double its profit in key markets just by realizing its customers had already formed a community of avid scrapbookers? How is Best Buy planning to dominate the musical instruments market? By understanding the Brains on Fire model of tapping movements and stepping away from the old-school marketing "campaign" mentality.Brains on Fire offers original, practical and actionable steps for creating a word-of-mouth movement for corporations, products, services, and organizations. It takes you step-by-step through the necessary actions needed to start your own authentic movement.Develop and harness a powerful, sustainable, word-of-mouth movement Describes 10 lessons to master and create a powerful, sustainable movement The Brains on Fire blog is often ranked in the top 100 of AdAge's Power 150 Marketing Blogs]]> 224 Robbin Phillips 0470872276 Maureen 4 3.99 2010 Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements

Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements

author: Robbin Phillips
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2015/11/09
date added: 2017/12/24
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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 Maureen 4 4.03 2005 Anansi Boys

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)]]> 1215032 There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.��

My name is Kvothe.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view �� a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived ... until Kvothe.

In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

]]> 994 Patrick Rothfuss 0756404738 Maureen 5 4.55 2011 The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)

The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)

author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing]]> 22318578 Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house "spark joy" (and which don't), this international best seller featuring Tokyo's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home - and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

]]> 213 Marie Kondō 1607747308 Maureen 4 3.88 2010 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

author: Marie Kondō
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/27
date added: 2017/12/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)]]> 6101718
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.]]> 402 Lev Grossman 0670020559 Maureen 0 3.53 2009 The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)

author: Lev Grossman
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> Magic for Beginners 66657 Stranger Things Happen: effervescent blends of quirky humor and pathos that transform stock themes of genre fiction into the stuff of delicate lyrical fantasy.

In "Stone Animals," a house's haunting takes the unusual form of hordes of rabbits that camp out nightly on the front lawn. This proves just one of several benign but inexplicable phenomena that begin to pull apart the family that's just moved into the house.

The title story beautifully captures the unpredictable potential of teenage lives through its account of a group of adolescent school friends whose experiences subtly parallel events in a surreal TV fantasy series.

Zombies serve as the focus for a young man's anxieties about his future in "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" and offer suggestive counterpoint to the lives of two convenience store clerks who serve them in "The Hortlak."

Not only does Link find fresh perspectives from which to explore familiar premises, she also forges ingenious connections between disparate images and narrative approaches to suggest a convincing alternate logic that shapes the worlds of her highly original fantasies.]]> 297 Kelly Link 0156031876 Maureen 0 to-read 3.84 2005 Magic for Beginners

author: Kelly Link
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories]]> 15161
With Clarke's characteristic historical detail and diction, these dark, enchanting tales unfold in a slightly distorted version of our own world, where people are bedeviled by mischievous interventions from the fairies. With appearances from beloved characters from her novel, including Jonathan Strange and Childermass, and an entirely new spin on certain historical figures, including Mary, Queen of Scots, this is a must-have for fans of Susanna Clarke's and an enticing introduction to her work for new readers.

Some of these stories have never before been published; others have appeared in the "New York Times" or in highly regarded anthologies. In this collection, they come together to expand the reach of Clarke's land of enchantment.]]> 235 Susanna Clarke 1596912510 Maureen 0 to-read 3.87 2006 The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

author: Susanna Clarke
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> Sleep Donation 20454977 New York Times bestseller Swamplandia!, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, an imaginative and haunting novella about an insomnia epidemic set in the near future.

A crisis has swept America. Hundreds of thousands have lost the ability to sleep. Enter the Slumber Corps, an organization that urges healthy dreamers to donate sleep to an insomniac. Under the wealthy and enigmatic Storch brothers the Corps' reach has grown, with outposts in every major US city. Trish Edgewater, whose sister Dori was one of the first victims of the lethal insomnia, has spent the past seven years recruiting for the Corps. But Trish’s faith in the organization and in her own motives begins to falter when she is confronted by “Baby A,�� the first universal sleep donor, and the mysterious "Donor Y."

Sleep Donation explores a world facing the end of sleep as we know it, where “Night Worlds�� offer black market remedies to the desperate and sleep deprived, and where even the act of making a gift is not as simple as it appears.]]> 110 Karen Russell 1937894282 Maureen 0 to-read 3.34 2014 Sleep Donation

author: Karen Russell
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> Swamplandia! 8584686
The Bigtree alligator-wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, formerly #1 in the region, is swiftly being encroached upon by a fearsome and sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, who may or may not be an actual ghost; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava’s father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen, to manage ninety-eight gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief.

Against a backdrop of hauntingly fecund plant life animated by ancient lizards and lawless hungers, Karen Russell has written an utterly singular novel about a family’s struggle to stay afloat in a world that is inexorably sinking. An arrestingly beautiful and inventive work from a vibrant new voice in fiction.]]> 315 Karen Russell 0307263991 Maureen 0 3.22 2011 Swamplandia!

author: Karen Russell
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead]]> 25310678 ��
In her coaching and programs for women, Tara Mohr saw how women were "playing small" in their lives and careers, were frustrated by it, and wanted to "play bigger." She has devised a proven way for them to achieve their dreams by playing big from the inside out. Mohr’s work helping women play bigger has earned acclaim from the likes of Maria Shriver and Jillian Michaels, and has been featured on the Today show, CNN, and a host of other media outlets.
��
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In gave many women new awareness about what kinds of changes they need to make to become more successful; yet most women need help implementing them. In the tradition of Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly , Playing Big provides real, practical tools to help women quiet self-doubt, identify their callings, “unhook�� from praise and criticism, unlearn counterproductive good girl habits, and begin taking bold action.
��
While not all women aspire to end up in the corner office, every woman aspires to something. Playing Big fills a major gap among women’s career books; it isn’t just for corporate women. The book offers tools to help every woman play bigger—whether she’s an executive, community volunteer, artist, or stay-at-home mom.
��
Thousands of women across the country have been transformed by Mohr’s program, and now this book makes the ideas and practices available to everyone who is ready to play big.]]> 304 Tara Mohr 1592409601 Maureen 0 4.18 2014 Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead

Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead

author: Tara Mohr
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ocean at the End of the Lane]]> 15783514
Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.]]> 181 Neil Gaiman 0062255657 Maureen 0 4.00 2013 The Ocean at the End of the Lane

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> Neverwhere (London Below, #1) 14497
"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.

Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...]]> 370 Neil Gaiman 0060557818 Maureen 0 4.17 1996 Neverwhere (London Below, #1)

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)]]> 9969571 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.]]> 480 Ernest Cline 030788743X Maureen 0 4.21 2011 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

author: Ernest Cline
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> The Word for World Is Forest 276767 160 Ursula K. Le Guin Maureen 0 to-read 4.06 1972

author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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]]> The Left Hand of Darkness 18423 The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 304 Ursula K. Le Guin Maureen 0 to-read 4.11 1969

author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Maureen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves]]> 47085 St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves introduces a radiant new writer.]]> 246 Karen Russell 0307263983 Maureen 5 3.80 2005

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

author: Karen Russell
name: Maureen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2017/03/27
date added: 2017/03/27
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]]>