Jane's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 25 Jan 2025 11:58:01 -0800 60 Jane's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[A Duke of One's Own (The Second Lady Silverwood #3)]]> 204364154
Lady Georgiana Pendlebury is no stranger to breaking the rules of polite society. But when a so-called ‘friend� invites her to a clandestine party, Georgiana is shocked to discover the event is more scandalous than even she could have imagined. So when a mysterious stranger offers help, she accepts, not realising their encounter will turn her life upside down.

Later that summer, Georgiana is invited to attend a house party at an infamous castle in Yorkshire. The gathering is a loosely veiled effort to arrange a marriage for the Duke of Northriding, who desperately needs an heir. Duke Gabriel Mauleverer has a terrible reputation as a rake, and Georgiana is happy to be a guest purely for the entertainment, but upon arrival, she is shocked to discover that the Duke is none other than the stranger who rescued her weeks earlier.

As the other ladies vie for the Duke’s attention, Georgiana is desperate to avoid their shocking secret getting out. But she finds herself caught, unable to avoid Gabriel’s gaze. Are they a threat to each other? Or could they be the answer to each other’s greatest desires?

Readers can't get enough of Emma Orchard's

'If you're girding your loins for Bridgerton, you may want to indulge in this Regency romp' - THE TIMES

'An exciting new talent' - KATIE FFORDE

'Hot stuff. I loved it!' - FERN BRITTON

'Absolutely glorious' - SOPHIE IRWIN

'A delicious Regency romp' - ALAN TITCHMARSH

'Sensual and exciting' - HEIDI SWAIN

'Heyer with spice!' - LIZ FENWICK

'Witty, heartfelt, deeply emotionally authentic and incredibly sexy' - KATY MORAN

'Sexy, seductive and swoon worthy' - SARAH BENNETT

'Witty, spicy, seductive' - HANNAH DOLBY

'Perfect for fans of Bridgerton' - DARCIE BOLEYN

'Fans of Heyer and Bridgerton rejoice!' - CHARLOTTE BUTTERFIELD

'A delicious slice of escapism' - LAURA WOOD

'Heart-thumping romance' - JENNI KEER]]>
306 Emma Orchard 1835610498 Jane 0 3.71 A Duke of One's Own (The Second Lady Silverwood #3)
author: Emma Orchard
name: Jane
average rating: 3.71
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rating: 0
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<![CDATA[A Second Wedding Night (Lust and Longing #1)]]> 61348750
Millie is a timid and young lady betrothed to Charles, the duke of Camborne. Her life seems perfect until her mother reveals to her, that what will happen on her wedding night will not be pleasant for her.

Charles is looking forward to a loving marriage with Millie, but when their wedding night turns into a disaster, their relationship stagnates and never have a change to blossom.

Ten years later a chance encounter at Charles’s mistress gives them the opportunity for a second wedding night.

If you like steamy stories from the Georgian or Regency Era, this novella might be for you.

A Second Wedding Night is the first book in the series Lust and Longing. It is a Historical Regency Romance of about 20,000 words (81 pages) about second changes, lust and love with a happy ever after.]]>
192 Emilie Jacobsen Jane 0 3.94 A Second Wedding Night (Lust and Longing #1)
author: Emilie Jacobsen
name: Jane
average rating: 3.94
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rating: 0
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James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]>
303 Percival Everett Jane 4 4.47 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Jane
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
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<![CDATA[Daughter of Time (After Cilmeri, #0)]]> 10842405 Daughter of Time tells the story of a young widow, Meg, healing from the pain of a brief, unhappy marriage, who falls through time into the Middle Ages � and into the arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last Prince of Wales. He saves her, and she in turn saves him, thanks to her knowledge of future events. Although powerful forces seek to divide them, by working together, Meg and Llywelyn have a chance to navigate the dangerous and shifting alliances that constantly undermine his rule and threaten the very existence of Wales � and to create a future in which Llywelyn's death does not come too soon.

Daughter of Time is a stand-alone novel within the world of the After Cilmeri series. Other books in the series include Footsteps in Time and Prince of Time.]]>
353 Sarah Woodbury Jane 3 3.69 2011 Daughter of Time (After Cilmeri, #0)
author: Sarah Woodbury
name: Jane
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/10
date added: 2025/01/11
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Meet Me in Another Life 54698696 Two people. Infinite lifetimes. One impossible choice.

Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter intertwines their fates. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit—someone who shares their insatiable curiosity, who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Only days later, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

But this is only one of the many connections they share. Like satellites trapped in orbit around each other, Thora and Santi are destined to meet again: as a teacher and prodigy student; a caretaker and dying patient; a cynic and a believer. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. But as blurred memories and strange patterns compound, Thora and Santi come to a shocking revelation—they must discover the truth of their mysterious attachment before their many lives come to one, final end.]]>
320 Catriona Silvey 0063020203 Jane 0 to-read 3.71 2021 Meet Me in Another Life
author: Catriona Silvey
name: Jane
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/16
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<![CDATA[How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?]]> 200229948
Most days, Magda is fine. She has her routines. She has her anxious therapy patients, who depend on her to cure their bad habits. She has her longtime colleagues, whose playful bickering she mediates. She’s mourning the recent loss of her best friend, Sara, but has brokered a tentative truce with Sara’s prickly widower as she helps him sort through the last of Sara’s possessions. She’sfine.

But in going through Sara’s old journal, Magda discovers her friend’s last plans for a road trip they would take together in celebration of Magda’s upcoming seventieth birthday. So, with Sara’s urn in tow, Magda decides to hit the road, crossing the country andencountering a cast of memorable characters—including her sister, from whom she’s been keeping secrets. Along the way she stumbles upon a jazz funeral in New Orleans and a hilarious women’s retreat meant to “unleash one’s divine feminine energy� in Texas, and meets a woman who challenges her conceptions of herself—and the hidden truths about her friendship with Sara.

As the trip shakes up her careful routines, Magda finally faces longings she locked away years ago and confronts questions about her sexuality and identity she thought she had long put to rest. And as she soon learns, it’s never too late to start your next journey.]]>
256 Anna Montague 0063353644 Jane 3 3.08 How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?
author: Anna Montague
name: Jane
average rating: 3.08
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rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/08
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<![CDATA[‎The Second Lady Silverwood (The Second Lady Silverwood #1)]]> 64665415
'Orchard’s debut is delicious � a Regency romance with added raunch � reads like a hot Georgette Heyer� - DAILY MAIL

‘An exciting new talent� � KATIE FFORDE

‘Hot stuff. I loved it!� � FERN BRITTON

‘Absolutely glorious� � SOPHIE IRWIN

‘A delicious Regency romp� � ALAN TITCHMARSH

‘Sensual and exciting� � HEIDI SWAIN

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It is 1814 and she is the talk of the town �

Sir Benedict Silverwood needs a new wife.

Kate Moreton, an impoverished spinster and Italian teacher, is an outlandish suggestion, but one that grows on Benedict, alongside his attraction to Kate.

Kate has been hopelessly in love with him for years so the idea of marriage when he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings is appalling, but so very tempting at the same time.

Sparks fly and passion flares after the wedding, but it becomes clear that incendiary secrets threaten Kate and Benedict’s fragile new life together. The question is, will he be able to love and trust the second Lady Silverwood?

Dear Reader, this wonderfully romantic story has passionate and steamy scenes, enjoy ...

--------------

‘Heyer with spice!� � LIZ FENWICK

‘Witty, heartfelt, deeply emotionally authentic and incredibly sexy� � KATY MORAN

‘Sexy, seductive and swoon worthy� � SARAH BENNETT

‘Witty, spicy, seductive� - HANNAH DOLBY

‘Perfect for fans of Bridgerton� � DARCIE BOLEYN

‘Fans of Heyer and Bridgerton rejoice!� � CHARLOTTE BUTTERFIELD

‘A delicious slice of escapism� � LAURA WOOD

'Heart-thumping romance' - JENNI KEER

'The Second Lady Silverwood is Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer with a wide-open bedroom door!' - FELICITY GEORGE]]>
384 Emma Orchard 0749029641 Jane 4 3.68 2023 ‎The Second Lady Silverwood (The Second Lady Silverwood #1)
author: Emma Orchard
name: Jane
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/08
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Nightblind (Dark Iceland #2) 35223126 Chilling, and complex, Nightblind is an extraordinary thriller from undeniable new talent Ragnar Jonasson.

Ari Thór Arason: a local policeman, whose tumultuous past and uneasy relationships with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland—where no one locks their doors—continue to haunt him.

The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by the murder of a policeman—shot at point-blank range in the dead of night in a deserted house. With a killer on the loose and the dark arctic winter closing in, it falls to Ari Thór to piece together a puzzle that involves tangled local politics, a compromised new mayor, and a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik where someone is being held against their will. Then a mysterious young woman moves to the area, on the run from something she dares not reveal, and it becomes all too clear that tragic events from the past are weaving a sinister spell that may threaten them all.

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228 Ragnar Jónasson 1250096103 Jane 4 3.94 2014 Nightblind (Dark Iceland #2)
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/11
date added: 2024/11/22
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The Postcard 88041145 Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.

Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.]]>
487 Anne Berest 1609458397 Jane 5 4.40 2021 The Postcard
author: Anne Berest
name: Jane
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/10
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<![CDATA[What He's Poised to Do: Stories]]> 8852201
A diverse and moving collection of witty, fabular, haunting stories about love, infidelity, and the vanishing art of letter writing—from the acclaimed novelist and New Yorker editor Ben Greenman. Fans of the works of Keith Gessen, Ben Kunkel, Nathaniel Rich, and John Wray will find much to love in the beautiful, poignant stories of What He’s Poised to Do.]]>
232 Ben Greenman 0062002988 Jane 0 to-read 3.33 2010 What He's Poised to Do: Stories
author: Ben Greenman
name: Jane
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
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<![CDATA[A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Outlander, #8.5)]]> 13634927
Orphaned during World War II, Roger believed that his mother died during the London Blitz, and that his father, an RAF pilot, was killed in combat. But in An Echo in the Bone, Roger discovers that this may not be the whole story. Now, in “A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows,� readers finally learn the truth.
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67 Diana Gabaldon 0345545370 Jane 4 4.28 2012 A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Outlander, #8.5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/26
date added: 2024/09/10
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<![CDATA[Blue Lightning (Shetland Island, #4)]]> 7157547
Shetland Detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to the Fair Isles to introduce his fiancée, Fran, to his parents. It’s a community where everyone knows each other, and strangers, while welcomed, are still viewed with a degree of mistrust.

Challenging to live on at the best of times, with the autumn storms raging, the island feels cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped, tension is high and tempers become frayed. Enough to drive someone to murder...

When a woman’s body is discovered at the renowned Fair Isles bird observatory, with feathers threaded through her hair, the islanders react with fear and anger. With no support from the mainland and only Fran to help him, Jimmy has to investigate the old-fashioned way. He soon realizes that this is no crime of passion—but a murder of cold and calculated intention.

With no way off the island until the storms abate, Jimmy knows he has to work quickly. There’s a killer on the island just waiting for the opportunity to strike again.]]>
368 Ann Cleeves 0230746659 Jane 5 4.03 2010 Blue Lightning (Shetland Island, #4)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Jane
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2019/01/04
date added: 2024/08/07
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Each book in the series seems to just keep getting better! I loved learning all the ins and outs of the characters, as well as trying to puzzle out the murder mystery.
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Table for Two 195474002 From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood� describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.]]> 452 Amor Towles 0593296389 Jane 0 currently-reading 4.36 2024 Table for Two
author: Amor Towles
name: Jane
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
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<![CDATA[Four Weddings and a Sixpence: An Anthology]]> 29913054
“Something Old�

Julia Quinn’s prologue introduces her heroine, Beatrice Heywood, and the premise for Four Weddings and a Sixpence.

“Something New�

In Stefanie Sloane’s unforgettable story, an ever-vigilant guardian decrees that Anne Brabourne must marry by her twenty-first birthday. But love finds her in the most unexpected of ways.

“Something Borrowed�

Elizabeth Boyle tells the tale of Cordelia Padley, who has invented a betrothed to keep her family from pestering her to wed. Now she’ll need to borrow one to convince them she’s found her true love.

“Something Blue�

In Laura Lee Guhrke’s story, unlucky Lady Elinor Daventry has her sixpence stolen from her and must convince the rake who pilfered the coin to return it in time for her own wedding.

� . . . and a Sixpence in Her Shoe”]]>
320 Julia Quinn Jane 5 4.25 2016 Four Weddings and a Sixpence: An Anthology
author: Julia Quinn
name: Jane
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
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<![CDATA[The Chosen (Reuven Malther, #1)]]> 187181 304 Chaim Potok 0449213447 Jane 4 4.06 1966 The Chosen (Reuven Malther, #1)
author: Chaim Potok
name: Jane
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/08
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The Mousetrap and Other Plays 19400166 The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters—brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to William Morrow Paperbacks. In addition, Christie created magnificent works of suspense for the theater, and eight of her riveting stage dramas are collected in The Mousetrap and Other Plays—including the title piece, the longest running play in history, still a smash hit in London's West End after 60 years!

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707 Agatha Christie Jane 0 currently-reading 4.21 1950 The Mousetrap and Other Plays
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jane
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1950
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/16
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The Magician's Assistant 16055 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781857028157

Sabine-- twenty years a magician's assistant to her handsome, charming husband-- is suddenly a widow. In the wake of his death, she finds he has left a final trick; a false identity and a family allegedly lost in a tragic accident but now revealed as very much alive and well. Named as heirs in his will, they enter Sabine's life and set her on an adventure of unraveling his secrets, from sunny Los Angeles to the windswept plains of Nebraska, that will work its own sort of magic on her.]]>
357 Ann Patchett Jane 5 3.68 1997 The Magician's Assistant
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jane
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly (Hercule Poirot, #SS-52)]]> 18868795 Never before published—the lost classic, unseen for sixty years!

A party game goes dead wrong in this ingenious mystery from the most beloved novelist of all time. Hercule Poirot, the world's favorite detective, has agreed to take part in a mock murder mystery in a charming English village—but when tragedy strikes, a different sort of game begins ...

In 1954, Agatha Christie wrote this novella with the intention of donating the proceeds to a fund set up to buy stained glass windows for her local church at Churston Ferrers, and she filled the story with references to local places, including her own home of Greenway. But, having completed it, she decided instead to expand the story into a full-length novel, Dead Man's Folly, which was published two years later, and donated a Miss Marple story (Greenshaw's Folly) to the church fund instead.

Unseen for sixty years, Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly is finally published in this ebook-exclusive edition.

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80 Agatha Christie 0062334468 Jane 0 3.89 2013 Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly (Hercule Poirot, #SS-52)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Jane
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/05/31
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Rules of Civility 54102615 The New York Times bestselling novel that "enchants on first reading and only improves on the second" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

This sophisticated and entertaining first novel presents the story of a young woman whose life is on the brink of transformation. On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society—where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. With its sparkling depiction of New York’s social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike.


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348 Amor Towles Jane 5 4.30 2011 Rules of Civility
author: Amor Towles
name: Jane
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/27
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The Lincoln Highway 57109107 The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America

In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother and head west where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future.

Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles’s third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes.]]>
576 Amor Towles 0735222355 Jane 5 4.18 2021 The Lincoln Highway
author: Amor Towles
name: Jane
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/05/14
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A Gentleman in Moscow 61161251 Alternate cover editions for this ASIN can be found here, here and here.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility, a novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel—a beautifully transporting novel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.]]>
465 Amor Towles Jane 5 4.46 2016 A Gentleman in Moscow
author: Amor Towles
name: Jane
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/14
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Queen Charlotte 61423072 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn and television pioneer Shonda Rhimes comes a powerful and romantic novel of Bridgerton's Queen Charlotte and King George III's great love story and how it sparked a societal shift, inspired by the original series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, created by Shondaland for Netflix.

“We are one crown. His weight is mine, and mine is his…�

In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours.

Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent� not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed, because George had secrets� secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.

Thrust into her new role as a royal, Charlotte must learn to navigate the intricate politics of the court� all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King, even as he pushes her away. Above all she must learn to rule, and to understand that she has been given the power to remake society. She must fight—for herself, for her husband, and for all her new subjects who look to her for guidance and grace. For she will never be just Charlotte again. She must instead fulfill her destiny� as Queen.]]>
352 Julia Quinn 0063305089 Jane 0 4.15 2023 Queen Charlotte
author: Julia Quinn
name: Jane
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/20
date added: 2024/04/08
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The Book of Lost Names 52762903 The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.]]>
388 Kristin Harmel 1982131896 Jane 0 to-read 4.41 2020 The Book of Lost Names
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Jane
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/28
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<![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Jane 0 to-read 4.34 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Jane
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/09
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<![CDATA[The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary]]> 193544124
The Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others.

Of deep transgenerational and broad appeal, a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak. It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time.

The Dictionary People is a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.]]>
368 Sarah Ogilvie 0593536401 Jane 0 to-read 3.81 2023 The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
author: Sarah Ogilvie
name: Jane
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton]]> 58099072 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn comes a highly designed, colorful collection of quotes, wit, and wisdom from Lady Whistledown and the most memorable characters of the much-loved Bridgerton books, now a series created by Shondaland for Netflix.

A collection of the most dramatic, romantic, and memorable quotes from the charming characters of the Bridgerton world, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton is the perfect gift for fans of the Bridgerton series and the groundbreaking Shondaland/Netflix adaptation. With her signature wink and nod, Lady Whistledown herself will act as readers� familiar and trusted guide, introducing each character’s most memorable quotes.

Each chapter in the book will highlight a different character from the Bridgerton series and include a new introduction from Lady Whistledown, quotes from the character, and things other characters have said about them over the course of the entire series. Fans will get a 360-degree view of each of their favorite personalities, with new commentary and takeaways from Lady Whistledown.

From Daphne, to Simon, to Penelope, to Colin, fans will enter the Bridgerton world in a completely new way with a fresh and intimate perspective of each character. Readers will relive the twists and turns of the books, taking (or not taking) the advice on love, family, etiquette, and fashion from the most beloved and unforgettable voices from Bridgerton. With an introduction from the creator of the Bridgerton world and #1 NYT Bestselling author Julia Quinn, The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton is a highly designed keepsake and unique addition to the Regency-set series.

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196 Julia Quinn 0063216019 Jane 4 3.45 2021 The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton
author: Julia Quinn
name: Jane
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
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The Dutch House 44318414
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.]]>
337 Ann Patchett 0062963678 Jane 5 4.08 2019 The Dutch House
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jane
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/28
date added: 2024/02/03
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<![CDATA[Jar City (Inspector Erlendur #3)]]> 39978377 When a lonely old man is found murdered in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl’s grave. Inspector Erlendur, who heads the investigation team, discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, though not convicted, of an unsolved crime. Did the old man’s past come back to haunt him?

As the team of detectives reopen this very cold case, Inspector Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man--secrets that have been carefully guarded by many people for many years. As he follows a fascinating trail of unusual forensic evidence, Erlendur also confronts stubborn personal conflicts that reveal his own depth and complexity of character.]]>
356 Arnaldur Indriðason Jane 3 3.97 2000 Jar City (Inspector Erlendur #3)
author: Arnaldur Indriðason
name: Jane
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/02/02
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<![CDATA[Prince of Dreams (Stokehurst, #2)]]> 693033 416 Lisa Kleypas 0380773554 Jane 4 3.52 1995 Prince of Dreams (Stokehurst, #2)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/15
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<![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 77262337 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.

In this exhilarating novel by the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]>
418 Gabrielle Zevin Jane 5 4.22 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Jane
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/15
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Tom Lake 63241104 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]>
309 Ann Patchett 006332752X Jane 5 3.92 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jane
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/26
date added: 2024/01/15
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<![CDATA[Midnight Angel (Stokehurst, #1)]]> 693018 A noblewoman of frail beauty and exotic mystery fakes her own death to escape the gallows. And now she must flee. In disguise and under a false identity, she finds unexpected sanctuary in the arms of a handsome and arrogant yet gallant British lord—who must defy society to keep her safe . . . and overcome a tragic past to claim her as his own.

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373 Lisa Kleypas 0380773538 Jane 4 3.58 1995 Midnight Angel (Stokehurst, #1)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1995
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/12/23
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<![CDATA[The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (The Ill-Mannered Ladies, #1)]]> 61181023 A high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an 'old maid' to protect other women in a new and fiercely feminist historical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.

Lady Augusta Colebrook, "Gus," is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.

The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots and injures the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.

Back in London, Gus can't stop thinking about her unlikely (not to mention handsome) comrade-in-arms. She is convinced Lord Evan was falsely accused of murder, and she is going to prove it. She persuades Julia to join her in a quest to help Lord Evan, and others in need--society be damned! And so begins the beguiling secret life and adventures of the Colebrook twins.]]>
460 Alison Goodman 059344082X Jane 5 4.33 2023 The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies (The Ill-Mannered Ladies, #1)
author: Alison Goodman
name: Jane
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/14
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<![CDATA[Hanukkah Upside Down: A Picture Book]]> 63320316 In this delightfully upside-down picture book holiday story, cousins from opposite sides of the globe debate who can celebrate the best Hanukkah. Eight chances to prove it—may the best cousin win!

You’ll have Hanukkah in summer? Talk about backwards.
Your Hanukkah’s in winter? You’re missing out.

From their homes in New York and New Zealand, cousins Noah and Nora decide to have a competition. Winter versus summer: Who can have the world’s best Hanukkah? But as the eight nights of Hanukkah go on, the contest proves tougher than they imagined. Even as each cousin celebrates the holiday with their own unique traditions, they realize they have more in common than they thought.

A warm, witty holiday story from acclaimed award-winning creators Elissa Brent Weissman and Omer Hoffmann, Hanukkah Upside Down shows that while there are countless ways to celebrate Hanukkah, family is what matters most.]]>
40 Elissa Brent Weissman 1419762966 Jane 0 book-ideas-for-eva-noa 4.24 Hanukkah Upside Down: A Picture Book
author: Elissa Brent Weissman
name: Jane
average rating: 4.24
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rating: 0
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<![CDATA[¡Vamos! Let's Go Read (World of ¡Vamos!)]]> 70241248 48 Raúl the Third III 0358539366 Jane 0 book-ideas-for-eva-noa 4.19 ¡Vamos! Let's Go Read (World of ¡Vamos!)
author: Raúl the Third III
name: Jane
average rating: 4.19
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rating: 0
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A Human For Kingsley 57122163 After all, owning a human is a responsibility."

But finding the right kind of human is much harder than Kingsley expected. Some are too bossy. Some are too busy. And some just don’t seem to appreciate a dog the way they should. Will Kingsley ever find a human that is exactly right?
A sweet, tender and deeply funny story about the power of friendship, and one dog’s mission to find his perfect person.]]>
32 Gabriel Evans 1760506915 Jane 0 book-ideas-for-eva-noa 4.24 A Human For Kingsley
author: Gabriel Evans
name: Jane
average rating: 4.24
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Love, Come to Me 11703946 400 Lisa Kleypas 1101543655 Jane 0 3.77 1988 Love, Come to Me
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/25
date added: 2023/11/25
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<![CDATA[Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America]]> 90590139
“A vibrant, and essential history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals� It's both a cause for hope, and a call to arms.�--Jane Mayer, author Dark Money

From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back.

In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. It soon turned into a newsletter and its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on her plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.

In Democracy Awakening , Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.

Richardson’s talent is to wrangle our giant, meandering, and confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. In her trademark calm prose, she is realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus and birth of “movement conservatism.�

Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.]]>
286 Heather Cox Richardson 0593652967 Jane 5 4.38 2023 Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
author: Heather Cox Richardson
name: Jane
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/07
date added: 2023/11/07
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<![CDATA[Devil in Disguise (The Ravenels, #7)]]> 51178326 An enthralling and steaming romance between a widowed lady and a Scot on the run—who may have connections to one of London's most noble families.

Lady Merritt Sterling, a strong-willed young widow who’s running her late husband’s shipping company, knows London society is dying to catch her in a scandal. So far, she’s been too smart to provide them with one. But then she meets Keir MacRae, a rough-and-rugged Scottish whisky distiller, and all her sensible plans vanish like smoke. They couldn’t be more different, but their attraction is powerful, raw and irresistible.

From the moment Keir MacRae arrives in London, he has two goals. One: don’t fall in love with the dazzling Lady Merritt Sterling. Two: avoid being killed.

So far, neither of those is going well.

Keir doesn’t know why someone wants him dead until fate reveals his secret connection to one of England’s most powerful families. His world is thrown into upheaval, and the only one he trusts is Merritt. Their passion blazes with an intensity Merritt has never known before, making her long for the one thing she can’t have from Keir MacRae: forever. As danger draws closer, she’ll do whatever it takes to save the man she loves . . . even knowing he might be the devil in disguise.]]>
384 Lisa Kleypas 0062371975 Jane 5 3.90 2021 Devil in Disguise (The Ravenels, #7)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2023/11/06
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Suddenly You 161910 Bestselling author Lisa Kleypas creates a beguiling story, set in a world where appearance means everything, passion simmers just below the surface, and a respectable Englishwoman is willing to risk scandal for one night of love.

She was unmarried, untouched and almost thirty, but novelist Amanda Briars wasn't about to greet her next birthday without making love to a man. When he appeared at her door, she believed he was her gift to herself, hired for one night of passion. Unforgettably handsome, irresistibly virile, he tempted her in ways she never thought possible, but something stopped him from completely fulfilling her dream.

Jack Devlin's determination to possess Amanda became greater when she discovered his true identity. But gently bred Amanda craved respectability more than she admitted, while Jack, the cast-off son of a nobleman and London's most notorious businessman, refused to live by society's rules. Yet when fate conspired for them to marry, their worlds collided with a passionate force neither had expected... but both soon craved.]]>
384 Lisa Kleypas 0061259357 Jane 4 3.93 2000 Suddenly You
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/11/06
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<![CDATA[Again the Magic (Wallflowers, #0)]]> 674220 She gave him her innocence.

Lady Aline Marsden was brought up to marry a man of her own class, but from the moment she meets John McKenna, she risks everything to be with him.

He gave her his heart.

Although their love is forbidden, McKenna's passion for the beautiful Aline is too compelling to deny. When their secret is suddenly discovered, their world is shattered. McKenna is forced to leave forever, unaware that the only reason Aline has given him up is to save him.

Now McKenna has returned, a powerful man determined to take revenge against the woman who broke his heart. But the magic between them burns as fiercely as ever . . . and as McKenna uncovers Aline's deepest secret, together they discover a love that will defy Fate itself.]]>
409 Lisa Kleypas 0380811081 Jane 5 4.03 2004 Again the Magic (Wallflowers, #0)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/20
date added: 2023/11/06
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<![CDATA[Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity]]> 61222788 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

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

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

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

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

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

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.]]>
478 Peter Attia 0593236602 Jane 4 4.48 2023 Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
author: Peter Attia
name: Jane
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/04
date added: 2023/10/07
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Reykjavík: A Crime Story 65214641
What happened to Lára?

Iceland, 1956. Fourteen-year-old Lára decides to spend the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík. In early August, the girl disappears without a trace. Time passes, and the mystery becomes Iceland‘s most infamous unsolved case. What happened to the young girl? Is she still alive? Did she leave the island, or did something happen to her there?

Thirty years later, as the city of Reykjavík celebrates its 200th anniversary, journalist Valur Robertsson begins his own investigation into Lára's case. But as he draws closer to discovering the secret, and with the eyes of Reykjavík upon him, it soon becomes clear that Lára's disappearance is a mystery that someone will stop at nothing to keep unsolved . . .]]>
355 Ragnar Jónasson 1250907349 Jane 5 3.64 2022 Reykjavík: A Crime Story
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/20
date added: 2023/10/01
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Knockout (Hell's Belles, #3) 63837273 New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the next Hell’s Belles novel about a chaotic bluestocking and the buttoned-up detective enlisted to keep her out of trouble (spoiler: She is the trouble).

With her headful of wild curls and wilder ideas and an unabashed love of experiments and explosives, society has labeled Lady Imogen Loveless peculiar…and doesn’t know she’s one of the Hell’s Belles—a group of vigilantes operating outside the notice of most of London.

Thomas Peck is not most of London. The brilliant detective fought his way off the streets and into a promising career through sheer force of will and a keen ability to see things others miss, like the fact that Imogen isn’t peculiar…she’s pandemonium. If you ask him, she requires a keeper. When her powerful family discovers her late-night activities, they couldn’t agree more…and they know just the man for the task.

Thomas wants nothing to do with guarding Imogen. He is a grown man with a proper job and no time for the lady’s incendiary chaos, no matter how lushly it is packaged. But some assignments are too explosive to pass up, and the gruff detective is soon caught up in Imogen’s world, full of her bold smiles and burning secrets…and a fiery passion that threatens to consume them both.]]>
384 Sarah MacLean Jane 4 4.36 2023 Knockout (Hell's Belles, #3)
author: Sarah MacLean
name: Jane
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/30
date added: 2023/10/01
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<![CDATA[The Marvellers (The Conjureverse, #1)]]> 56896065
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, where Marvellers from all around the world come together to practice their cultural arts like brewing Indian spice elixirs, practicing Caribbean steel drum hypnosis, and bartering with fussy Irish faeries. Ella knows some people mistrust her Conjuror magic, often deemed "bad and unnatural," but she's eager to make a good impression—and, hopefully, some friends.

But Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy, and not all of the Marvellers are welcoming. Still, she connects with fellow misfits Brigit, a girl who hates magic, and Jason, who is never found without a magical creature or two. Just as Ella begins to find her way at the A.T.I., a notorious criminal escapes from prison, supposedly with Conjurors� help. Worse, her favorite teacher Masterji Thakur never returns from a research trip, and only Ella seems concerned about his disappearance.

As tensions grow in the Marvellian world, Ella finds herself the target of vicious rumors and growing suspicions. With the help of her new friends, Ella must find a way to clear her family's name and track down her beloved mentor Masterji Thakur . . . before she loses her place at the A.T.I. forever.]]>
416 Dhonielle Clayton 1250174945 Jane 0 to-read 3.97 2022 The Marvellers (The Conjureverse, #1)
author: Dhonielle Clayton
name: Jane
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/22
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<![CDATA[Sanditon: Jane Austen's Unfinished Masterpiece Completed]]> 10698464 202 Jane Austen Jane 3 3.78 Sanditon: Jane Austen's Unfinished Masterpiece Completed
author: Jane Austen
name: Jane
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/23
date added: 2023/09/19
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Of course, Jane Austen is a 5 ++++++. The part that's been added to her unfinished work, though, was so so. It did keep me reading. Not surprisingly, though, it just wasn't up to Austen's standard both plot and writing style-wise.
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Attribution 60053999


Antonio, an impoverished duke, clings to the decaying legacy of the House of Olivares. When he meets Cate on the train to Seville, he joins her search, and together they uncover evidence in his five hundred-year old library to support the painting's provenance including a document about the artist's final years that will shock the titans of art history. But Cate vacillates about revealing the truth, fearful that it may destroy her career, her family's expectations, and her future with Antonio.



Written with vivid prose, rich references to seventeenth century Spanish art, compelling characters and a historical puzzle, Attribution is the story of one contemporary woman's journey to understand the past--and unlock her future.]]>
304 Linda Moore 164742254X Jane 0 4.17 2022 Attribution
author: Linda Moore
name: Jane
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/07
date added: 2023/09/07
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<![CDATA[Lord John and the Hand of Devils (Lord John Grey, #0.5, #1.5, #2.5)]]> 437406
In Lord John and the Hellfire Club , Lord John glimpses a stranger in the doorway of a gentlemen's club—and is stirred by a desperate entreaty to meet in private. The rendezvous forestalled by a sudden murder, Lord John will wade into a maze of political treachery and a dangerous, debauched underground society. . . . In Lord John and the Succubus , English soldiers fighting in Prussia are rattled by the nocturnal visitations of a deadly woman who sucks life and soul from a man. Called to investigate the night-hag, Lord John finds a murdered soldier and a treacherous Gypsy, and comes to the stark realization that among the spirits that haunt men, none frighten more than the specters conjured by the heart. . . . In Lord John and the Haunted Soldier , Lord John is thrust into the deadly case of an exploding battlefield cannon. Wounded in the same battle, Lord John is called to tesify and soon confronts his own ghost—and the shattering prospect that a traitor is among the ranks of His Majesty's armed forces.

Capturing the lonely, tormented, and courageous career of a man who fights for his crown, his honor, and his own secrets, Diana Gabaldon delivers breathtaking human drama. And in tales seething with desire, madness, and political intrigue, Gabaldon once again proves that she can bring history to life in a way few novelists ever have.]]>
302 Diana Gabaldon 0385311397 Jane 4 3.87 2007 Lord John and the Hand of Devils (Lord John Grey, #0.5, #1.5, #2.5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/05
date added: 2023/09/05
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Lessons in Chemistry 57684325
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride�) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.]]>
400 Bonnie Garmus Jane 5 4.47 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Jane
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/12
date added: 2023/08/12
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<![CDATA[Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (Lord John Grey, #2)]]> 41502 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander saga brings back one of her most compelling characters: Lord John Grey--soldier, gentleman, and no mean hand with a blade. Here Diana Gabaldon brilliantly weaves together the strands of Lord John's secret and public lives--a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. . . .

In 1758, in the heart of the Seven Years' War, Britain fights by the side of Prussia in the Rhineland. For Lord John and his titled brother Hal, the battlefield will be a welcome respite from the torturous mystery that burns poisonously in their family's history. Seventeen years earlier, Lord John's late father, the Duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family's honor.

Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring. Lord John's brother has mysteriously received a page of their late father's missing diary. Someone is taunting the Grey family with secrets from the grave, but Hal, with secrets of his own, refuses to pursue the matter and orders his brother to do likewise. Frustrated, John turns to a man who has been both his prisoner and his confessor: the Scottish Jacobite James Fraser.

Fraser can tell many secrets, and withhold many others. But war, a forbidden affair, and Fraser's own secrets will complicate Lord John's quest. Until James Fraser yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle, and Lord John, caught between his courage and his conscience, must decide whether his family's honor is worth his life.]]>
494 Diana Gabaldon 0385337493 Jane 4 3.90 2007 Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade  (Lord John Grey, #2)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/05
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<![CDATA[Unraveled: A Novel About a Meltdown]]> 18894044 218 Alda Sigmundsdóttir Jane 5 4.00 2013 Unraveled: A Novel About a Meltdown
author: Alda Sigmundsdóttir
name: Jane
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/02
date added: 2023/08/02
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Suite Scarlett (Scarlett, #1) 6381028
Scarlett is the third of four children in the Martin family. The Martins live in and manage a shabby hotel in NYC that dates back to the 1920s. When Scarlett turns 15, she is put in charge of one of the hotel's 27 rooms- the Empire Suite. Into this room moves Mrs. Amberson, a failed 1970s starlet who has returned to New York to write her memoirs. Soon, Scarlett is taking dictation, running around town with Mrs. Amberson, and getting caught up in her Auntie Mame-meets-Bianca Jagger adventures.]]>
355 Maureen Johnson 0545096324 Jane 0 3.60 2008 Suite Scarlett (Scarlett, #1)
author: Maureen Johnson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2010/05/29
date added: 2023/07/30
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<![CDATA[A Fugitive Green (Outlander #2.5)]]> 61242153 216 Diana Gabaldon 110196622X Jane 5 4.39 2017 A Fugitive Green (Outlander #2.5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2023/07/29
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<![CDATA[The Space Between (Outlander, #7.5)]]> 21418017 118 Diana Gabaldon 0553392115 Jane 4 4.25 2012 The Space Between (Outlander, #7.5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/19
date added: 2023/07/25
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<![CDATA[The Island (Hidden Iceland, #2)]]> 41150509
But only three return....

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is sent to the isolated island of Elliðaey to investigate and soon finds haunting similarities with a previous case - a young woman found murdered 10 years ago in the equally desolate Westfjords.

Is there a patient killer stalking these barren outposts?

As Hulda navigates a sinister game constructed of smoke and mirrors she is convinced that no one is telling the truth, including those closest to her.

But who will crack first? And what secrets is the island hiding?

Haunting, suspenseful and as chilling as an Icelandic winter, The Island follows one woman's journey to find the truth hidden in the darkest shadows and shine a light on her own dark past.]]>
336 Ragnar Jónasson 1250193370 Jane 4 3.73 2016 The Island (Hidden Iceland, #2)
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/20
date added: 2023/07/25
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The Mist (Hidden Iceland #3) 46125723
1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland.

The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't.

The couple should never have let him in. But they did.

An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer. Not all will survive the night. And Detective Hulda will be haunted forever.]]>
400 Ragnar Jónasson 0718189078 Jane 4 3.90 2012 The Mist (Hidden Iceland #3)
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/25
date added: 2023/07/25
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<![CDATA[Icelandic Folk Legends: Tales of apparitions, outlaws and things unseen]]> 19365313 102 Alda Sigmundsdóttir 9935917738 Jane 4 3.64 1997 Icelandic Folk Legends: Tales of apparitions, outlaws and things unseen
author: Alda Sigmundsdóttir
name: Jane
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland: Tips, tricks, and what the Icelanders really think of you]]> 35130718 Excerpt"Yes, Iceland’s landscape is treacherous, and there are dangers in both expected and unexpected places. Yet the most dangerous aspect of touring Iceland is not those hot springs, glaciers, or rogue waves, but something far more driving.

Iceland has a very low population density—only about three people per square kilometer, or eight per square mile. Building and maintaining an efficient road system obviously costs a few crowns, and hitherto the Icelanders have been, if not entirely satisfied, then at least reasonably content with their single-lane highways, gravel roads, and the mountainous F-roads that are generally only open in summer.

So here we are, merrily driving on our sub-standard roads and suddenly there is a tourist boom, resulting in far more cars on the road than ever before, including whole convoys of tour buses. This means increased wear and tear on roads that were already unsuitable for so much traffic and that require more frequent maintenance if they are to be kept safe. Also, many Icelandic roads are not built for the volume of traffic that they are now experiencing. For instance, shoulders have been known to collapse when a tour bus has moved too far over to one side of a narrow road, in order to make way for an oncoming vehicle. Thankfully there have been no serious injuries to people under such circumstances, but there have been enough scares to make people stand up and pay attention.

A related problem that has been growing ever more serious is the limited experience of many folks when it comes to the driving conditions endemic to Iceland. I am speaking of driving in strong winds, winter driving, two-lane highways, gravel roads, and so on. [...]

So the road system definitely needs a major overhaul. However, that is not an undertaking that can be completed overnight, and besides, it is entirely open to debate whether we want all those roads improved. More on that later.]]>
208 Alda Sigmundsdóttir Jane 5 4.08 The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland: Tips, tricks, and what the Icelanders really think of you
author: Alda Sigmundsdóttir
name: Jane
average rating: 4.08
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rating: 5
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Virgins (Outlander, #0.5) 29219252 A young Jamie Fraser learns what it really means to become a man in this Outlander prequel novella. Featuring all the trademark suspense, adventure, and history of Diana Gabaldon’s #1 bestselling novels and the Starz original series, Virgins is now available for the first time as a standalone ebook.

Mourning the death of his father and gravely injured at the hands of the English, Jamie Fraser finds himself running with a band of mercenaries in the French countryside, where he reconnects with his old friend Ian Murray. Both are nursing wounds; both have good reason to stay out of Scotland; and both are still virgins, despite several opportunities to remedy that deplorable situation with ladies of easy virtue. But Jamie’s love life becomes infinitely more complicated—and dangerous—when fate brings the young men into the service of Dr. Hasdi, a Jewish gentleman who hires them to escort two priceless treasures to Paris. One is an old Torah; the other is the doctor’s beautiful daughter, Rebekah, destined for an arranged marriage. Both Jamie and Ian are instantly drawn to the bride-to-be—but they might be more cautious if they had any idea who they’re truly dealing with.

Note: Originally published as part of the Dangerous Women anthology.]]>
86 Diana Gabaldon Jane 4 3.89 2013 Virgins (Outlander, #0.5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Jane
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/01
date added: 2023/07/01
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<![CDATA[The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America (Penguin Classics)]]> 103106 124 Unknown 0140441549 Jane 3 3.82 1965 The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America (Penguin Classics)
author: Unknown
name: Jane
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1965
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2023/07/01
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<![CDATA[The Darkness (Hidden Iceland #1)]]> 38480966
The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger.]]>
294 Ragnar Jónasson Jane 3 3.58 2015 The Darkness (Hidden Iceland #1)
author: Ragnar Jónasson
name: Jane
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/27
date added: 2023/07/01
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<![CDATA[The Little Book of the Icelanders: 50 miniature essays on the quirks and foibles of the Icelandic people]]> 23792266
Among the fascinating subjects broached in The Little Book of the Icelanders:

The appalling driving habits of the Icelanders
Naming conventions and customs
The Icelanders� profound fear of commitment
The irreverence of the Icelanders
Why Icelandic women are really men
How the Icelanders manage to make social interactions really complicated
The importance of the family in Icelandic society
Where to go to meet the real Icelanders (and possibly score some free financial advice)
Rituals associated with weddings, confirmations, graduations, and deaths
� and many, many more.

One chapter leads to the next, creating a continuous chain of storytelling. It feels as if you’re sitting in the author’s kitchen, enjoying a cup of coffee and conversing with her about the quirks of her countrymen, every now and then bursting out laughing. [...] I’m going to heartily recommend The Little Book of the Icelanders, both to fans of Sigmundsdóttir’s blog and those unfamiliar with her work.

- Iceland Review Online

There aren’t many books I’d recommend reading over morning coffee but The Little Book of the Iceanders is one of them. [...] I laughed at the essays in this book, not because I was laughing at Icelanders but because I recognize much of the behaviour in myself and members of my family. It felt good. It’s not just the sanest, most impressive characteristics that we pass on and share but also some of the zaniest. As I read this book, I frequently thought, yup, I’m definitely part Icelandic.

- Lögberg-Heimskringla, Canada]]>
101 Alda Sigmundsdóttir Jane 5 Very witty and entertaining. 4.11 2011 The Little Book of the Icelanders: 50 miniature essays on the quirks and foibles of the Icelandic people
author: Alda Sigmundsdóttir
name: Jane
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/22
date added: 2023/06/22
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Very witty and entertaining.
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<![CDATA[Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World]]> 58925007
Iceland is the best place on earth to be a woman—but why?

For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that enables its society to make such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world’s first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home?

The answer is found in the country’s sprakkar, an ancient Icelandic word meaning extraordinary or outstanding women.

Eliza Reid—Canadian born and raised, and now first lady of Iceland—examines her adopted homeland’s attitude toward women: the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Throughout, she interviews dozens of sprakkar to tell their inspirational stories, and expertly weaves in her own experiences as an immigrant from small-town Canada. The result is an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as equal than we may understand.

What makes many women’s experiences there so positive? And what can we learn about fairness to benefit our society?

Like influential and progressive first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Michelle Obama, Reid uses her platform to bring the best of her nation to the world. Secrets of the Sprakkar is a powerful and atmospheric portrait of a tiny country that could lead the way forward for us all.]]>
288 Eliza Reid 1728242169 Jane 5 3.78 2022 Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland's Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World
author: Eliza Reid
name: Jane
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/18
date added: 2023/06/19
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<![CDATA[The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III]]> 57240632 The last king of America, George III, has been ridiculed as a complete disaster who frittered away the colonies and went mad in his old age. The truth is much more nuanced and fascinating--and will completely change the way readers and historians view his reign and legacy.

Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon--a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities. The best-known modern interpretation of him is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting, and pompous take in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway masterpiece. But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of eighteenth-century revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, who needed to make the king appear evil in order to achieve their own political aims. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth: George III was in fact a wise, humane, and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers, and disastrous luck.

In The Last King of America, Roberts paints a deft and nuanced portrait of the much-maligned monarch and outlines his accomplishments, which have been almost universally forgotten. Two hundred and forty-five years after the end of George III's American rule, it is time for Americans to look back on their last king with greater understanding: to see him as he was and to come to terms with the last time they were ruled by a monarch.]]>
784 Andrew Roberts 198487926X Jane 5 4.21 2021 The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III
author: Andrew Roberts
name: Jane
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/18
date added: 2023/06/19
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This was a very long book and there was way more detail about political issues than I was really interested in. However, the details about George III as a person were fascinating. I found Roberts' argument that George III was dedicated to being a constitutional monarch, and anything but a tyrant, compelling. He provides voluminous evidence from letters and diaries to support his view of George as a well-meaning, and, in most respects, an effective and popular king.
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If We're Being Honest 60784393 For fans of We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange and All Adults Here by Emma Straub, Cat Shook’s debut novel If We’re Being Honest is the snappy, smart, heartwarming story of the Williams family, and the sweltering summer that rewrote their history.

When Gerry, the beloved Williams patriarch, dies suddenly, his grandchildren flock from across the country to the family home in Eulalia, Georgia. But when Gerry’s best friend steps up to the microphone to deliver his eulogy, the funeral turns out unlike anyone expected. The cousins, left reeling and confused, cope with their fresh grief and various private dramas. Delia, recently heartbroken, refuses to shut up about her ex. Her sister Alice, usually confident, flusters when she spots her high school sweetheart, hiding a secret that will change both of their lives. Outspoken, affable Grant is preening in the afterglow of his recent appearance on The Bachelorette and looking to reignite an old flame with the least available person in town. Meanwhile, his younger brother Red, unsure of himself and easily embarrassed, desperately searches for a place in the boisterous family.

The cousins� eccentric parents are in tow, too, and equally lost—in love and in life. Watching over them all is Ellen, Gerry’s sweet and proper widow, who does her best to keep her composure in front of the leering small town.

Clever and completely original, If We’re Being Honest reminds you that while no one can break your heart like your family can, there’s really no one better to put you back together.]]>
304 Cat Shook 1250847540 Jane 5 3.42 2023 If We're Being Honest
author: Cat Shook
name: Jane
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/03
date added: 2023/06/04
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Birnam Wood 60784757 Birnam Wood is on the move . . .

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker--or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama, and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.]]>
432 Eleanor Catton 0374110336 Jane 0 to-read 3.79 2023 Birnam Wood
author: Eleanor Catton
name: Jane
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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Small Things Like These 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]>
128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Jane 5 4.14 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: Jane
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/31
date added: 2023/06/01
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Independent People 77287 Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.

Having spent eighteen years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to him. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, Independent People is simply a masterpiece]]>
482 Halldór Laxness 0679767924 Jane 4 4.13 1934 Independent People
author: Halldór Laxness
name: Jane
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1934
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/30
date added: 2023/05/31
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<![CDATA[Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth]]> 60320696
"An impassioned, informative love letter to Iceland." � New York Times Book Review

" This compelling and highly readable book offers a thought-provoking examination of nature of belief itself" � Bookpage , starred review

In exploring how Icelanders interact with nature—and their idea that elves live among us—Nancy Marie Brown shows us how altering our perceptions of the environment can be a crucial first step toward saving it.

Icelanders believe in elves.

Why does that make you laugh?, asks Nancy Marie Brown, in this wonderfully quirky exploration of our interaction with nature. Looking for answers in history, science, religion, and art—from ancient times to today—Brown finds that each discipline defines what is real and unreal, natural and supernatural, demonstrated and theoretical, alive and inert. Each has its own way of perceiving and valuing the world around us. And each discipline defines what an Icelander might call an elf.

Illuminated by her own encounters with Iceland’s Otherworld—in ancient lava fields, on a holy mountain, beside a glacier or an erupting volcano, crossing the cold desert at the island’s heart on horseback� Looking for the Hidden Folk offers an intimate conversation about how we look at and find value in nature. It reveals how the words we use and the stories we tell shape the world we see. It argues that our beliefs about the Earth will preserve—or destroy it.

Scientists name our time the the Human Age. Climate change will lead to the mass extinction of numerous animal species unless we humans change our course. Iceland suggests a different way of thinking about the Earth, one that offers hope. Icelanders believe in elves� and you should, too.]]>
288 Nancy Marie Brown 1639362282 Jane 0 to-read 3.40 Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth
author: Nancy Marie Brown
name: Jane
average rating: 3.40
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<![CDATA[The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman]]> 1631447 306 Nancy Marie Brown 015101440X Jane 4 3.66 2007 The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman
author: Nancy Marie Brown
name: Jane
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/30
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Palace of Books 60320512
When young Patricia’s family moves to Battle Creek, Michigan, she finds it hard to believe this new place will ever feel like home. But soon she meets the kind librarian Mrs. Creavy and discovers the library’s doors are always open. Now, Patricia has a place to explore and study books about the birds that she loves. Mrs. Creavy even introduces her to the books of John James Audubon and helps Patricia introduce her classmates to the joy of birds by becoming the first member of the Audubon Bird Club of Freemont Elementary.]]>
56 Patricia Polacco 1534451315 Jane 0 4.23 2023 Palace of Books
author: Patricia Polacco
name: Jane
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/24
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The Covenant of Water 62687857 From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala's Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. Imbued with humor, deep emotion, and the essence of life, it is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.]]>
724 Abraham Verghese Jane 0 to-read 4.42 2023 The Covenant of Water
author: Abraham Verghese
name: Jane
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]>
382 Richard Osman Jane 0 to-read 3.87 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Jane
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret]]> 17884207
But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have religion, and that she isn’t going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. What they don’t know is Margaret has her own very special relationship with God. She can talk to God about everything—family, friends, even Moose Freed, her secret crush.

Margaret is funny and real, and her thoughts and feelings are oh-so-relatable—you’ll feel like she’s talking right to you, sharing her secrets with a friend.]]>
150 Judy Blume Jane 5 4.32 1970 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
author: Judy Blume
name: Jane
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/11
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Rick Steves Iceland 52851473 Hike vast glaciers, marvel at steaming volcanic lakes, and explore the land of the midnight sun: with Rick Steves, Iceland is yours to explore! Inside Rick Steves Iceland you'll find:
Comprehensive itineraries that can be adapted for 24-hour layovers, 5-day visits, 2-week trips, and more, including the best road trips in Iceland from the Ring Road to the Golden Circle Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from the stunning northern lights to hidden hikes and cozy bookstores How to connect with local culture: Soak in hidden hot springs, sample smoked fish, and chat with locals in moody and welcoming rural towns Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax Self-guided walking tours of lively Reykjavík and art and history museums and mile-by-mile scenic driving tours Detailed maps for exploring on the go Useful resources including a packing list, an Icelandic phrase book, a historical overview, and recommended reading Over 500 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down Complete, up-to-date information on Reykjavík, the Reykjanes Peninsula, the Golden Circle, the South Coast, the Westman Islands, West Iceland, The Ring Road, the East Fjords, and more Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Iceland.

Expanding your trip? Try Rick Steves Scandinavia or Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports.
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608 Rick Steves 1641712449 Jane 0 4.17 Rick Steves Iceland
author: Rick Steves
name: Jane
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/04
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<![CDATA[Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners, #2)]]> 197743 Why is Lady Sophia looking for a lover?
And could she seduce the most marriageable man in London?

Lady Sophia Sydney would do anything to ensnare the unattainable Sir Ross Cannon. Her goal: to ruin his reputation and cause a scandal that would be the talk of all London. So she insinuates herself into his life by gaining his trust and living in his house.

Every morning, her lush presence tempts him beyond all reason . . . the way she bends over the table to serve him the meals she has prepared . . . the way her hands oh, so gently—yet sensuously—brush against him. Every night, she promises with her eyes—and her body—that the hours before dawn could be spent in unbridled passion instead of restless sleep—if only he'd let her share his bed.

She knows he is falling more in love with her each day. But she never counted on falling in love with him. And she never dreamed he might very respectably ask for her hand in marriage.]]>
377 Lisa Kleypas 0380811065 Jane 4 3.94 2002 Lady Sophia's Lover (Bow Street Runners, #2)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2023/04/30
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<![CDATA[Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships]]> 60407689 Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Four years before Nina Totenberg was hired at NPR, where she cemented her legacy as a prizewinning reporter, and nearly twenty-two years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Nina called Ruth. A reporter for The National Observer, Nina was curious about Ruth’s legal brief, asking the Supreme Court to do something declare a law that discriminated “on the basis of sex� to be unconstitutional. In a time when women were fired for becoming pregnant, often could not apply for credit cards or get a mortgage in their own names, Ruth patiently explained her argument. That call launched a remarkable, nearly fifty-year friendship. Dinners with Ruth is an extraordinary account of two women who paved the way for future generations by tearing down professional and legal barriers. It is also an intimate memoir of the power of friendships as women began to pry open career doors and transform the workplace. At the story’s heart is one, special Ruth and Nina saw each other not only through personal joys, but also illness, loss, and widowhood. During the devastating illness and eventual death of Nina’s first husband, Ruth drew her out of grief; twelve years later, Nina would reciprocate when Ruth’s beloved husband died. They shared not only a love of opera, but also of shopping, as they instinctively understood that clothes were armor for women who wanted to be taken seriously in a workplace dominated by men. During Ruth’s last year, they shared so many small dinners that Saturdays were “reserved for Ruth� in Nina’s house. Dinners with Ruth also weaves together compelling, personal portraits of other fascinating women and men from Nina’s life, including her cherished NPR colleagues Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer; her beloved husbands; her friendships with multiple Supreme Court Justices, including Lewis Powell, William Brennan, and Antonin Scalia, and Nina’s own family—her father, the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg, and her “best friends,� her sisters. Inspiring and revelatory, Dinners with Ruth is a moving story of the joy and true meaning of friendship.]]> 320 Nina Totenberg 1982188081 Jane 5 4.03 2022 Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships
author: Nina Totenberg
name: Jane
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/24
date added: 2023/04/25
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<![CDATA[Worth Any Price (Bow Street Runners, #3)]]> 114168 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780380811076

Nick Gentry is reputed to be the most skillful lover in all England. Known for solving delicate situations, he is hired to seek out Miss Charlotte Howard. He believes his mission will be easily accomplished - but that was before he met the lady in question.

For instead of a willful female, he discovers one in desperate circumstances, hiding from a man who could destroy her very soul. So Nick shockingly offers her a very different kind of proposition - one he has never offered before.

He asks her to be his bride.

And he knows that this will be much more than a union in name only. For he senses what Charlotte does not yet know - that her appetite for sensuality matches his own. But what Nick learns surprises him. For while London's most notorious lover might claim Charlotte's body, he quickly discovers it will take much more than passion to win her love]]>
388 Lisa Kleypas Jane 5 4.00 2003 Worth Any Price (Bow Street Runners, #3)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/22
date added: 2023/04/22
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Art and Fear 187633 122 David Bayles 0961454733 Jane 0 to-read 3.77 1994 Art and Fear
author: David Bayles
name: Jane
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/22
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<![CDATA[A Wedding in Springtime (Marriage Mart, #1)]]> 15942623 Her Timing Couldn't Be Worse...

Miss Eugenia Talbot's presentation to the queen is spoiled by a serious faux pas—the despicable William Grant made her laugh, right in front of Her Majesty. Now Eugenia is ruined and had better marry—someone, anyone—at once...

And His Couldn't Be Better...

Roguish William Grant has never taken anything seriously in his life. Until he meets Eugenia Talbot, who makes him feel and do thing he never thought he would.

Now Eugenia's great sense of humor and kindheartedness may be her undoing, unless William can help her find a husband. To his surprise, that's the last thing he wants to do...]]>
391 Amanda Forester 1402271786 Jane 4 3.54 2013 A Wedding in Springtime (Marriage Mart, #1)
author: Amanda Forester
name: Jane
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2023/04/14
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<![CDATA[Earl Interrupted (The Daring Marriages, #2)]]> 35023940
Amateur physician Emma St. James is on her way to meet her betrothed when she is rescued by an injured gentleman. Despite her shock after discovering he is the Pirate Earl, Emma feels drawn to the man who saved her life. Duty forces them apart, but when they meet again on the high seas, Darington will risk all—his fortune, his name, and even his life to keep her safe.]]>
384 Amanda Forester 1492605522 Jane 5 3.62 2018 Earl Interrupted (The Daring Marriages, #2)
author: Amanda Forester
name: Jane
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/14
date added: 2023/04/14
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<![CDATA[If the Earl Only Knew (The Daring Marriages, #1)]]> 25827706 The chase is on in award-winning author Amanda Forester's brand-new Regency romance series!

A sizzling scandal just waiting to happen�

Orphaned at a young age, Lady Katherine Ashton and her brother have spent most of their lives on the high seas, seeking to restore their family fortune through somewhat dubious means. After that kind of adventure, Kate knows she won't ever be accepted as a proper society lady.

To the annoyingly clever, temptingly handsome, and altogether troublesome Earl of Wynbrook, society ladies are a dead bore. Kate, on the other hand, is scandalous, alluring, and altogether fascinating. And Kate can't decide which she relishes more, the thrill of chasing fearsome pirates, or having Wynbrook chase after her...]]>
404 Amanda Forester 1492605492 Jane 5 3.54 2016 If the Earl Only Knew (The Daring Marriages, #1)
author: Amanda Forester
name: Jane
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/08
date added: 2023/04/14
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<![CDATA[When Strangers Marry (Vallerands, #1)]]> 693017
Nearly a decade ago, I published my first novel with Avon Books, Only in Your Arms. Since then, romance has changed-and so have I—so I decided to give the book a makeover—and a new title, When Strangers Marry. I have two reasons for changing the title. First, it is in keeping with the new spirit of the book; second, no one—including my own mother—found the original one memorable!

In When Strangers Marry, I had a great time rediscovering the story of Maximilien Vallerand and his stolen bride, Lysette. The promise of this handsome, though mysterious, man's love proves irresistable to her, but she doesn't know the secrets he hides.

I hope you will enjoy revisiting the Vallerand family, or perhaps meeting them for the first time. And, as always thank you for your support and encouragement, as we escape together into the magical world of romance novels.

Wishing you love and happiness,

Lisa]]>
390 Lisa Kleypas 0060507365 Jane 5 3.66 1992 When Strangers Marry (Vallerands, #1)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/12
date added: 2023/04/14
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<![CDATA[My Highland Rebel (Highland Trouble, #2)]]> 30014123 Second in a passionate, fast-paced Scottish Highlander romance series from critically acclaimed author Amanda Forester

A conquering hero
Cormac Maclean would rather read than rampage, but his fearsome warlord father demands that he prove himself in war. Cormac chooses what he thinks is an easy target, only to encounter a fiery Highland lass leading a doomed rebellion and swearing revenge on him.

Meets an unconquerable heroine
Jyne Cambell is not about to give up her castle without a fight, even though her forces are far outnumbered. She's proud, hot-blooded and hot-tempered, and Cormac falls for her hard.

It's going to take all of Cormac's ingenuity to get Jyne to surrender gracefully-both to his sword and to his heart...

Highland Trouble Series:
The Highlander's Bride (Book 1)
My Highland Rebel (Book 2)

Praise for The Highlander's Bride:
"Another winner from Forester!" -RT Book Reviews 4 1/2 Stars, Reviewer Top Pick!]]>
416 Amanda Forester 1492605468 Jane 5 3.56 2017 My Highland Rebel (Highland Trouble, #2)
author: Amanda Forester
name: Jane
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/27
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<![CDATA[Only With Your Love (Vallerands, #2)]]> 228926
The most notorious pirate of the open seas, he is called "the Griffin"—a rugged and powerful renegade who arouses within Celia desires as dangerous as they are irresistible. But the magnificent adventurer is a man trapped in a perilous deception—and he guards a shocking secret that could deny him the love of the gossamer-haired enchantress who stirs his manly passions and enslaves his heart.]]>
416 Lisa Kleypas 0380761513 Jane 5 3.76 1992 Only With Your Love (Vallerands, #2)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1992
rating: 5
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Hot Dog 58065383 From a critically acclaimed creator comes this summery picture book featuring an overheated--and overwhelmed--pup who finds his calm with some sea, sand, and fresh air.

It's summer in the city, and this hot dog has had enough! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people's feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a crosswalk, his owner endeavors to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train, and ferries out to the beach.

Here, a pup can run!

With fluid art and lyrical text that have the soothing effect of waves on sand, Doug Salati shows us how to find calm and carry it back with us so we can appreciate the small joys in a day.
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40 Doug Salati 0593308433 Jane 5 4.29 2022 Hot Dog
author: Doug Salati
name: Jane
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/19
date added: 2023/03/19
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Just Like Grandma 60980155 In this lyrical picture book by Kim Rogers (Wichita), with illustrations by Boston Globe-Horn Book Honoree Julie Flett (Cree-M�tis), Becca watches her grandma create, play, and dance--and she knows that she wants to be just like Grandma.

Becca loves spending time with Grandma. Every time Becca says, "Let me try," Grandma shows her how to make something beautiful.

Whether they are beading moccasins, dancing like the most beautiful butterflies, or practicing basketball together, Becca knows that, more than anything, she wants to be just like Grandma.

And as the two share their favorite activities, Becca discovers something surprising about Grandma.

Features an author's note and glossary.]]>
32 Kim Rogers 0063049244 Jane 0 to-read 4.37 2023 Just Like Grandma
author: Kim Rogers
name: Jane
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism]]> 63249703
It’s OK to be angry about capitalism. Reflecting on our turbulent times, Senator Bernie Sanders takes on the billionaire class and speaks blunt truths about our country’s failure to address the destructive nature of a system that is fueled by uncontrolled greed and rigidly committed to prioritizing corporate profits over the needs of ordinary Americans.

Sanders argues that unfettered capitalism is to blame for an unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality, is undermining our democracy, and is destroying our planet. How can we accept an economic order that allows three billionaires to control more wealth than the bottom half of our society? How can we accept a political system that allows the super rich to buy elections and politicians? How can we accept an energy system that rewards the fossil fuel corporations causing the climate crisis? Sanders believes that, in the face of these overwhelming challenges, the American people must ask tough questions about the systems that have failed us and demand fundamental economic and political change. This is where the path forward begins.

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism presents a vision that extends beyond the promises of past campaigns to reveal what would be possible if the political revolution took place, if we would finally recognize that economic rights are human rights, and if we would work to create a society that provides a decent standard of living for all. This isn’t some utopian fantasy; this is democracy as we should know it.]]>
320 Bernie Sanders 0593238710 Jane 5 4.09 2023 It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
author: Bernie Sanders
name: Jane
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/01
date added: 2023/03/16
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<![CDATA[Someone to Watch Over Me (Bow Street Runners, #1)]]> 353937 Alternative cover editions for this ISBN can be found here and here.

Grant Morgan is one of London's most eligible and unattainable bachelors. He's also a powerful member of the Bow Street Runners, and when he's called to the waterfront late one night to investigate a drowning victim, Grant is stunned to recognize the face of Vivien Rose Duvall, a well-known woman of the night. He's even more startled when he realizes that she's alive. With no one to care for her, Grant carries Vivien to his home and revives her, only to learn that she is suffering from amnesia.

Vivien hesitantly accepts her handsome rescuer's claim that she is his mistress, despite her misgivings about her true identity. Nevertheless, she can't deny the marks on her throat that prove her near-drowning in the Thames was not an accident, and now she must trust the man who claims her as his paramour, for her life is in danger. As Grant searches for Vivien's attacker, the two find themselves falling in love, all the while struggling to stay one step ahead of the evil forces that will stop at nothing to see Vivien dead.]]>
362 Lisa Kleypas 0380802309 Jane 5 3.75 1998 Someone to Watch Over Me (Bow Street Runners, #1)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/11
date added: 2023/03/15
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Our Missing Hearts 60197169 352 Celeste Ng 0593492552 Jane 5 4.07 2022 Our Missing Hearts
author: Celeste Ng
name: Jane
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/11
date added: 2023/03/11
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The Architect's Apprentice 25401260
A memorable story of artistic freedom, creativity, and the clash between science and fundamentalism, Shafak’s intricate novel brims with vibrant characters, intriguing adventure, and the lavish backdrop of the Ottoman court, where love and loyalty are no match for raw power.]]>
464 Elif Shafak 0241970946 Jane 0 to-read 3.94 2013 The Architect's Apprentice
author: Elif Shafak
name: Jane
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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Hamnet 43890641 Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.

A New York Times Notable Book (2020), Best Book of 2020: Guardian, Financial Times, Literary Hub, and NPR.]]>
372 Maggie O'Farrell 1472223799 Jane 5 4.16 2020 Hamnet
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: Jane
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/01
date added: 2023/02/21
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I love historical fiction, but I usually prefer books that deal with a time rather than focusing on historical figures and thus require making up a lot about them that isn't known. This book with Shakespeare as one of the central characters was an exception for me. Shakespeare's character is well drawn and feels authentic, but what was most compelling for me was that his wife and son and their perspectives were at the heart of the book. This was one of my favorite books in a long time.
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<![CDATA[Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher, #3)]]> 62214893
The world has changed. Now, when someone is murdered, they almost always come back to life—and there are professionals, called "dispatchers," who kill in order to save lives, to give those near the end a second chance. Tony Valdez is a dispatcher, and he has never been busier.

But for as much as the world has changed, some things have stayed the same. Greed, corruption and avarice are still in full swing. When Tony is called to a Chicago emergency room by an old friend and fellow dispatcher, he is suddenly and unwillingly thrown into a whirlpool of schemes and plots involving billions of dollars, with vast caches of wealth ranging from real estate to cryptocurrency up for grabs.

All Tony wants to do is keep his friend safe. But it’s hard to do when friends keep secrets, enemies offer seductive deals, and nothing is ever what it seems. The world has changed... but the stakes are still life and death.

©2022 John Scalzi (P)2022 Audible Originals, LLC.]]>
3 John Scalzi Jane 4 3.97 2022 Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher, #3)
author: John Scalzi
name: Jane
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/21
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<![CDATA[Murder by Other Means (The Dispatcher, #2)]]> 55291869 4 John Scalzi Jane 4 4.01 2020 Murder by Other Means (The Dispatcher, #2)
author: John Scalzi
name: Jane
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/21
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<![CDATA[The Dispatcher (The Dispatcher, #1)]]> 26082188 Listening Length: 2 hours and 18 minutes

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge a supposed wrong.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.


Zachary Quinto - best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes - brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella.]]>
2 John Scalzi Jane 4 3.97 2016 The Dispatcher (The Dispatcher, #1)
author: John Scalzi
name: Jane
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/19
date added: 2023/02/21
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David Copperfield 58696 882 Charles Dickens Jane 5 4.02 1850 David Copperfield
author: Charles Dickens
name: Jane
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1850
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/17
date added: 2023/02/17
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Where Dreams Begin 109580 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780380802319

Lisa Kleypas delivers the unforgettable, sexy tale of a brash rogue who meets his equal in a woman who knows exactly what she wants...

Zachary Bronson has built an empire of wealth and power. Now, he is seeking a wife to help secure his position in the ton... as well as warm his bed in private. But not just any woman will do for one of London's most notorious rakes. When he meets Lady Holly Taylor, he surrenders to the temptation to take her in his arms and kiss her. Yet, he's pleasantly surprised to discover her fierce passions match his own.

Lady Holly Taylor is destined to spend her life playing by society's rules, even when they go against her bolder instincts. But Zachary's kiss arouses her, and though his shocking offer doesn't include marriage, she is compelled to risk everything for the most forbidden passion.

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373 Lisa Kleypas Jane 4 3.96 2000 Where Dreams Begin
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/13
date added: 2023/02/17
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<![CDATA[The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times]]> 61355265 #1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER - ONE OF TIME'S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2022 - In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world.

There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life's big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles--the earned wisdom that helps her continue to "become." She details her most valuable practices, like "starting kind," "going high," and assembling a "kitchen table" of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.

"When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it," writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.]]>
319 Michelle Obama 0593237463 Jane 5 4.26 2022 The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
author: Michelle Obama
name: Jane
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/31
date added: 2023/02/17
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Demon Copperhead 60317128 Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It's the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]>
550 Barbara Kingsolver Jane 5 4.58 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jane
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/09
date added: 2023/02/17
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Kingsolver's authentic narrator helped me better understand the roots of so much addiction and the overwhelming challenges people face overcoming such addiction. And, now I need to go back and reread David Copperfield!
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<![CDATA[Because You're Mine (Capitol Theatre, #2)]]> 114172 "I don't care about your conscience. All I want is for you to kiss me again."

Lady Madeline Matthews would rather shame herself than sacrifice her freedom—which is why, to avoid a marriage to an aging, lecherous lord, she seeks out the company of Logan Scott. A torrid affair with the notorious womanizer would surely condemn her in the eyes of good society.

Though a legend in the bedchamber, Logan is, in truth, an intensely private man tormented by past betrayals. Now a forward little minx is disrupting his life with her vibrant charm and unspoiled beauty, a high-spirited enchantress completely at sea in London's sophisticated whirl. But when what begins with a kiss threatens to blossom into something more rapturous and real, will Logan and Madeline have the courage to drop the masks they hide behind in the name of love?


Librarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition - ISBN 10: 0380781441; ISBN 13: 9780380781447]]>
376 Lisa Kleypas Jane 5 3.94 1997 Because You're Mine (Capitol Theatre, #2)
author: Lisa Kleypas
name: Jane
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/29
date added: 2023/01/31
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