Lisa's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 21:26:54 -0700 60 Lisa's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Four Winds 53496907
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.]]> 464 Kristin Hannah 1250178622 Lisa 5 ]]> 4.44 2021 The Four Winds
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
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Captivating. I couldn't put it down.

]]> By Any Other Name 203337138 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 528 Jodi Picoult 0593497228 Lisa 5 4.12 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> <![CDATA[The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World]]> 208840291 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love.

Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”]]> 112 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1668072246 Lisa 5 4.39 2024 The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> Andersen's Fairy Tales 52763979 The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, and Frozen­—which was based on “The Snow Queen�) and have become part of our everyday speech, such as when we talk about “ugly ducklings� and “the emperor’s new clothes.�

Transcending generations, language, and nationality, these stories continue to delight and enlighten us in equal measure.

Revised edition: Previously published as Andersen's Fairy Tales, this edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.]]> 177 Hans Christian Andersen 1542019338 Lisa 4 3.82 1835 Andersen's Fairy Tales
author: Hans Christian Andersen
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1835
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)]]> 40914165 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 978-1492671527 can be found here.

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.]]> 309 Kim Michele Richardson Lisa 0 currently-reading 4.17 2019 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)
author: Kim Michele Richardson
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder]]> 156599
Some startling By the 1990s the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. Today, average eight-year-olds are better able to identify cartoon characters than native species, such as beetles and oak trees, in their own community. The rate at which doctors prescribe antidepressants to children has doubled in the last five years, and recent studies show that too much computer use spells trouble for the developing mind.

Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and they're right in our own backyards. Last child in the Woods is the first book to bring together cutting-edge research showing that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development―physical, emotional, and spiritual. What's more, nature is a potent therapy for depression, obesity, and ADD. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Even creativity is stimulated by childhood experiences in nature.

Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fears of traffic, strangers, even virus-carrying mosquitoes―fears the media exploit―that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.

Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods," and this book is the first step toward that nature-child reunion.]]> 310 Richard Louv 1565125223 Lisa 0 to-read 3.92 2005 Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
author: Richard Louv
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)]]> 150247395
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.]]> 410 Robert Jackson Bennett 1984820702 Lisa 0 to-read, 1st-of-trilogy 4.28 2024 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)]]> 213618143 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 465 Robert Jackson Bennett 0593723821 Lisa 0 to-read 4.57 2025 A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> The River Has Roots 211004176 Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.�

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters� bond but also their lives will be at risk…]]> 133 Amal El-Mohtar 1250341086 Lisa 0 to-read 4.21 2025 The River Has Roots
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> The Eights 216522711 They didn't know they would change each other.

Following the unlikely friendship of four of the first ever women to matriculate at Oxford University in the aftermath of the First World War, a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination and the many forms courage can take.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students. Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto (collectively known as The Eights) have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford - where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

But Oxford's dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever.]]> 384 Joanna Miller 0593851412 Lisa 0 to-read 4.02 2025 The Eights
author: Joanna Miller
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Wild Dark Shore 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]> 303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 Lisa 0 to-read 4.32 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

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

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

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

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Lisa 5 4.59 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
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]]> The Ministry of Time 220160351 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 368 Kaliane Bradley 166804515X Lisa 0 to-read 3.65 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> The Book of Doors 156480764
In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It's a book - an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .

What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.

But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals - individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.

Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons - a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .

Because some doors should never be opened.]]> 408 Gareth Brown 1787637247 Lisa 5 4.04 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> The Night Circus 9361589
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 506 Erin Morgenstern Lisa 0 to-read 4.00 2011 The Night Circus
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Lisa 0 to-read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)]]> 29354916
But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.]]> 424 John Grisham 0385541201 Lisa 4 3.96 2016 The Whistler (The Whistler, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
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]]> The Maid (Molly the Maid #1) 57777139 A dead body is one mess she can't clean up on her own.

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanour has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black. But will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

Both a Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different--and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0735241333 Lisa 0 to-read 3.72 2022 The Maid (Molly the Maid #1)
author: Nita Prose
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn & Chee, #2)]]> 425100 255 Tony Hillerman 0061000027 Lisa 0 to-read 3.98 1973 Dance Hall of the Dead (Leaphorn & Chee, #2)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)]]> 867387 Alternate cover edition can be found here.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high lonely place, a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer. There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn's pursuit of a Wolf-Witch is leading him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder.]]> 306 Tony Hillerman 0061000019 Lisa 0 to-read 3.99 1970 The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 125088120X Lisa 0 to-read 4.17 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/16
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]]> Playground 205478762 The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.]]> 381 Richard Powers 1324086033 Lisa 4 4.16 2024 Playground
author: Richard Powers
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[A Cyclist's Guide to Crime & Croissants]]> 197522434 A Cyclist's Guide Mystery

Vicariously tour the sundrenched Mediterranean Coast in this perfectly escapist new cozy mystery series starring American expat-turned-bike tour company owner in Southern France.

Perfect for fans of Donna Leon’s The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries, M.L. Longworth’s Provençal Mystery series, and armchair travel!

Nine months ago, Sadie Greene shocked friends and family by ditching her sensible office job in the Chicago suburbs and buying a sight-unseen French bicycling tour company, Oui Cycle. Now she’s living the unconventional life of her dreams in the gorgeous village of Sans-Souci-sur-Mer. Sans souci means carefree, but Sadie feels enough pressure to burst a tire when hometown friends arrive for a tour, including her former boss, Dom Appleton. Sadie is determined to show them the wonders of France and cycling—and to prove she made the right move.

She hopes her meticulously planned nine-day itinerary will win them over, with its stunning seascapes, delicious wine tastings, hilltop villages, and, of course, frequent stops for croissants. When Dom drags his heels on fun, Sadie vows he’ll enjoy if it kills her. That is, until Dom ends up dead. The tragedy was no accident. Someone went out of their way to bring a permanent end to Dom’s vacation.

As more crimes—and murder—roll in, suspicions hover over Oui Cycle. To save her dream business, help her friends, and bring justice, Sadie launches her own investigation. However, mysteries mount with every turn. On an uphill battle for clues, can Sadie come to terms with her painful past while spinning closer to the truth—or will a twisted killer put the brakes on her for good?]]> 346 Ann Claire 149674568X Lisa 5 3.50 2024 A Cyclist's Guide to Crime & Croissants
author: Ann Claire
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark]]> 204594104 On this imperiled planet, nature’s magic still exists, often in the places we least expect it.

Night Magic is a glorious celebration of the dark! New York Times bestselling nature writer Leigh Ann Henion makes the case for embracing night as a profoundly beautiful part of the world we inhabit—and she invites us to leave our well-lit homes and step outside. It turns out we don’t have to go far to find marvels: We are surrounded by animals that rise with the moon, gigantic moths, and nocturnal blooms that reveal themselves, incrementally, as light fades. In her quest to know night with greater intimacy, Henion travels through forests alight with bioluminescent mushrooms and mountain valleys teeming with migratory salamanders. She ventures into the dark alongside naturalists, biologists, primitive-skills experts, and others who’ve dedicated their lives to cultivating relationships with darkness and the creatures who depend on it.

Every page of this lyrical book feels like an opportunity to ask: How did I not know about this before? For example, we learn that it can take hours, not minutes, for human eyes to reach full night vision capacity. And that there are thousands of firefly species on earth, each with flash patterns as unique as fingerprints—with one million tourists making pilgrimages to witness synchronous fireflies every year. In this age of increasing artificial light, Night Magic is an invitation to focus on the biodiversity that surrounds us. We do not need to stargaze into the distant cosmos or to dive into the depths of oceans to find awe in the dark—when we reclaim night, dazzling wonders can be found in our own backyards.]]> 336 Leigh Ann Henion 1643753363 Lisa 3 4.32 Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark
author: Leigh Ann Henion
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
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]]> The River We Remember 199797829 In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.]]> 448 William Kent Krueger 1982179228 Lisa 5 4.22 2023 The River We Remember
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Dragonquest (Dragonriders of Pern, #2)]]> 127584
But F'lar knew he had to find a better way to protect his beloved Pern, and he had to find it before the rebellious Oldtimers could breed anymore dissent... before his brother F'nor would be foolhardy enough to launch another suicide mission... and before those dratted fire-lizards could stir up any more trouble!]]> 350 Anne McCaffrey Lisa 0 4.08 1971 Dragonquest (Dragonriders of Pern, #2)
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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]]> Dragondrums (Harper Hall, #3) 28553
Mischievous Piemur is used to getting away with a lot. He has one of the most impressive voices at Harper Hall and, in the world of Pern, there are few things more important than the ability to sing and write songs. But when his voice begins to change, Piemur loses all confidence and questions everything he thought he knew about himself.

No longer capable of singing, Piemur is sent on various errands by Masterharper Robinton, including the task of learning the complicated beats of the messenger drums. Piemur has no clue of the grand adventures that await him, and he’ll need to find the courage within himself to survive.]]> 243 Anne McCaffrey 0689860064 Lisa 0 4.08 1979 Dragondrums (Harper Hall, #3)
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Masterharper of Pern (Pern, #14)]]> 24870
But Petiron, almost from the first day, had no time for his son, refusing to see the incredible talent the boy possessed, ignoring his achievements and maintaining a strict and disapproving vigilance over him at all times.

Carefully, secretly, the Harper Hall took over, training the greatest talent Pern had ever seen - a talent that was more than just musical, for Robinton was able to talk to the dragons of Pern.

As constant sadness beset his personal life, so a startling career sent him like a meteor through the Holds and Weyrs of Pern until, as MasterHarper, he became part of the great plan to rescue Lessa from the brutal rule of Holder Fax - Lessa, who was to be the saviour of the dragons of Pern.]]> 463 Anne McCaffrey 0552142743 Lisa 0 4.25 1998 The Masterharper of Pern (Pern, #14)
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Dragonsinger (Harper Hall, #2)]]> 28547
In the world of Pern, Harpers are more powerful than kings, for the music they play can control the minds of others. For young Menolly, her dreams of becoming a Harper have nothing to do with power, but rather her love of music. Now she is finally living out her musical dreams as an apprentice Harper, but it’s turning out to be more challenging than she thought. Formerly forbidden to study music because of her gender, Menolly quickly encounters hostility from a number of her male peers and masters.

With the help of new friends, teachers, and her nine tiny, colorful dragons, Menolly finds that her musical talents may be stronger than anyone could imagine.]]> 288 Anne McCaffrey 0689860072 Lisa 0 4.27 1977 Dragonsinger (Harper Hall, #2)
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 13642
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.]]> 183 Ursula K. Le Guin Lisa 0 4.02 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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]]> Dragonsong (Harper Hall, #1) 28541 Fifteen-year-old Menolly allies with magnificent dragons in the first book in the Harper Hall trilogy, set within science fiction legend Anne McCaffrey’s beloved and bestselling Dragonriders of Pern series.

For centuries, the world of Pern has faced a destructive force known as Thread. But the number of magnificent dragons who have protected this world and the men and women who ride them are dwindling.

As fewer dragons ride the winds and destruction falls from the sky, Menolly has only one to sing, play, and weave the music that comes to her so easily—she wishes to become a Harper. But despite her great talents, her father believes that a young girl is unworthy of such a respected position and forbids her to pursue her dreams. So Menolly runs away, taking shelter in a cave by the sea. Miraculously, she happens upon nine fire lizards that could possibly save her world...and change her life forever.]]> 192 Anne McCaffrey 141692499X Lisa 0 4.23 1976 Dragonsong (Harper Hall, #1)
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1976
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)]]> 140225
The Dawn Treader is the first ship Narnia has seen in centuries. King Caspian has built it for his voyage to find the seven lords, good men whom his evil uncle Miraz banished when he usurped the throne. The journey takes Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace to the Eastern Islands, beyond the Silver Sea, toward Aslan's country at the End of the World.]]> 248 C.S. Lewis 006112527X Lisa 0 4.10 1952 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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]]> The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

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

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 490 Liz Moore Lisa 0 to-read 4.16 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> This Tender Land 25813942
After committing a terrible crime, Odie and Albert are forced to flee for their lives along with their best friend, Mose, a mute young man of Sioux heritage. Out of pity, they also take with them a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy. Together, they steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi in search for a place to call home.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphan vagabonds journey into the unknown, crossing paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, bighearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.]]> 450 William Kent Krueger 1476749299 Lisa 5 4.35 2019 This Tender Land
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 5
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]]> This Tender Land 59043412 Before We Were Yours and Where the Crawdads Sing, a magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.]]> 461 William Kent Krueger Lisa 0 4.56 2019 This Tender Land
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Wands (Tree of Ages, #4)]]> 35510781 Three Queens. One will live, two will die.Now that her memories are back, Finn has a new mission. She must fight against her birthright while seeking vengeance against those who wronged her over a century ago. Yet, nothing is simple. Innocent lives hang in the balance, and Finn still does not truly know her enemy. Dark shadows lurk, waiting for the perfect opportunity to destroy everything she holds dear, and Finn’s magic alone cannot save them. Will she become what she is meant to be, or will the threat of loss make her falter when it matters most?]]> 420 Sara C. Roethle Lisa 0 to-read 4.31 2017 Queen of Wands (Tree of Ages, #4)
author: Sara C. Roethle
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages, #3)]]> 33965071 272 Sara C. Roethle Lisa 0 to-read 4.29 2017 The Blood Forest (Tree of Ages, #3)
author: Sara C. Roethle
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Melted Sea (Tree of Ages, #2)]]> 31134351 420 Sara C. Roethle Lisa 0 to-read 4.21 2016 The Melted Sea (Tree of Ages, #2)
author: Sara C. Roethle
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Tree of Ages (Tree of Ages, #1)]]> 40212111
Finn doesn't remember much about her previous life, and in a world that has been changed by the wars of the Tuatha De, where trust is hard to come by, answers are even more difficult to find. Little does she know, an unknown evil tugs on the strings of fate, and the answers she so desperately seeks may be more important than she could have ever imagined.]]> 360 Sara C. Roethle 0692398929 Lisa 0 to-read 3.72 2015 Tree of Ages (Tree of Ages, #1)
author: Sara C. Roethle
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> The Nightingale 51851348 The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.]]> 593 Kristin Hannah Lisa 4 4.78 2015 The Nightingale
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.78
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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]]> The Bones Beneath My Skin 211004023 A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary little girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 1250890438 Lisa 0 to-read 4.13 2018 The Bones Beneath My Skin
author: T.J. Klune
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Last Port of Call 56565370 April 1912

Twelve-year-old Harp Delaney is an unusual child, quiet and intelligent far beyond her years. She would rather spend her days in the library of the grand Georgian house that she sees as her home than playing on the streets with other children.

Her mother, Rose, is the reserved and ladylike housekeeper at the Cliff House. The local women envy her grace and poise while the men admire her beauty. She behaves not as a servant should, but as someone who belongs at the ancestral home of eccentric loner Henry Devereaux.

Nobody ever visits the Cliff House, but Harp, Rose and Henry have a happy life together, each accepting the idiosyncrasies of the others.

The day Titanic sails from Queenstown, taking with it the hopes and dreams of so many, Harp’s life too is devastated. The small port town is shaken to its foundations at the loss of the unsinkable ship, but the revelation of a long-held secret means that Harp and Rose have a much more pressing issue to solve, one that could destroy them if they cannot find a solution.

Unexpectedly, fate takes a hand, and mother and daughter find themselves thrown a lifeline, one that inextricably links them to the stories of men, women and children for whom Queenstown was the last-ever sight of Ireland as they sailed away to new lands and new lives.

Last Port of Call is the first book in The Queenstown Series.]]> 258 Jean Grainger Lisa 0 to-read 4.44 2021 Last Port of Call
author: Jean Grainger
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Deep Cuts 214269394
Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs—and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice?

Moving from Brooklyn bars to San Francisco dance floors, Deep Cuts examines the nature of talent, obsession, belonging, and above all, our need to be heard.]]> 277 Holly Brickley 0593799089 Lisa 0 to-read 3.81 2025 Deep Cuts
author: Holly Brickley
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> Yellowface 213562784
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 322 R.F. Kuang 0063250853 Lisa 0 to-read 3.79 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)]]> 210985549
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher--the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is a physician from a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. But despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the ruler of Castellane's criminal underworld. But as long-kept secrets begin to unravel and forbidden attractions arise, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war--and the world into chaos?]]> 624 Cassandra Clare 052562001X Lisa 5 3.92 2023 Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 5
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]]> Lady Tan's Circle of Women 199798221
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus , they tell from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 368 Lisa See 1982117095 Lisa 4 4.28 2023 Lady Tan's Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[To Live's to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt]]> 685838 To Live’s To Fly is a compelling portrait of a complex, haunted artist.]]> 326 John Kruth 0306815532 Lisa 0 currently-reading 3.89 2005 To Live's to Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt
author: John Kruth
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane #1)]]> 68045855
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.

As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?]]> 630 Cassandra Clare 0525620001 Lisa 5 4.07 2023 Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane #1)
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/01
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]]> Miller's Valley 26131641 Miller’s Valley is a masterly study of family, memory, loss, and, ultimately, discovery, of finding true identity and a new vision of home. As Mimi says, “No one ever leaves the town where they grew up, even if they go.� Miller’s Valley reminds us that the place where you grew up can disappear, and the people in it too, but all will live on in your heart forever.']]> 257 Anna Quindlen 0812996089 Lisa 5 3.82 2016 Miller's Valley
author: Anna Quindlen
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> Under the Whispering Door 53588713 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 390 T.J. Klune Lisa 4 4.21 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/20
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]]> Eternal 40204619 What war destroys, only love can heal.

Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear--their families, their homes, and their connection to one another--is tested in ways they never could have imagined.

As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city's Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.

Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war--all set in one of the world's most beautiful cities at its darkest moment.]]> 480 Lisa Scottoline 052553976X Lisa 5 4.22 2021 Eternal
author: Lisa Scottoline
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
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]]> Canopy of Titans 60842821 “An eloquent plea for saving one of North America's last great forests.�
—Elizabeth Kolbert

“We've understood that the Amazon rainforest is crucial to the planet but, as this very fine book makes clear, it is no more important than the great temperate forests of the Pacific coast.�
—Bill McKibben




Canopy of Titans examines the global importance of the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest that stretches from Northern California to Alaska. It catalogs the threats to this vital environmental resource.

The product of years of on-the-ground reporting, this richly illustrated book celebrates the beauty and complexity of one of the world’s great forests. It provides readers with easy-to-grasp insights into the science behind carbon sequestration and the value of forests as climate mitigation. The story is organized along two broad narratives: A geographical arc runs from south-to-north beginning with the redwood forest of Northern California and ending in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. A temporal arc starts with wildfires raging across the American West in the summer of 2020 and ends at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021, with many historical flashbacks in between.

Along the way, Applegate and Koberstein pull back the curtain on policies of governmental bodies that have seriously diminished the rainforest’s capacity to store carbon, and uncover industry practices that have led to the destruction of swaths of a major ecological resource. Additionally, using an environmental justice perspective, the book shines a light on the indigenous communities that have lived in the rainforest for millennia, and the impact forest policies have had on their lives.]]> 352 Paul Koberstein 1682193454 Lisa 4 4.17 2022 Canopy of Titans
author: Paul Koberstein
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
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]]> <![CDATA[J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings]]> 30
19 CDs. 17 hrs 30 mins.]]> 1728 J.R.R. Tolkien 0345538374 Lisa 5 4.61 1954 J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.61
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Chronicles of Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)]]> 11127 Librarian note: An alternate cover for this edition can be found here: 2005.

Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battles between good and evil—what more could any reader ask for in one book? The book that has it all is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written in 1949 by Clive Staples Lewis. But Lewis did not stop there. Six more books followed, and together they became known as The Chronicles of Narnia.

For the past fifty years, The Chronicles of Narnia have transcended the fantasy genre to become part of the canon of classic literature. Each of the seven books is a masterpiece, drawing the reader into a land where magic meets reality, and the result is a fictional world whose scope has fascinated generations.

This edition presents all seven books—unabridged—in one impressive volume. The books are presented here in chronlogical order, each chapter graced with an illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes. Deceptively simple and direct, The Chronicles of Narnia continue to captivate fans with adventures, characters, and truths that speak to readers of all ages, even fifty years after they were first published.]]> 767 C.S. Lewis 0066238501 Lisa 5 4.27 1956 The Chronicles of Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1956
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/01
date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1)]]> 30241301 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

]]> 406 Gregory Maguire Lisa 3 3.52 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years, #1)
author: Gregory Maguire
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
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]]> Norse Mythology 37903770 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780393356182

Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction, presents a bravura rendition of the Norse gods and their world from their origin though their upheaval in Ragnarok.

In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to the myths in envisioning the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki—son of a giant—blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Gaiman fashions these primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds and delves into the exploits of deities, dwarfs, and giants. Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose, these gods emerge with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again.]]> 301 Neil Gaiman Lisa 5 4.11 2017 Norse Mythology
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
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This is a very entertaining book, and my reason for 5 stars. At first, I wasn't sure, but it all came together for me at about halfway through. I started being interested in Viking Mythology after watching the Vikings series on TV. This really helped expand my understanding of all the characters in these stories.
]]> In Real Life 20575446
But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer--a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake.

From acclaimed teen author (Little Brother, For the Win) and Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow and Koko Be Good creator Jen Wang, In Real Life is a perceptive and high-stakes look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture clash.]]> 175 Cory Doctorow 1596436581 Lisa 0 to-read 3.81 2014 In Real Life
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom]]> 29587 On The Skids In The Transhuman Future

Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.

Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.

Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.

Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....]]> 208 Cory Doctorow 076530953X Lisa 0 to-read 3.57 2003 Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> Homeland (Little Brother, #2) 12917338
A few years later, California's economy collapses, but Marcus's hacktivist past lands him a job as webmaster for a crusading politician who promises reform. Soon his former nemesis Masha emerges from the political underground to gift him with a thumbdrive containing a Wikileaks-style cable-dump of hard evidence of corporate and governmental perfidy. It's incendiary stuff―and if Masha goes missing, Marcus is supposed to release it to the world. Then Marcus sees Masha being kidnapped by the same government agents who detained and tortured Marcus years earlier.

Marcus can leak the archive Masha gave him―but he can't admit to being the leaker, because that will cost his employer the election. He's surrounded by friends who remember what he did a few years ago and regard him as a hacker hero. He can't even attend a demonstration without being dragged onstage and handed a mike. He's not at all sure that just dumping the archive onto the Internet, before he's gone through its millions of words, is the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, people are beginning to shadow him, people who look like they're used to inflicting pain until they get the answers they want.]]> 396 Cory Doctorow 0765333694 Lisa 0 to-read 3.93 2013 Homeland (Little Brother, #2)
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)]]> 954674
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, his injured best friend Darryl does not come out. The city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: "M1k3y" will take down the DHS himself.]]> 382 Cory Doctorow 0765319853 Lisa 0 to-read 3.93 2008 Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 968 The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, and The da Vinci Code

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.]]> 489 Dan Brown Lisa 5 3.92 2003 The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> The Giving Tree 370493
So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.]]> 64 Shel Silverstein 0060256656 Lisa 5 4.38 1964 The Giving Tree
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1964
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> All In: An Autobiography 43584584 An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of a champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice.

Billie Jean King was only seven years old when she told her mother, I'm going to do something great with my life someday. But the world she wanted did not exist yet, so she set out to create it. In this spirited account, King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis successes that came at a breathtaking pace--six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous Battle of the Sexes. King poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of her career and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

King describes the myriad challenges she hurdled, including entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial ruin after being outed, and accepting her sexual identity. It was not until the age of 51 that she began to publicly and unequivocally acknowledge, I am gay. Today, King's life remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality and love. She shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness. Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended her achievements in sports.]]> 487 Billie Jean King 1101947330 Lisa 0 to-read 4.31 2021 All In: An Autobiography
author: Billie Jean King
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape]]> 24886834 225 Lauret Savoy 1619025736 Lisa 0 to-read 4.07 2015 Trace: Memory, History, Race and the American Landscape
author: Lauret Savoy
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Trees (The Awakening Land, #1)]]> 18867474 180 Conrad Richter 0804150990 Lisa 4 4.23 1940 The Trees (The Awakening Land, #1)
author: Conrad Richter
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1940
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> Furiously Happy 28220896 #1 New York Times Bestseller

In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:

"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that â€normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about."

Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that?]]> 329 Jenny Lawson 1250077028 Lisa 0 to-read 4.09 2015 Furiously Happy
author: Jenny Lawson
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Forest of Lost Souls 199396945
Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home. Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace. If only nearby Kettleton County didn’t cast such a dark shadow.

It’s where Jose Nochelobo, the love of Vida’s life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident. That’s the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it. The truth can’t be contained for long. Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like Jose, disappear forever. One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end. Vida is no less prepared for them.

Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting. She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.]]> 396 Dean Koontz 1662500505 Lisa 0 to-read 4.33 2024 The Forest of Lost Souls
author: Dean Koontz
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World]]> 28256439 The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.]]> 272 Peter Wohlleben 1771642483 Lisa 0 4.06 2015 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
author: Peter Wohlleben
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest]]> 54976983 From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest--a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery.

Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she's been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron's Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complex, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.

Simard writes--in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways--how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies--and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.

Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them--embarking on a journey of discovery, and struggle. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey--of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world, and, in writing of her own life, we come to see the true connectedness of the Mother Tree that nurtures the forest in the profound ways that families and human societies do, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.]]> 348 Suzanne Simard 052565609X Lisa 0 4.20 2021 Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
author: Suzanne Simard
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> The Future Library 58578776
Inspired by the real-life “Future Library,� a long-term environmental and literary public art project currently underway in the Norwegian wilderness.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 32 Peng Shepherd 1250828678 Lisa 5 4.10 2021 The Future Library
author: Peng Shepherd
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Resistance Bakery: A totally gripping and emotional World War Two historical novel full of family secrets]]> 216225405 â€Phenomenalâ€� Had me flying through!â€� â­â­â­â­â­�
â€Wowâ€� Loved every moment.â€� â­â­â­â­â­�
â€Captured my heart.â€� â­â­â­â­â­�
â€I loved everything about this!â€� â­â­â­â­â­�
â€Couldn’t put it down!â€� â­â­â­â­â­�

Paris, 1943. The scent of fresh baguettes hangs in the air as Coralie unbolts the door to her bakery with trembling fingers. She must get out of the city. Hiding her precious leather recipe book inside her coat, she promises never to let the secret locations of the people she worked tirelessly to save fall into German hands�

Present day. Raven is unhappy about being shipped off to the other side of the country for the summer to stay with the mysterious French grandmother she barely knows. And discovering a tattered, leather-bound book with yellowed pages full of handwritten recipes and coded numbers, she is stunned.

Her grandmother has never baked for her. And she refuses to talk about Paris, or the past. Flipping through the book, a faded photograph of a laughing couple falls out. As Raven scans the writing on the back she can scarcely believe her eyes�

What really happened in that tiny French bakery all those years ago? And could this forgotten recipe book finally bring healing to a woman still haunted by wartime secrets? Or has Raven’s discovery shattered any chance of bonding with her grandmother, before her time runs out?

The Resistance Bakery is an unforgettable page-turner about forbidden love and family secrets in World War Two. Fans of The Letter, The Nightingale and Fiona Valpy will be totally hooked.

What readers are saying about The Resistance Bakery:

â€� do not begin this book if you have food cooking or housework to do! Your food will burn and your house will stay dirty, because you will not be able to put it down!â€�The best historical fictionâ€� Brilliant.â€� Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ reviewer, â­â­â­â­â­�

â€Had me on the edge of my seatâ€� Plus wiping tears from my eyesâ€� captured my heartâ€� hook, line and sinkerâ€� A must-read.â€� Cindy L Spear, â­â­â­â­â­�

â€�Hookedâ€� I want moreâ€� Captivatingâ€� A storyline you won’t forget. I would read this book over and over again.â€� Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ reviewer, â­â­â­â­â­�

â€�Kept me awakeâ€� I just couldn’t stop readingâ€� This book will really stay with you after you finish reading it.â€� DianeLikesToRead, â­â­â­â­â­�

â€�Wow. This book is one I will rememberâ€�.±Ő±Ő> 422 Siobhan Curham 183525182X Lisa 0 to-read 4.49 The Resistance Bakery: A totally gripping and emotional World War Two historical novel full of family secrets
author: Siobhan Curham
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 150260809
Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]> 895 Rebecca Yarros Lisa 5 4.56 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/09
date added: 2024/10/09
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]]> Lady Tan's Circle of Women 62969999
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,� but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.

How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.]]> 343 Lisa See 1982117109 Lisa 5 4.49 2023 Lady Tan's Circle of Women
author: Lisa See
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Young Jaguar (Pre-Aztec Series, #1)]]> 13604070
Tecpatl, the Chief Warlord and a very content man, still married to the Anasazi woman his peers view as a barbarian, tries to obey the old Emperor's edicts. Yet, when Atolli, his elder son and a very promising but hotheaded youth, gets caught in the political turmoil, everything changes. Tecpatl is forced to choose between his duty and his family, while his wife takes her own non-traditional paths to deal with the crisis.]]> 192 Zoe Saadia 1476209715 Lisa 0 to-read 3.90 2012 The Young Jaguar (Pre-Aztec Series, #1)
author: Zoe Saadia
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)]]> 10808486 NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER � TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME � NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM DISNEY
Read the ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic that has delighted children for over 60 years!
"A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it so often, I know it by heart." —Meg Cabot

Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murry, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract--a wrinkle that transports one across space and time--to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murry is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murry but the safety of the whole universe.

A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet.]]> 228 Madeleine L'Engle Lisa 5 4.03 1962 A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
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]]> North Woods 214642600
This magisterial and highly inventive novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason brims with love and madness, humor and hope. Following the cycles of history, nature, and even language, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment, to history, and to one another. It is not just an unforgettable novel about secrets and destinies, but a way of looking at the world that asks the timeless question: How do we live on, even after we’re gone?]]> 374 Daniel Mason 0593597044 Lisa 0 to-read 4.12 2023 North Woods
author: Daniel Mason
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Karma - A Story Of Buddhist Ethics]]> 14460398 56 Paul Carus 1446076482 Lisa 5 4.10 2004 Karma - A Story Of Buddhist Ethics
author: Paul Carus
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 63219094 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.]]> 528 Rebecca Yarros Lisa 0 4.74 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
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]]> In Cold Blood 15799209 Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time.

From the Modern Library's new set of beautifully repackaged hardcover classics by Truman Capote—also available are Breakfast at Tiffany's and Other Voices, Other Rooms (in one volume), Portraits and Observations, and The Complete Stories.

Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood, created a sensation when it was first published, serially, in The New Yorker in 1965. The intensively researched, atmospheric narrative of the lives of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, and of the two men, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, who brutally killed them on the night of November 15, 1959, is the seminal work of the "new journalism." Perry Smith is one of the great dark characters of American literature, full of contradictory emotions. "I thought he was a very nice gentleman," he says of Herb Clutter. "Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat." Told in chapters that alternate between the Clutter household and the approach of Smith and Hickock in their black Chevrolet, then between the investigation of the case and the killers' flight, Capote's account is so detailed that the reader comes to feel almost like a participant in the events.]]> 396 Truman Capote 0812994388 Lisa 0 to-read 4.19 1966 In Cold Blood
author: Truman Capote
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/15
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]]> Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Lisa 0 to-read 4.18 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Tattoos on Dead Tree Flesh: The Library: Book 1]]> 215055068
As you ascend the creaking steps and cross the threshold, you’re enveloped by the scent of aged paper and ancient secrets. "Inside, you'll find tales of airships soaring through space, fearless fairies, and fearsome demons. Stories of relentless zombies and elusive yetis. Death, adventure, drama, a bit of everything to stir your imagination. Some stories end well, others... not so much. But that’s the magic of a library � there's something for everyone."

Her voice drops to a whisper, "Do come in..."]]> 205 Jessica Brawner 0999062980 Lisa 0 to-read 5.00 Tattoos on Dead Tree Flesh: The Library: Book 1
author: Jessica Brawner
name: Lisa
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself]]> 19437999 The Untethered Soul offers simple yet profound answers to these questions.

Whether this is your first exploration of inner space, or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this book will transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you. You’ll discover what you can do to put an end to the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consciousness. By tapping into traditions of meditation and mindfulness, author and spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving happiness and self-realization.

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being.]]> 314 Michael A. Singer 1608820491 Lisa 0 to-read 4.37 2007 The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
author: Michael A. Singer
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Armor of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)]]> 81067992 The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light, heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond.

The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters� lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war.

Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.]]> 737 Ken Follett 0525954996 Lisa 5 4.10 2023 The Armor of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)
author: Ken Follett
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/08
date added: 2024/08/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)]]> 37534833 The #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Words of Radiance, from epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson at the top of his game.

In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.

Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together--and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past--even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.]]> 1264 Brandon Sanderson 1250297141 Lisa 0 to-read 4.64 2017 Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry (Sunderworld #1)]]> 209752701 The much-anticipated new fantasy series from Ransom Riggs, his first since introducing the #1 global phenomenon Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.

Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry is seeing weird things around Los Angeles. A man who pops a tooth into a parking meter. A glowing trapdoor in a parking lot. A half-mechanical raccoon with its tail on fire that just won’t leave him alone. Every hallucinatory moment seems plucked from a cheesy 1990s fantasy TV show called Max's Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are.

Not a good sign.

In the blurry weeks after his mother’s death, a young Leopold discovered VHS tapes of its one and only season in a box headed for the trash—and soon became obsessed. Losing himself in Sunder was the best way to avoid two things: grieving his mother and being a chronic disappointment to his overbearing father. But when the strange visions return—at the worst possible time on the worst possible day—Leopold turns to his best friend Emmet for help. Together they discover that Sunder is much more than just an old TV show, and that Los Angeles is far stranger than they ever imagined. And soon, he’ll realize that not only is Sunderworld real, but it’s in grave danger.

Certain he’s finally been chosen for greatness, Leopold risks everything to claim his destiny, save the world of his childhood dreams, and prove once and for all that he’s not the disappointment his father believes him to be. But when everything goes terribly, horribly, excruciatingly wrong, Leopold’s disappointments prove to be more extraordinary than he ever could have imagined.

How do you battle darkness when no one believes in you—not even yourself?

Welcome to Sunderworld.]]> 336 Ransom Riggs 0593530934 Lisa 0 to-read 3.95 2024 The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry (Sunderworld #1)
author: Ransom Riggs
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Laws of Brainjo: The Art & Science of Molding a Musical Mind]]> 53505213 "The Laws of Brainjo is the best explanation of the theory of skill building and the best presentation of a well-organized, practical method that can help the reader develop into a better musician than anything else I have ever encountered...Independent of where you are in your musical journey, this book will help you get to the next level." - Dan Miller, Bluegrass Unlimited Review About The Laws of Brainjo Anyone can learn to play music, and learn to play it well. Being able to play music is not about talent. It's not about aptitude. Being able to play music is not about the brain you have, but the brain you build. Each and every one of us has been gifted with a fully customizable brain, one we can mold to learn anything, at any age. Yet, it doesn't come with a manual for how to make the most of that gift. Success or failures in learning to play music - or anything else - is driven by how we learn. More specifically, it is driven by how well we engage our brain's remarkable ability to change itself. The Laws of Brainjo is a compilation of articles about the fundamental principles of learning, an owner's manual for molding a musical mind. They are also the principles embedded into the Brainjo Method, a neuroscience-based system of instruction for learning to play music, at any age. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Josh Turknett, MD, is a board-certified neurologist, best-selling author, musician, Founder of Brainjo and creator of the Brainjo Method of instruction. He also currently serves as Chief Medical Officer and Learning Engineer for humanOS, Head of Cognitive Enhancement for Nourish Balance Thrive, and President of Physicians for Ancestral Health. He hosts the Intelligence Unshackled podcast, a show about developing and unleashing human potential through improving the health and function of the brain. He is a frequent public speaker on topics including accelerated learning, neuroplasticity, brain health, and cognitive optimization in the workplace.]]> 244 Josh Turknett Lisa 5 I would highly recommend this book for anyone struggling to achieve any goal, be it golf, guitar, tennis, etc. ]]> 4.62 The Laws of Brainjo: The Art & Science of Molding a Musical Mind
author: Josh Turknett
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/12
date added: 2024/07/13
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review:
This is an incredible book that gives all of us a way to achieve our musical goals through a process of training the brain. It was both inspiring and motivating for me when I was reading it. As a matter of fact, I may just start rereading it again. There is so much information and it is written in a very understandable and enjoyable prose. I was sad when I came to the last page. I thought to myself, this can't be the end!
I would highly recommend this book for anyone struggling to achieve any goal, be it golf, guitar, tennis, etc.
]]> <![CDATA[A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom]]> 53273693 Some stories are universal. They play out across human history. And time is the river which will flow through them.

It starts with a family, a family which will mutate. For now, it is a father, mother and two sons. One with his father’s violence in his blood. One who lives his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will change their fate. It is a beginning.

Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years � they will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From distant Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium to a life amongst the stars in the third. While the world will change around them, their destinies will remain the same. It must play out as foretold. It is written.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is the extraordinary new novel from acclaimed writer John Boyne. Ambitious, far-reaching and mythic, it introduces a group of characters whose lives we will come to know and will follow through time and space until they reach their natural conclusion.]]> 465 John Boyne 0593230159 Lisa 3 3.59 2020 A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom
author: John Boyne
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity]]> 615570 The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.]]> 237 Julia Cameron 1585421464 Lisa 5 3.93 2002 The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
author: Julia Cameron
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/30
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]]> The River We Remember 101160844 In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.]]> 432 William Kent Krueger 198217921X Lisa 5 4.19 2023 The River We Remember
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/23
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]]> Go as a River 63922274 A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beauty of mid-century Colorado

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family's farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a disheveled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerizing story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life forever.

Go as a River is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.]]> 320 Shelley Read 1954118236 Lisa 5 4.20 2023 Go as a River
author: Shelley Read
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/05/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History]]> 61871743 A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America
Ěý
� A National Bestseller
Ěý
“Eloquent and comprehensive. . . . In the book’s sweeping synthesis, standard flashpoints of U.S. history take on new meaning.”—Kathleen DuVal, Wall Street Journal
Ěý
“In accounts of American history, Indigenous peoples are often treated as largely incidental—either obstacles to be overcome or part of a narrative separate from the arc of nation-building. Blackhawk . . . [shows] that Native communities have, instead, been inseparable from the American story all along.”� Washington Post Book World, “Books to Read in 2023�
Ěý
The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
Ěý
Ned Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of Native and non‑Native histories, from Spanish colonial exploration to the rise of Native American self-determination in the late twentieth century. In this transformative synthesis he shows that
Ěý
� European colonization in the 1600s was never a predetermined success;
Ěý
� Native nations helped shape England’s crisis of empire;
Ěý
� the first shots of the American Revolution were prompted by Indian affairs in the interior;
Ěý
� California Indians targeted by federally funded militias were among the first casualties of the Civil War;
Ěý
� the Union victory forever recalibrated Native communities across the West;
Ěý
â€� twentieth-century reservation activists refashioned American law and policy. Ěý
Ěý
Blackhawk’s retelling of U.S. history acknowledges the enduring power, agency, and survival of Indigenous peoples, yielding a truer account of the United States and revealing anew the varied meanings of America.]]> 596 Ned Blackhawk 0300244053 Lisa 0 4.15 2023 The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
author: Ned Blackhawk
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/05/22
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]]> The Ministry of Time 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 Lisa 0 to-read 3.54 2024 The Ministry of Time
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/09
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]]> Whale Fall 195888522 A stunning debut from an award-winning writer, about loss, isolation, folklore, and the joy and dissonance of finding oneself by exploring life outside one’s community

In 1938, a dead whale washes up on the shores of remote Welsh island. For Manod, who has spent her whole life on the island, it feels like both a portent of doom and a symbol of what may lie beyond the island's shores. A young woman living with her father and her sister (to whom she has reluctantly but devotedly become a mother following the death of their own mother years prior), Manod can't shake her welling desire to explore life beyond the beautiful yet blisteringly harsh islands that her hardscrabble family has called home for generations.

The arrival of two English ethnographers who hope to study the island culture, then, feels like a boon to her—both a glimpse of life outside her community and a means of escape. The longer the ethnographers stay, the more she feels herself pulled towards them, reckoning with a sensual awakening inside herself, despite her misgivings that her community is being misconstrued and exoticized.

With shimmering prose tempered by sharp wit, Whale Fall tells the story of what happens when one person's ambitions threaten the fabric of a community, and what can happen when they are realized. O'Connor paints a portrait of a community and a woman on the precipice, forced to confront an outside world that seems to be closing in on them.]]> 224 Elizabeth O'Connor 0593700910 Lisa 0 to-read 3.81 2024 Whale Fall
author: Elizabeth O'Connor
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/09
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]]> <![CDATA[May Day (Murder by Month Mysteries, #1)]]> 204118214 A waitress turned librarian just wants a new life. What she ends up with is a killer change of pace in a funny, snappy, and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey.

With a cheating boyfriend, a thankless career in waitressing, and her BA in English going to waste, Mira James jumps at the chance for a fresh start in rural Battle Lake, Minnesota.

Right away she lands a job as a librarian, snags another as an on-call reporter for the weekly newspaper, and is swept off her feet by Jeff Wilson, a handsome archaeologist unearthing the town’s storied history. Moving here might be the best decision Mira’s ever made. Until she finds Jeff’s body between the library’s reference stacks. It seems Mira didn’t really know her drop-dead gorgeous new lover at all. But someone in Otter Tail County surely did.

Behind this quirky town’s polite exterior are decades-old grudges still unsettled, and murderous secrets best kept hidden. Whatever dangers are buried in Battle Lake’s past, now it’s Mira’s turn to start digging.

Revised This edition of May Day includes editorial revisions.]]> 232 Jess Lourey 1662519230 Lisa 0 to-read 3.71 2006 May Day (Murder by Month Mysteries, #1)
author: Jess Lourey
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/24
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Seeing Green: How to Save the Planet and Profit from Sustainability]]> 198965568 Seeing Green: How to Save the Planet and Profit from Sustainability combines the pursuit of profit and the urgent need to protect our planet. In this entertaining, educational, and inspirational book, visionary CEO, Angel Lance shares her story and unconventional approach to making homes, businesses, and industries more green for profit and the environment.

In Seeing Green, Lance reveals how she used her over twenty years of management consulting experience to transform her business to be ESG compliant and environmentally conscious, start nonprofit foundations to support her passion for environmental action, transform a farm from traditional to regenerative, and unite utilities in decarbonization efforts. Lance has earned a reputation as an ESG thought-leader who celebrates the power of creativity and innovation to find win-win solutions for both business success and environmental sustainability.

Seeing Green offers:
Practical actions for going green at home, in the office, or across an industry that you can take right now
Triple-win solutions that explain how you can enjoy financial success, improve your quality of life, and contribute to the greater good through environmental practices
Examples from Lance’s personal experience told in Lance’s uniquely accessible and witty tone

Join Lance on her captivating journey as she introduces a fresh approach to ESG, environmental consciousness, and going green that challenges the notion that environmental sustainability and profitability are mutually exclusive.]]> 280 Angel Lance Lisa 0 3.82 Seeing Green: How to Save the Planet and Profit from Sustainability
author: Angel Lance
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.82
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]]> <![CDATA[Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter]]> 39345591
In Eager, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences of losing beavers were profound: streams eroded, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”―including scientists, ranchers, and passionate citizens―recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier, for humans and non-humans alike, than those without them. From the Nevada deserts to the Scottish highlands, Believers are now hard at work restoring these industrious rodents to their former haunts. Eager is a powerful story about one of the world’s most influential species, how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. Ultimately, it’s about how we can learn to coexist, harmoniously and even beneficially, with our fellow travelers on this planet.]]> 304 Ben Goldfarb 160358739X Lisa 0 4.28 2018 Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
author: Ben Goldfarb
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Summary: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey]]> 51019337 SUMMARY of Stephen R. Covey’s, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People sold over 25 million copies in 40 languages for simple reasons�
Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is one of the best-selling self-help books of all time. It’s in a league all its own because it proposes to do something that the majority of the other books of the genre do not � rebuild you from the inside out.


Self-help books show you ways to improve your outward appearances, such as a diet to lose weight, a gym routine to get more fit, and a manner of dressing right to get the job. Covey starts at a much deeper level, asking why do anything at all? From this basic question, we build forward, showing that action is a natural law of life, and so is direction, and planning, relationships, and personal growth.


By laying down the framework of belief behind each of these concepts, we can engage with them mindfully and effectively. So by increasing our effectiveness, we see goals that seemed like dreams suddenly appear on the horizon, well within our reach.


Who will benefit from this book?
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a journey through yourself. Author Stephen Covey challenges us to define our deepest motivations to find out what would constitute a meaningful life. Once we've done that, we can power through to those meaningful experiences in a more effective way than ever before.


This summary is for anyone seeking purpose and growth.


If after delving through the summary you truly resonate with Covey’s concepts, we implore you to read the full book!


Why read ExecutiveGrowth Summaries:
The best-quality summaries on Amazon, guaranteed.
Team of professional native-English writers and editors (a huge issue on Amazon; check the reviews of ANY other summary book company to see for yourself).
Engaged CEO and a responsive team committed to your personal growth and making your reading experience superb.
Bonus Power Insights gives you the main takeaways to keep top-of-mind.
Bonus Guided Challenge to immediately implement the book’s knowledge to your daily life.


We craft summaries for busy high-achievers who still have the insatiable appetite to keep learning and growing. Our summaries provide the fastest way to increase perspective and productivity, guaranteed. We only curate summaries whose original books we love and are convinced have the highest potential for personal growth.



Our team has singled out the key concepts and trimmed out all the rest, allowing you to digest the author's core message in a fraction of the time. It's easy to read the entire summary in a little over one hour without needing highly developed speed-reading superpowers!



DISCLAIMER:
We are convinced that our professional summaries will introduce more readers to the full book who otherwise would have turned a blind eye by the sheer commitment.]]> 44 ExecutiveGrowth Summaries Lisa 0 4.17 Summary: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
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]]> Becoming Ted 197522390
If Ted Ainsworth were to compare himself to one of the ice cream flavors made by his family’s company, famous throughout his sleepy Lancashire hometown, it might be vanilla—sweet, inoffensive, and pleasantly predictable. At forty-three, Ted is convinced there’s nothing remotely remarkable about him, except perhaps his luck in having landed handsome, charismatic Giles as a husband.

Then Giles suddenly leaves him for another man, filling his social media feed with posts about #newlove and adventure. And Ted, who has spent nearly twenty years living with, and often for , another person, must reimagine the future he has happily taken for granted.

But perhaps there is another Ted slowly blossoming now that he’s no longer in Giles’s shadow—funny, sassy, more uninhibited. Someone willing to take chances on new friendships, and even new love. Someone who’s been waiting in the wings too long, but who’s about to dust off a long-ago secret dream and overturn everyone’s expectations of him—especially his own. . .]]> 416 Matt Cain 1496745949 Lisa 0 to-read 3.75 2023 Becoming Ted
author: Matt Cain
name: Lisa
average rating: 3.75
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]]> By Any Other Name 203164368 From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring� (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.]]> 525 Jodi Picoult 059349721X Lisa 0 to-read 4.09 2024 By Any Other Name
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.09
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]]> Ella 181110001
When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable� adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street.

Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night on November 21, 1934. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters� number, the homeless Ella, wearing men’s galoshes a size too big, risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely twenty-one, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America.

Diane Richards� Ella Fitzgerald is inspiring and intriguing—an emotionally rich, psychologically complex character, a flawed mother and wife who struggles with deep emotional scars and trauma and battles racism, sexism, and colorism as she learns to find her voice on the stage. Ella takes us from the brothels, speakeasys, and streets of Depression-era New York City to the grand hotel suites where Ella, now older and wiser, looks back on her life and finally confronts the demons from childhood that torment her.]]> 384 Diane Richards 0063338653 Lisa 0 to-read 4.02 2024 Ella
author: Diane Richards
name: Lisa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
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