Chelsea's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:29:50 -0700 60 Chelsea's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Crooked House 16315
The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection.

Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.]]> 276 Agatha Christie 031298166X Chelsea 5 4.07 1949 Crooked House
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Clocks (Hercule Poirot, #39)]]> 388018 8 Agatha Christie 1572703938 Chelsea 5 3.75 1963 The Clocks (Hercule Poirot, #39)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hexologists (The Hexologists, #1)]]> 59612836

The Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, are quite accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. Well-acquainted with the weird, they never shy away from a challenging case.
Ěý
But when they are approached by the royal secretary and told the king pleads to be baked into a cake—going so far as to wedge himself inside a lit oven—the Wilbies soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that could very well see the nation turned on its head. Their effort to expose a royal secret buried under forty years of lies brings them nose to nose with a violent anti-royalist gang, avaricious ghouls, alchemists who draw their power from a hell-like dimension, and a bookish dragon who only occasionally eats people.
Ěý
Armed with a love toughened by adversity and a stick of chalk that can conjure light from the darkness, hope from the hopeless, Iz and Warren Wilby are ready for a case that will test every spell, skill, and odd magical artifact in their considerable bag of tricks.]]> 318 Josiah Bancroft Chelsea 5 3.79 2023 The Hexologists (The Hexologists, #1)
author: Josiah Bancroft
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:
Husband and wife solve mysteries is one of my favorite tropes, and this was a great one. A few clues I spotted early, a few red herrings I caught, and an interesting world full of magic. The main couple were sometimes minorly grating, but overall likeable.
]]> The Midwife's Apprentice 15595 128 Karen Cushman 006440630X Chelsea 4 3.73 1995 The Midwife's Apprentice
author: Karen Cushman
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:
Interesting, short, and ended too soon. I don't know how much it would interest a kid, or what age it would work well for, but as an adult I appreciated it.
]]> <![CDATA[I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom]]> 203578812 A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.

Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.

But there are rules:

He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.

As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.

The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.]]> 400 Jason Pargin 125028595X Chelsea 4 3.97 2024 I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
author: Jason Pargin
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
This book was a wild ride. The characters were all both wildly unlikeable and somewhat sympathetic, the plot was all over the place, and the whole thing has a great absurdism running through it. I listened to this book in about 36 hours while sick and hazy brained which is probably the best way to digest it. That being said, it was very heavy handed at times, even if I mostly agree with the messaging.
]]> Miracles on Maple Hill 826095 256 Virginia Sorensen 0152047182 Chelsea 5 3.87 1956 Miracles on Maple Hill
author: Virginia Sorensen
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1956
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> The Last Cuentista 56817365
But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children � among them Petra and her family � have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet � and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard � or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?]]> 320 Donna Barba Higuera 1646140893 Chelsea 3 4.05 2021 The Last Cuentista
author: Donna Barba Higuera
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:
I wish I liked this more than I did. So many beautiful parts, but the whole never came together for me.
]]> <![CDATA[The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)]]> 61215372
The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.]]> 448 J.R.R. Tolkien Chelsea 5 4.60 1954 The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:
What a masterpiece the ending was. Tolkien is truly one of the greatest writers of the past century. Maybe all time.
]]> <![CDATA[A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple, #9)]]> 31300
Nephew Raymond West has given his favourite aunt a vacation at a beautiful resort in the Caribbean. While there she encounters an old wind-bag. One of his stories is about meeting a murderer. He has a snapshot. Suddenly he hesitates, and gets flustered. By the next morning he is dead, seemingly of natural causes. Miss Marple has doubts.

And well she should.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Caribbean Mystery." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 224 Agatha Christie 0451199928 Chelsea 5 3.83 1964 A Caribbean Mystery (Miss Marple, #9)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1964
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:
Apparently this is supposed to be one of the more predictable ones but it kept me guessing. I loved the thematic through lines here� [spoilers removed] I also loved the characters (well except the botanists) and the sunny Caribbean setting. And Miss Marple is a gem as always.
]]> <![CDATA[Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)]]> 17333324
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.]]> 386 Ann Leckie Chelsea 4 3.98 2013 Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch, #1)
author: Ann Leckie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sounded In Every Ear: 1955-2020 (Saints, #4)]]> 220993666 831 1629726508 Chelsea 5 4.60 Sounded In Every Ear: 1955-2020 (Saints, #4)
author: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX]]> 53402132 "This is as important a book on space as has ever been written and it's a riveting page-turner, too." —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.]]> 288 Eric Berger 0062979973 Chelsea 5 4.43 2021 Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
author: Eric Berger
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:
Finished this 9 hour audiobook in approx 12 hours—just couldn't stop listening. The ending is a little less fascinating than the first 2/3—it goes from intense detail into much broader strokes, but still well worth a listen. Definitely putting the sequel onto my TBR.
]]> <![CDATA[Ethan of Athos (Vorkosigan Saga, #3)]]> 990093 237 Lois McMaster Bujold 067165604X Chelsea 3 3.78 1986 Ethan of Athos (Vorkosigan Saga, #3)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:
Coming back after a few days now that my thoughts have settled. I enjoyed the adventure and Ethan's character, and while the author isn't at her peak form here it is certainly a competent story. But the weird "Planet of the Men" world was just such a hard buy that it distracted from the rest of the book and the resolution just wasn't super satisfying to me. 3/5
]]> <![CDATA[City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)]]> 60147395
There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse.
What will be the spark that lights the conflagration?
Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood � that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.

Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places.

Ilmar,
City of Long Shadows.
City of Bad Decisions.
City of Last Chances.]]> 500 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1801108420 Chelsea 0 unfinished
May come back sometime. I just couldn't make myself excited to keep reading. Practically every chapter is a new POV and even though it is surprisingly cohesive all things considered I just couldn't find any momentum.]]> 3.84 2022 City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: unfinished
review:
DNF @ 33%

May come back sometime. I just couldn't make myself excited to keep reading. Practically every chapter is a new POV and even though it is surprisingly cohesive all things considered I just couldn't find any momentum.
]]> <![CDATA[Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead (Corax Trilogy #1)]]> 61030541
Over the years, Saevus Corax has picked up a lot of things. Some of them have made him decent money, others have brought nothing but trouble. But it’s a living, and somebody has to deal with the dead.

Something else that Saevus has buried is his past. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite succeed.]]> 400 K.J. Parker 0316668907 Chelsea 4 3.84 2023 Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead (Corax Trilogy #1)
author: K.J. Parker
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. Had a lot of the same charms as Parker's other books (great voice, great characters, crazy scheming and politics in a big wide world) but the pacing sagged a little bit in this one. I think that even though the world stakes were high, for a big part of the middle I didn't really know what the main character wanted so even though he was acting really decisive it kind of just felt like he was muddling along.
]]> Henry V 37526
The authoritative edition of Henry V from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

-Scene-by-scene plot summaries

-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases

-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language

-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books

-An annotated guide to further reading]]> 294 William Shakespeare 0743484878 Chelsea 5 3.84 1599 Henry V
author: William Shakespeare
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1599
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)]]> 201930181
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. ĚýThen the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.

Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand â€� and manipulate â€� the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. ĚýHe will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.]]> 422 James S.A. Corey 031652557X Chelsea 4
If you liked the Expanse, expect a similar writing style but a very different world and plot archetype.]]> 4.11 2024 The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
Not sure how this one will shake out. It was very much a first book in a series—there's potential for greatness but it isn't ever reached here. It has some interesting moral and ethical questions, some cool aliens, and the author isn't afraid to kill off a character at any point. But I also feel like the sides characters weren't well developed and the general grimness wasn't my favorite tone. I didn't love the romances either.

If you liked the Expanse, expect a similar writing style but a very different world and plot archetype.
]]> Saturn Run 24611668
A flurry of top-level government meetings produces the inescapable conclusion: Whatever built that ship is at least one hundred years ahead in hard and soft technology, and whoever can get their hands on it exclusively and bring it back will have an advantage so large, no other nation can compete. A conclusion the Chinese definitely agree with when they find out.

The race is on, and an remarkable adventure begins—an epic tale of courage, treachery, resourcefulness, secrets, surprises, and astonishing human and technological discovery, as the members of a hastily thrown-together crew find their strength and wits tested against adversaries both of this earth and beyond. What happens is nothing like you expect—and everything you could want from one of the world’s greatest masters of suspense.]]> 486 John Sandford 0399176950 Chelsea 4 3.86 2015 Saturn Run
author: John Sandford
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:
Fun, snappy hard sci fi thriller. I liked the problem solving, the politicking was fine, the ending mostly landed. But I felt like the authors ran out of room to tie up some loose ends, so they just hung a lantern on it.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 34
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
--back cover]]> 398 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346252 Chelsea 5 classics 4.36 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2012/01/01
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: classics
review:
I sure missed a lot in 9th grade. Putting aside the weight of decades of cultural relevance, this book was an incredible piece of writing and I enjoyed every minute of it.
]]> <![CDATA[4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple, #7)]]> 140278
Who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses... and no corpse. Not the police.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "4:50 from Paddington." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126936 Chelsea 4 3.96 1957 4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple, #7)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1957
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
Kind of mixed feelings on this one. Loved Miss Marple as always. Lucy is a great character, and I loved the little boys. There were some deliciously twisty reveals scattered throughout the book. But the ending was, if anything, a little too twisty—it almost came together and made sense, but it didn't quite feel supported. I just can't believe that Miss Marple could have figured out the killer with the clues she had or that the killer would have actually structured the plan in the way he did.
]]> <![CDATA[Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)]]> 55278507 The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man's discovery will save or destroy us all.

The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .

Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity's heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.

After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete.

Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.]]> Adrian Tchaikovsky 1549106392 Chelsea 4 4.09 2021 Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X Chelsea 4 I loved the idea of this, and I enjoyed the execution in general, but it didn't quite keep my attention the way it should have. But I do like that the romance was mild and slow burn, the fae were sufficiently inhuman, and that the socially awkward protagonist was actually legitimately socially incompetent and not just awkward in a cute way.]]> 3.98 2023 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:
First read of 2025!
I loved the idea of this, and I enjoyed the execution in general, but it didn't quite keep my attention the way it should have. But I do like that the romance was mild and slow burn, the fae were sufficiently inhuman, and that the socially awkward protagonist was actually legitimately socially incompetent and not just awkward in a cute way.
]]> <![CDATA[Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, #11)]]> 140360
Unfortunately, thirteen guests arrived at the actor's house, most unlucky. One of them was a vicar. It was to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who choked on his cocktail, went into convulsions and died. But when his martini glass was sent for chemical analysis, there was no trace of poison -- just as Hercule Poirot, also in attendance, had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there was absolutely no motive!

Librarian's note: the first fifteen novels in the Hercule Poirot series are 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920; 2) The Murder on the Links, 1923; 3) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926; 4) The Big Four, 1927; 5) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 1928; 6) Peril at End House, 1932; 7) Lord Edgware Dies, 1933; 8) Murder on the Orient Express, 1934; 9) Three Act Tragedy, 1935; 10) Death in the Clouds, 1935; 11) The A.B.C. Murders, 1936; 12) Murder in Mesopotamia, 1936; 13) Cards on the Table, 1936; 14) Dumb Witness, 1937; and 15) Death on the Nile, 1937. These are just the novels; Poirot also appears in this period in a play, Black Coffee, 1930, and two collections of short stories, Poirot Investigates, 1924, and Murder in the Mews, 1937. Each novel, play and short story has its own entry on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.]]> 336 Agatha Christie 0425205975 Chelsea 4 3.84 1934 Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot, #11)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1934
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 14891 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.]]> 496 Betty Smith 0061120073 Chelsea 5 4.29 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
author: Betty Smith
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves:
review:
I couldn't tell you if it was a tough read or an unputdownable one—it was both. Sometimes I kept reading in a "can't look away from the train wreck" way. Sometimes in the "sucked in by beautiful prose and detail" way. And sometimes I couldn't stop listening for hours and then it was suddenly all too much and I had to take a break for a few days. But I'm so glad I finally read it!
]]> <![CDATA[Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)]]> 203578847 The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.

Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.

Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.

At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.]]> 1344 Brandon Sanderson 1250319188 Chelsea 5 4.36 2024 Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)]]> 55535618
Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win.

This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.

To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable.

Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

And as if that weren’t enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks—and a last trick up its sleeve.]]> 544 Robert Jackson Bennett Chelsea 3 4.03 2022 Locklands (The Founders Trilogy, #3)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/03
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:
This book didn't have the magic for me. The characters were old and world-weary and by the time I finished it I was weary too.
]]> <![CDATA[A Lasting Relationship: Parents and Children over Three Centuries]]> 4769670 Book by Pollock, Linda 319 Linda Pollock 0874514193 Chelsea 5 5.00 1987 A Lasting Relationship: Parents and Children over Three Centuries
author: Linda Pollock
name: Chelsea
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:
I talk about this book all the time. Anytime the "good old days" come up when it comes to motherhood, vaccines, etc. I think of it.
]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Chelsea 4 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/02
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Faust 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Chelsea 4 read-for-school, classics 3.90 1808 Faust
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1808
rating: 4
read at: 2016/02/01
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: read-for-school, classics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga, #9)]]> 76812 302 Lois McMaster Bujold Chelsea 5 4.16 1995 Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga, #9)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Moonflower Murders (Susan Ryeland, #2)]]> 57007380 Featuring his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide bestseller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly complex literary thriller with echoes of Agatha Christie from New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London.

And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Halle—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts.Ěý

One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Case, on that very crime.Ěý

The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.

Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz.ĚýĚý]]> 608 Anthony Horowitz 0062955462 Chelsea 4 4.02 2020 Moonflower Murders (Susan Ryeland, #2)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Rock Paper Scissors 56269064 Think you know the person you married? Think again�

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts � paper, cotton, pottery, tin � and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.]]> 294 Alice Feeney 1250266106 Chelsea 2 3.88 2021 Rock Paper Scissors
author: Alice Feeney
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves:
review:
I found this book on a list of twisty murder mysteries, which was definitely a poor match. It is a thriller much more than anything. I am not a fan of twists and turns that rely on the characters having knowledge that the reader doesn't and I thought several of the "big reveals" were just too contrived. It did keep me interested in reading what happens next, but I don't think it lived up to the hype.
]]> <![CDATA[A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple, #6)]]> 834378
Let us explain. Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' office when he suffered a sudden and agonising death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain rye grain. What is that all about? It was a second incident, this time in the parlour at his home, which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Pocket Full of Rye." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 220 Agatha Christie 0451199863 Chelsea 5 3.90 1953 A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple, #6)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Illuminations 25895521
While trying to help her family, Rosa discovers a strange magical box protected by a painted crow. But when she finds a way to open the box, she accidentally releases the Scarling, a vicious monster determined to destroy the Mandolini family at any cost.

With the aid of her former best friend and a painted crow named Payne, it’s up to Rosa to stop the Scarling before it unmakes the magical paintings that keep the city running, and hopefully save her family in the process!]]> 260 T. Kingfisher 1614505772 Chelsea 5 3.92 2022 Illuminations
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves:
review:
Such a sweet, fun little book. The magical crisis and wacky family reminded me a bit of Encanto and the slightly ridiculous drawing magic of the Rithmatist. Highly recommend for all ages
]]> Disquiet Gods (Sun Eater, #6) 176443792
The end is nigh.

It has been nearly two hundred years since Hadrian Marlowe assaulted the person of the Emperor and walked away from war. From his Empire. His duty. From the will and service of the eldritch being known only as the Quiet. The galaxy lies in the grip of a terrible plague, and worse, the Cielcin have overrun the realms of men.

A messenger has come to Jadd, bearing a summons from the Sollan Emperor for the one-time hero. A summons, a pardon, and a plea. HAPSIS, the Emperor’s secret first-contact intelligence organization, has located one of the dreadful Watchers, the immense, powerful beings worshipped by the Pale Cielcin.

Called out of retirement and exile, the old hero—accompanied by his daughter, Cassandra—must race across the galaxy and against time to accomplish one last, impossible

To kill a god.]]> 704 Christopher Ruocchio 1982193328 Chelsea 5 4.57 2024 Disquiet Gods (Sun Eater, #6)
author: Christopher Ruocchio
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Peril at End House (Hercule Poirot, #8)]]> 16424
Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. Recently, she has narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. Something like a bullet! It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life.]]> 287 Agatha Christie 0007119305 Chelsea 5 4.00 1932 Peril at End House (Hercule Poirot, #8)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1932
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/19
shelves:
review:
Often on best of lists and I can see why. After reading a few Christie books with similar setups I guessed the bad guy pretty quick, but the why still eluded me. Lots of great twists and turns here.
]]> <![CDATA[Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]> 9822
Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.]]> 240 Robert C. O'Brien 0689862202 Chelsea 4 newbery-books, mg-fantasy 4.16 1971 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
author: Robert C. O'Brien
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: newbery-books, mg-fantasy
review:

]]> The Sittaford Mystery 16339
Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snowdrifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot...]]> 248 Agatha Christie 0007136846 Chelsea 5 3.77 1931 The Sittaford Mystery
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1931
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:
Fun fast paced mystery. Perfect for Halloween season.
]]> Flowers for Algernon 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.
Ěý
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence � a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X Chelsea 3
It wasn't enjoyable to read about his messy sex/romance life and about his inability to handle his anger as "smart Charlie" even though I think both throughlines were realistic and added to the story. On the other hand, other scenes were very moving and the overall arc of the novel kept momentum movie forward.]]> 4.19 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:
I appreciated this book more than I enjoyed it. I can absolutely, 100% see how this gets on all the best book lists and why it is a favorite of many, but I also just didn't love a lot of it.

It wasn't enjoyable to read about his messy sex/romance life and about his inability to handle his anger as "smart Charlie" even though I think both throughlines were realistic and added to the story. On the other hand, other scenes were very moving and the overall arc of the novel kept momentum movie forward.
]]> <![CDATA[They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple, #5)]]> 68930
Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gulbrandsen, is less fortunate � shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.

Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gulbrandsen’s visit.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "They Do It with Mirrors." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 224 Agatha Christie 0451199901 Chelsea 5 3.78 1952 They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple, #5)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
Supposedly one of the weakest Miss Marple mysteries, but I enjoyed it overall. I do think that this book only had one good magic trick, but it misdirected me long enough that I still enjoyed it. I loved the "three old ladies," all very different and all very interesting. No one in this book was particularly likeable (except Miss Marple of course) but I didn't find them grating either.
]]> <![CDATA[The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century]]> 15793575
In the late 1500s a Nuremberg man named Frantz Schmidt began to do something utterly remarkable for his era: he started keeping a journal. But what makes Schmidt even more compelling to us is his day job. For forty-five years, Schmidt was an efficient and prolific public executioner, employed by the state to extract confessions and put convicted criminals to death. In his years of service, he executed 361 people and tortured, flogged, or disfigured hundreds more. Is it possible that a man who practiced such cruelty could also be insightful, compassionate, humane—even progressive?

In his groundbreaking book, the historian Joel F. Harrington looks for the answer in Schmidt’s journal, whose immense significance has been ignored until now. Harrington uncovers details of Schmidt’s medical practice, his marriage to a woman ten years older than him, his efforts at penal reform, his almost touching obsession with social status, and most of all his conflicted relationship with his own craft and the growing sense that it could not be squared with his faith.

A biography of an ordinary man struggling for his soul, The Faithful Executioner is also an unparalleled portrait of Europe on the cusp of modernity, yet riven by conflict and encumbered by paranoia, superstition, and abuses of power. In his intimate portrait of a Nuremberg executioner, Harrington also sheds light on our own fraught historical moment.]]> 320 Joel F. Harrington 0809049929 Chelsea 5 3.99 2013 The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
author: Joel F. Harrington
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:
You wouldn't think that a book about a man who executed over 350 people and tortured or physically punished hundreds more would be comforting, and yet this book was just that. A detailed account of life and times of "Meister Franz" —an early modern executioner whose surviving journals provide the main meat of this book, "The Faithful Executioner" caught me surprise by the utter compassion shown in its pages. The author himself has the rare gift of revealing people in the past as real, complex, multifaceted individuals and portrays each of them—the criminals, whether desperate or cruel, the anxious and excited crowds who come to watch a man die, the state officials who authorize torture and death in pursuit of justice, and the Executioner himself—as someone worthy of being understood before judgment. That Meister Franz himself is shown as a kind, disciplined, and faithful man as well only helps remind me that there is always more depth than one would expect.
]]> The Affinities 22238149 The Affinities, this process is supercharged by new analytic technologies: genetic, brain-mapping, behavioral. To join one of the twenty-two Affinities is to change one's life. It's like family, and more than family. Your fellow members aren't just like you, and they aren't just people who are likely to like you. They're also the people with whom you can best cooperate in all areas of life, creative, interpersonal, even financial.

At loose ends both professional and personal, young Adam Fisk takes the suite of tests to see whether he qualifies for any of the Affinities and finds that he's a match for one of the largest, the one called Tau. It's utopian--at first. His problems resolve themselves as he becomes part of a global network of people dedicated to helping one another, to helping him, but as the differing Affinities put their new powers to the test, they begin to rapidly chip away at the power of governments, of global corporations, and of all the institutions of the old world; then, with dreadful inevitability, the different Affinities begin to go to war with one another.]]> 300 Robert Charles Wilson 0765332620 Chelsea 3 3.37 2015 The Affinities
author: Robert Charles Wilson
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
I liked the idea of this story, I liked the voice, and I liked a few of the plot points. Unfortunately this book just lacked finesse. The politics, the social commentary, the characters—all of them were just a little stereotypical or surface level.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America]]> 43747492 The true crime story of bootlegger George Remus and the murder that shocked the nation.

In the early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing law and starts trafficking whiskey. Within two years he's a multimillionaire. The press calls him "King of the Bootleggers," writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand new Pontiacs for the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States.

Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring him down. Willebrandt's bosses at the U.S. Attorney's office hired her right out of law school, assuming she'd pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It's a decision with deadly consequences: With Remus behind bars, Dodge and Imogene begin an affair and plot to ruin him, sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the highest levels of government--and that can only end in murder.]]> 432 Karen Abbott 0451498623 Chelsea 4 3.69 2019 The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America
author: Karen Abbott
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Next 7661 Fast, furious, and out of control.

This is not the world of the future --- it's the world right now.

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction --- is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime.

We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes ...

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions, and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.

The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.

]]> 431 Michael Crichton 0060872985 Chelsea 3 3.54 2006 Next
author: Michael Crichton
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves:
review:
This is a word salad of half baked good ideas but I kind of enjoyed it. Think he probably could have crammed in five or six more subplots if he'd really tried though.
]]> <![CDATA[A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple, #4)]]> 16298
The novel was promoted on both sides of the Atlantic as Agatha Christie's 50th book and published in 1950 by William Collins.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "A Murder is Announced." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 288 Agatha Christie 1579126294 Chelsea 5 4.01 1950 A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple, #4)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1950
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/09
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:
Love this one. Sometimes Christie writes a nice, twisty story where you'd never guess the ending. (And Then There Were None was like this.) Other times, she writes a nice, twisty story where everything seems obvious when it falls into place. This is definitely the second type—one little revelation and all the clues suddenly fit together at once. Bravo!
]]> <![CDATA[A Practical Guide to Conquering the World (The Siege, #3)]]> 48897284 A Practical Guide to Conquering the World can be read by itself, but for those who like endings it can also be considered the refreshingly pragmatic conclusion to World Fantasy Award-winning author K.J. Parker’s acclaimed sequence of novels that began with Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and continue with How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It .

This is the true story of Aemilius Felix Boioannes the younger, the intended and unintended consequences of his life, the bad stuff he did on purpose, and the good stuff that happened in spite of him.

It is, in other words, the tale of a war to end all wars, and the man responsible.

]]> 350 K.J. Parker 0316498610 Chelsea 5 4.05 2022 A Practical Guide to Conquering the World (The Siege, #3)
author: K.J. Parker
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Much Ado About Nothing 12957 Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare includes two quite different stories of romantic love. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight, but an outsider, Don John, strikes out at their happiness. Beatrice and Benedick are kept apart by pride and mutual antagonism until others decide to play Cupid.]]> 249 William Shakespeare Chelsea 4 4.06 1598 Much Ado About Nothing
author: William Shakespeare
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1598
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga, #6)]]> 68483 346 Lois McMaster Bujold 0671720147 Chelsea 4 4.27 1990 The Vor Game (Vorkosigan Saga, #6)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga, #2)]]> 61906
Shortly after his arrival on Beta Colony, Miles unexpectedly finds himself the owner of an obsolete freighter and in more debt than he ever thought possible. Propelled by his manic "forward momentum," the ever-inventive Miles creates a new identity for himself as the commander of his own mercenary fleet to obtain a lucrative cargo; a shipment of weapons destined for a dangerous warzone.]]> 372 Lois McMaster Bujold 0743468406 Chelsea 4 4.27 1986 The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga, #2)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/12
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606]]> 25111120
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare’s great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age forty-two, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn� King Lear —then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra .

It was a memorable year in England as well—and a grim one, in the aftermath of a terrorist plot conceived by a small group of Catholic gentry that had been uncovered at the last hour. The foiled Gunpowder Plot would have blown up the king and royal family along with the nation’s political and religious leadership. The aborted plot renewed anti-Catholic sentiment and laid bare divisions in the kingdom.

It was against this background that Shakespeare finished Lear , a play about a divided kingdom, then wrote a tragedy that turned on the murder of a Scottish king, Macbeth . He ended this astonishing year with a third masterpiece no less steeped in current events and Antony and Cleopatra .

The Year of Lear sheds light on these three great tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions. For anyone interested in Shakespeare, this is an indispensable book.]]> 367 James Shapiro 1416541640 Chelsea 5 4.04 2015 The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
author: James Shapiro
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:
Great book—part history, part biography, part literary analysis. Major things I learned about—equivocation, the Black death in London, and the Gunpowder Plot.
]]> Their Eyes Were Watching God 37415 238 Zora Neale Hurston 0061120065 Chelsea 0 3.98 1937 Their Eyes Were Watching God
author: Zora Neale Hurston
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Has the Day of Miracles Ceased? : 100 True Latter-day Miracles]]> 60668534 In this inspiring collection, author Jonathan Woodstock recounts one hundred latter-day miracles that have been shared in recent decades. These real experiences come from all manner of people of different beliefs and backgrounds and are a witness that "God has not ceased to be a God of miracles" (Mormon 9:15).

From the most easily overlooked daily promptings of the Holy Spirit to the incredible demonstrations of God's power over death, these true accounts will reaffirm your faith and bring peace in the knowledge that the power of God is still manifest today.]]> 192 Jonathan Woodstock 1462141757 Chelsea 5 4.55 Has the Day of Miracles Ceased? : 100 True Latter-day Miracles
author: Jonathan Woodstock
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:
A good collection of stories with a little doctrinal background. A book like this could easily fall to "faith-promoting rumors" or, even if sharing true stories, to sensationalism and an overemphasis on the importance of divine manifestations. Instead, this book digs into the purpose of miracles, the reasons why miracles might or might not be granted, and that the greatest miracles aren't the physical restorations or protections, but the fruits of the Atonement. I can see myself coming back to these stories for talks and lessons in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[The Moving Finger (Miss Marple, #3)]]> 16341
Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "The Moving Finger." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 299 Agatha Christie 0007120842 Chelsea 4 3.85 1942 The Moving Finger (Miss Marple, #3)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Partners in Crime (Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries, #2)]]> 16325
Their first case is a success—the triumphant recovery of a pink pearl. Other cases soon follow—a stabbing on Sunningdale golf course; cryptic messages in the personal columns of newspapers; and even a box of poisoned chocolates. But can they live up to their slogan of "Any case solved in 24 hours"?]]> 347 Agatha Christie 0007111509 Chelsea 3 3.81 1929 Partners in Crime (Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries, #2)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1929
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body in the Library (Miss Marple, #2)]]> 16319
But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery� before tongues start to wag.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel "The Body in the Library." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 191 Agatha Christie 157912626X Chelsea 5 3.86 1942 The Body in the Library (Miss Marple, #2)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1942
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves:
review:
Always love a baffling one. Wasn't so sure about Miss Marple before, but this one sold me.
]]> <![CDATA[The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #3)]]> 199605514
Someone is trying to kill Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Esteemed aunt of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, generous patroness of Mr. William Collins, a woman of rank who rules over the estate of Rosings Park with an unimpeachable sense of propriety—who would dare ? Lady Catherine summons her grand-nephew, Mr. Jonathan Darcy, and his investigative companion, Miss Juliet Tilney, to find out.

After a year apart, Jonathan and Juliet are thrilled to be reunited, even if the circumstances—finding whoever has thus far sabotaged Lady Catherine's carriage, shot at her, and nearly pushed her down the stairs—are less than ideal. Also less than their respective fathers, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Henry Tilney, have accompanied the young detectives to Rosings, and the two men do not interact with the same felicity enjoyed by their children.

With attempts against Lady Catherine escalating, and no one among the list of prime suspects seemingly capable of committing all of the attacks, the pressure on Jonathan and Juliet mounts—even as more gentle feelings between the two of them begin to bloom. The race is now on to provoke two one from the attempted murderer before it is too late—and one, perhaps, of love.]]> 335 Claudia Gray 0593686586 Chelsea 3
While I don't mind a slow burn romance, this book suffers from contriving-to-keep-them-apart-itis. I was really hoping (minor spoilers) [spoilers removed] In general I'm much more interested in reading established relationships anyway. I hope it's just one lackluster entry in the series and the next book has a more compelling mystery.]]> 3.99 2024 The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #3)
author: Claudia Gray
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves:
review:
I was slightly disappointed in this one. The mystery was more obvious than the previous one, with motives that are entirely clear from early on and massive blind spots in our young detectives. I did enjoy the "preventing a murder" plotline as a nice break from standard mysteries and liked the pain they felt over hearing of a former murderer's execution.

While I don't mind a slow burn romance, this book suffers from contriving-to-keep-them-apart-itis. I was really hoping (minor spoilers) [spoilers removed] In general I'm much more interested in reading established relationships anyway. I hope it's just one lackluster entry in the series and the next book has a more compelling mystery.
]]> <![CDATA[The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)]]> 16361 400 Agatha Christie 0007122586 Chelsea 4 3.85 1925 The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:
Agatha Christie outdoes herself with the level of twists and convoluted turns within this book. Everyone has half a dozen secrets, there are at least a half dozen detectives—including Scotland Yard, Pinkertons, and the French Surete among their numbers, and if anyone figured the end out from the beginning they should become a fortune teller. Charming in its way but also far from realistic.
]]> <![CDATA[Marley: A Dog Like No Other: A Special Adaptation for Young Readers]]> 54903 208 John Grogan 0061240338 Chelsea 0 4.30 Marley: A Dog Like No Other: A Special Adaptation for Young Readers
author: John Grogan
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray]]> 343718
Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind someone's summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world, facing humans both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel become separated, Squirrel must fend for herself, and in the process makes two friends who in very different ways define her fate.]]> 208 Ann M. Martin 0439717000 Chelsea 0 4.21 2005 A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray
author: Ann M. Martin
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2008/01/01
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Macbeth 146931834
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.

Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy are usually associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.]]> 131 William Shakespeare Chelsea 5 4.31 1623 Macbeth
author: William Shakespeare
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1623
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/10
date added: 2024/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Service Model 195790861 To fix the world they first must break it further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.]]> 376 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1250290287 Chelsea 3 3.99 2024 Service Model
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves:
review:
This was a smart book and hard to get through, and unlike most books in that category I don't think the two are closely related. It had an absolutely thrilling first few chapters, an exciting and naratively satisfying last few chapters, and a middle that just didn't hold my attention. Every time I picked it up, I enjoyed UnCharles's interesting voice and logic and thought processes, and I was intrigued by the new and interesting ways robots destroyed the world by following logical commands, and then I put it down and felt no desire to get back to it because it just felt like going from one bleak worldbuilding piece to another. That being said, I'm glad I finished it! I want to talk to someone about it, I just don't know who the right reader would be
]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist � an informational topologist with half his mind gone � as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Chelsea 5 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Chelsea 3 classics 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 3
read at: 2012/06/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (Molly Moon, #1)]]> 807968
Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret...]]> 371 Georgia Byng 0060514094 Chelsea 2 unfinished 3.92 2002 Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (Molly Moon, #1)
author: Georgia Byng
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: unfinished
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories]]> 721012 Sketch Book first appeared in 1819, readers in America and abroad greeted it with enthusiasm, and Irving emerged as America's first successful professional author. The pieces about life in England are gently ironic, reflecting the author's interest in the traditions of the Old World and his longings for his home in the New. But it is in "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" that Irving exhibits his true strength—the ability to depict American landscapes and culture so vividly that readers feel themselves a part of them. And it is on the basis of these two classic tales that Irving is generally credited with inventing the short story as a distinct literary genre.

Originally published as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.]]> 368 Washington Irving 014043769X Chelsea 3 classics 3.96 1820 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories
author: Washington Irving
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1820
rating: 3
read at: 2013/01/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)]]> 754713 242 Arthur Conan Doyle 0755334434 Chelsea 5 classics 4.26 1917 His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1917
rating: 5
read at: 2010/01/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics
review:

]]> Three Cups of Tea 3788053 240 Sarah L. Thomson 0142414123 Chelsea 1 3.70 2006 Three Cups of Tea
author: Sarah L. Thomson
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 2011/01/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Most Boring Book Ever 207974153 48 Brandon Sanderson 1250843669 Chelsea 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Most Boring Book Ever
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest]]> 42389 Foreword
"We wanted those wings"; Camp Toccoa, 7-12/42
"Stand up & hook up"; Benning, Mackall, Bragg, Shanks, 12/42-9/43
"Duties of the latrine orderly"; Aldbourne, 9/43-3/44
"Look out, Hitler! Here we come!"; Slapton Sands, Uppottery, 4/1-6/5/44
"Follow me"; Normandy, 6/6/44
"Move out!"; Carentan, 6/7-7/12/44
Healing wounds & scrubbed missions; Aldbourne, 7/13-9/16/44
"Hell's highway"; Holland, 9/17-10/1/44
Island; Holland, 10/2-11/25/44
Resting, recovering & refitting: Mourmelon-le-Grand, 11/26-12/18/44
"They got us surrounded-the poor bastards"; Bastogne, 12/19-31/44
Breaking point; Bastogne, 1/1-13/45
Attack; Noville, 1/14-17/45
Patrol: Haguenau, 1/18-2/23/45
"Best feeling in the world": Mourmelon, 2/25-4/2/45
Getting to know the enemy: Germany, 4/2-30/45
Drinking Hitler's champagne; Berchtesgaden, 5/1-8/45
Soldier's dream life; Austria, 5/8-7/31/45
Postwar careers; 1945-91
Acknowledgments & Sources
Index]]> 432 Stephen E. Ambrose 0743464117 Chelsea 4 4.43 1992 Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
author: Stephen E. Ambrose
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Cahokia Jazz 75584918 Golden Hill.

In a city that never was, in an America that never was, on a snowy night at the end of winter, two detectives find a body on the roof of a skyscraper.

It's 1922, and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. Beside the Mississippi, the ancient city of Cahokia lives on—a teeming industrial metropolis, containing every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that body on the roof is about to spark off a week that will spill the city's secrets, and bring it, against a soundtrack of wailing clarinets and gunfire, either to destruction or rebirth.

The multiple-award-winning Francis Spufford returns, with a lovingly created, richly pleasure-giving, epically scaled tale set in the golden age of wicked entertainments.]]> 496 Francis Spufford 0571336876 Chelsea 5 3.91 2023 Cahokia Jazz
author: Francis Spufford
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves:
review:
One of the best written books I've read lately —intricate, winding, a little dense. Straddles the middle ground between serious and genre, with more to think about than most detective stories and more happening than most "literary" pieces.
]]> Beyond the Lavender Fields 57035661 As the fires of revolution spread, can a Jacobin and a royalist put aside their differences to protect all they love?

1792, France

Rumors of revolution in Paris swirl in Marseille, a bustling port city in southern France. Gilles Étienne, a clerk at the local soap factory, thrives on the news. Committed to the cause of equality, liberty, and brotherhood, he and his friends plan to march to Paris to dethrone the monarchy. His plans are halted when he meets Marie-Caroline Daubin, the beautiful daughter of the owner of the factory.

A bourgeoise and royalist, Marie-Caroline has been called home to Marseille to escape the unrest in Paris. She rebuffs Gilles’s efforts to charm her and boldly expresses her view that violently imposed freedom is not really freedom for all. As Marie-Caroline takes risks to follow her beliefs, Gilles catches her in a dangerous secret that could cost her and her family their lives. As Gilles and Marie-Caroline spend more time together, she questions her initial assumptions about Gilles and realizes that perhaps they have more in common than she thought.

As the spirit of revolution descends on Marseille, people are killed and buildings are ransacked and burned to the ground. Gilles must choose between supporting the political change he believes in and protecting those he loves. And Marie-Caroline must battle between standing up for what she feels is right and risking her family’s safety. With their lives and their nation in turmoil, both Gilles and Marie-Caroline wonder if a °ůĂ©±ą´Ç±ôłÜłŮľ±´Ç˛Ô˛Ô˛ąľ±°ů±đ and a royaliste can really be together in a world that forces people to choose sides.]]> 384 Arlem Hawks 1629729353 Chelsea 3 4.02 2022 Beyond the Lavender Fields
author: Arlem Hawks
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves:
review:
Not really my genre, and I think I had a hard time buying into the story because of that. I did like the ending though.
]]> <![CDATA[The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal]]> 23463183 From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history The Dead Hand comes the riveting story of a spy who cracked open the Soviet military research establishment and aĚýpenetrating portrait of the CIA’s Moscow station, an outpost of daring espionage in the last years of the Cold War

While driving out of the American embassy in Moscow on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station heard a knock on his car window. A man on the curb handed him an envelope whose contents stunned U.S. intelligence: details of top-secret Soviet research and developments in military technology that were totally unknown to the United States. In the years that followed, the man, Adolf Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau, used his high-level access to hand over tens of thousands of pages of technical secrets. His revelations allowed America to reshape its weapons systems to defeat Soviet radar on the ground and in the air, giving the United States near total superiority in the skies over Europe.

One of the most valuable spies to work for the United States in the four decades of global confrontation with the Soviet Union, Tolkachev took enormous personal risks—but so did the Americans. The CIA had long struggled to recruit and run agents in Moscow, and Tolkachev was a singular breakthrough. Using spy cameras and secret codes as well as face-to-face meetings in parks and on street corners, Tolkachev and his handlers succeeded for years in eluding the feared KGB in its own backyard, until the day came when a shocking betrayal put them all at risk.

Drawing on previously secret documents obtained from the CIA and on interviews with participants, David Hoffman has created an unprecedented and poignant portrait of Tolkachev, a man motivated by the depredations of the Soviet state to master the craft of spying against his own country. Stirring, unpredictable, and at times unbearably tense, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting that unfolds like an espionage thriller.]]> 336 David E. Hoffman 0385537603 Chelsea 5 4.19 2015 The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
author: David E. Hoffman
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/20
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)]]> 45309582 As a magical revolution remakes a city, an ancient evil is awakened in a brilliant new novel from the Hugo-nominated author ofĚýFoundryside and the Divine Cities trilogy
Ěý
Having narrowly saved the metropolis of Tevanne from destruction, Sancia Grado and her allies have turned to their next task: sowing the seeds of a full-on magical-industrial revolution. If they succeed, the secrets behind scriving—the art of imbuing everyday objects with sentience—will be accessible to all of Tevanne’s citizens, much to the displeasure of the robber-barons who’ve hoarded this knowledge for themselves. Ěý
Ěý
But one of Sancia’s enemies has embarked on a desperate gambit, an attempt to resurrect a figure straight out of legend—an immortal being known as a heirophant. Long ago, the heirophant was an ordinary man, but he’s used scriving to transform himself into something closer to a god. Once awakened, he’ll stop at nothing to remake the world in his horrifying image.
Ěý
And if Sancia can’t stop this ancient power from returning? Well, the only way to fight a god…is with another god.]]> 493 Robert Jackson Bennett 1524760390 Chelsea 3 4.02 2020 Shorefall (The Founders Trilogy, #2)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/15
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves:
review:
I had high hopes for Shorefall—maybe too high. It still captures the zany, intricate world and magic of Foundryside, but I found every other element a little less compelling; the pacing less tight, the twists less satisfying, the characters less interesting. At the same time, I feel like it sets up an interesting third book, so I will definitely read on.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)]]> 16331 288 Agatha Christie 1579126251 Chelsea 4 4.07 1930 Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1930
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking]]> 30753841
In the tradition of The Joy of Cooking and How to Cook Everything comes Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, an ambitious new approach to cooking by a major new culinary voice. Chef and writer Samin Nosrat has taught everyone from professional chefs to middle school kids to author Michael Pollan to cook using her revolutionary, yet simple, philosophy. Master the use of just four elements—Salt, which enhances flavor; Fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture; Acid, which balances flavor; and Heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food—and anything you cook will be delicious. By explaining the hows and whys of good cooking, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat will teach and inspire a new generation of cooks how to confidently make better decisions in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients, anywhere, at any time.

Echoing Samin’s own journey from culinary novice to award-winning chef, Salt, Fat Acid, Heat immediately bridges the gap between home and professional kitchens. With charming narrative, illustrated walkthroughs, and a lighthearted approach to kitchen science, Samin demystifies the four elements of good cooking for everyone. Refer to the canon of 100 essential recipes—and dozens of variations—to put the lessons into practice and make bright, balanced vinaigrettes, perfectly caramelized roast vegetables, tender braised meats, and light, flaky pastry doughs.

Featuring 150 illustrations and infographics that reveal an atlas to the world of flavor by renowned illustrator Wendy MacNaughton, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat will be your compass in the kitchen. Destined to be a classic, it just might be the last cookbook you’ll ever need.

With a foreword by Michael Pollan.]]> 480 Samin Nosrat 1476753830 Chelsea 0 4.39 2017 Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
author: Samin Nosrat
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Man in the High Castle 216363
This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.]]> 259 Philip K. Dick 0679740678 Chelsea 4 3.64 1962 The Man in the High Castle
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Ashes of Man (Sun Eater, #5) 60427253
The galaxy is burning.

With the Cielcin united under one banner, the Sollan Empire stands alone after the betrayal of the Commonwealth. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to burn the worlds of men, and worse, there are rumors...whispers that Hadrian Marlowe is dead, killed in the fighting.

But it is not so. Hadrian survived with the help of the witch, Valka, and together they escaped the net of the enemy having learned a terrible truth: the gods that the Cielcin worship are real and will not rest until the universe is dark and cold.

What is more, the Emperor himself is in danger. The Prophet-King has learned to track his movements as he travels along the borders of Imperial space. Now the Cielcin legions are closing in, their swords poised to strike off the head of all mankind.]]> 544 Christopher Ruocchio 0756416604 Chelsea 5 4.49 2022 Ashes of Man (Sun Eater, #5)
author: Christopher Ruocchio
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
review:
After struggling to get through the previous book, Ashes of Man is back to form. I am just blown away at Ruocchio's work—character, action, emotion. I'd blow through the next two books right now if they were both out. As it is I'll let book six wait a little while so I don't have so long to wait for the last one.
]]> <![CDATA[Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga, #7)]]> 61905 336 Lois McMaster Bujold 0743468414 Chelsea 5 4.29 1991 Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga, #7)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves:
review:
Loved it! Unsurprisingly as I much prefer established relationships to romances. Bujold really gets human emotions right and builds the political tension up in a way I love. The sci fi elements are still somewhat in the background, but the entire book taking place on Barrayar unsurprisingly means that they are much more fleshed out.
]]> <![CDATA[Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)]]> 61903 253 Lois McMaster Bujold 0743468422 Chelsea 4 4.14 1986 Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)]]> 37173847
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.]]> 501 Robert Jackson Bennett 1524760374 Chelsea 5 listened-to 4.16 2018 Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/17
date added: 2024/06/17
shelves: listened-to
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jane Austen Embroidery: Regency Patterns Reimagined for Modern Stitchers]]> 51106470 Lady's Magazine (1770�1832), a popular monthly periodical of fashion, fiction, and gossip, the projects consist of embroidered clothes, accessories, and housewares. Designs include an evening bag, a muslin shawl, an apron, a floral napkin set and tablecloth, and other pretty and practical items with timeless appeal.
These authentic patterns � many of which have not been reprinted in more than 200 years—are enlivened by vivid glimpses into the world of Regency women and their domestic lives. Fascinating historical features, quotes from Austen's letters and novels, enchanting drawings, clear instructions, and inspirational project photography trace the patterns' origins and illustrate their imaginative restoration for modern use. A must-have for every Jane Austen fan, this book is suitable for needleworkers at every level of experience.]]> 160 Jennie Batchelor 0486842878 Chelsea 4 4.30 Jane Austen Embroidery: Regency Patterns Reimagined for Modern Stitchers
author: Jennie Batchelor
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/12
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gutter Prayer (The Black Iron Legacy, #1)]]> 39836383 A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy.

The city has always been. The city must finally end.

When three thieves—an orphan, a ghoul, and a cursed man—are betrayed by the master of the thieves guild, their quest for revenge uncovers dark truths about their city and exposes a dangerous conspiracy, the seeds of which were sown long before they were born.

Cari is a drifter whose past and future are darker than she can know.
Rat is a Ghoul, whose people haunt the city's underworld.
Spar is a Stone Man, subject to a terrible disease that is slowly petrifying his flesh.

Chance has brought them together, but their friendship could be all that stands in the way of total armageddon.]]> 523 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan 0356511529 Chelsea 4 3.83 2019 The Gutter Prayer (The Black Iron Legacy, #1)
author: Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Into the Wild 60869516 Krakauer’s page-turning bestseller explores a famed missing person mystery while unraveling the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.

"Terrifying... Eloquent... A heart-rending drama of human yearning." —New York Times

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.

Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interst that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.

When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.]]> 217 Jon Krakauer Chelsea 0 4.13 1996 Into the Wild
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2014/01/01
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Flanders Panel 8883285 306 Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte 0547539584 Chelsea 0 unfinished 3.75 1990 The Flanders Panel
author: Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: unfinished
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Big Buildings of the Ancient World (X-Ray Picture Book)]]> 2955936 48 Joanne Jessop 0531142868 Chelsea 5 4.18 1993 Big Buildings of the Ancient World (X-Ray Picture Book)
author: Joanne Jessop
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Persuasion 2156 249 Jane Austen 0192802631 Chelsea 5 read-for-school, classics 4.15 1817 Persuasion
author: Jane Austen
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1817
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/31
date added: 2024/06/01
shelves: read-for-school, classics
review:

]]> Starter Villain 62326571 Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389231 Chelsea 4 4.30 2023 Starter Villain
author: John Scalzi
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves:
review:
Pretty much like every other John Scalzi book, but with more cats. Beginning was a little boring (turns out corporate villainy is less exciting than real villainy) but second half made up for it with some great action scenes and plot twists.
]]> <![CDATA[Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1)]]> 173404001 Ěý
But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolkĚý—Ěýsirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below.
Ěý
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn.ĚýBut if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn't hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy whenĚýa water dragon is exiled to the city.
Ěý
New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything.ĚýFrustrated by the lack of progress from Mira's softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremistĚýgroup,ĚýleavingĚýMira to find the headstrong youth before sheĚýmakes everythingĚýworse.
Ěý
And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.
Ěý
When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem.ĚýBoth she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.]]> 448 Eliza Chan 0316564923 Chelsea 4
I enjoyed the world building but felt like it needed a little more fleshing out when it came to the fathomfolk people and culture.

The plot was interesting, with lots of twists and turns, but it was also a mess. Maybe my listening comprehension was just bad, but there were very plot important world things that I felt like were never explained—I didn't know the rules of the world, and because of that when they were used to solve problems the emotional impact fell flat. (the biggest one being how dragon pearls worked.) This is a very issue-driven novel, and if there is a message it's to take a middle road, which is probably as good a message as any for a problem that had no easy solutions.

As for the main characters, I really loved them, even though none were particularly likeable. I enjoyed how deliciously evil Cordelia was, while still having a (narcissistic) love for her family. I liked seeing Nami's path towards radicalism. Mira felt pretty bland to me, and the way she lashed out at Kai because of her trauma was annoying, but I did enjoy some parts of her story. I am undecided on whether I'll read the sequel(s?) when they come out, but I don't regret reading this one. Overall, I think one more heavy round of editing would have solved a lot of the problems I saw, especially with the plot.]]> 3.14 2024 Fathomfolk (Drowned World, #1)
author: Eliza Chan
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves:
review:
Hovering between 3 and 4 stars to me. Loved the concept, execution was sometimes a little lacking.

I enjoyed the world building but felt like it needed a little more fleshing out when it came to the fathomfolk people and culture.

The plot was interesting, with lots of twists and turns, but it was also a mess. Maybe my listening comprehension was just bad, but there were very plot important world things that I felt like were never explained—I didn't know the rules of the world, and because of that when they were used to solve problems the emotional impact fell flat. (the biggest one being how dragon pearls worked.) This is a very issue-driven novel, and if there is a message it's to take a middle road, which is probably as good a message as any for a problem that had no easy solutions.

As for the main characters, I really loved them, even though none were particularly likeable. I enjoyed how deliciously evil Cordelia was, while still having a (narcissistic) love for her family. I liked seeing Nami's path towards radicalism. Mira felt pretty bland to me, and the way she lashed out at Kai because of her trauma was annoying, but I did enjoy some parts of her story. I am undecided on whether I'll read the sequel(s?) when they come out, but I don't regret reading this one. Overall, I think one more heavy round of editing would have solved a lot of the problems I saw, especially with the plot.
]]> <![CDATA[Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4)]]> 61915 Leo Graf adopted a thousand quaddies---now all he had to do was teach them to be free.

Falling Free takes place approximately 200 yearsĚýbeforeĚýthe events inĚýCordelia's HonorĚýand does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series.

]]> 288 Lois McMaster Bujold 1886778531 Chelsea 5 3.84 1988 Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/19
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves:
review:
Fun, fast paced, breezy sci fi adventure. I love engineering books and escape novels so it's not surprising I loved this one. (Some weird shoehorned in age gap romance aside—but that is like a half dozen scattered paragraphs) Also I loved having a nursing mother as a viewpoint character!
]]> <![CDATA[The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)]]> 17910048 A lush tale of deadly court intrigue and a modern classic of fantasy by Locus award winner and Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award finalist Katherine Addison

The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an "accident," he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.

Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.

Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor. All the while, he is alone, and trying to find even a single friend . . . and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.]]> 446 Katherine Addison 076532699X Chelsea 5 4.04 2014 The Goblin Emperor (The Chronicles of Osreth, #1)
author: Katherine Addison
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/04
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #2)]]> 62926935 The suspenseful sequel to The Murder of Mr. Wickham, which sees Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney reunited, and with another mystery to solve: the dreadful poisoning of theĚýscoundrel Willoughby's new wife.

“An absolute page-turner full of well-plotted mystery and hints of simmering romance. . . . More of the Jane Austen characters we love (as well as those we love to hate).� —Mia P. Manansala, author of Arsenic and Adobo

Catherine and Henry Tilney of Northanger Abbey are not entirely pleased to be sending their eligible young daughter Juliet out into the world again: the last house party she attended, at the home of the Knightleys, involved a murder—which Juliet helped solve. Particularly concerning is that she intends to visit her new friend Marianne Brandon, who's returned home toĚýDevonshire shrouded in fresh scandal—made more potent by the news that her former suitor, the rakish Mr. Willoughby, intends to take up residence at his local estate with his new bride.

Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley are thrilled that their eldest son, Jonathan—who, like his father, has not always been the most socially adept—has been invited to stay with his former schoolmate, John Willoughby. Jonathan himself is decidedly less taken with the notion of having to spend extended time under the roof of his old bully, but that all changes when he finds himself reunited with his fellow amateur sleuth, the radiant Miss Tilney. And when shortly thereafter, Willoughby's new wife—whom he married for her fortune—dies horribly at the party meant to welcome her to town.

With rumors flying and Marianne—known to be both unstable and previously jilted by the dead woman's newly made widower—under increased suspicion, Jonathan and Juliet must team up once more to uncover the murderer. But as they collect clues and close in on suspects, eerie incidents suggest that the killer may strike again, and that the pair are in far graver danger than they or their families could imagine.

A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.]]> 385 Claudia Gray 0593313836 Chelsea 4 3.87 2023 The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #2)
author: Claudia Gray
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves:
review:
Again, this book suffers from comparison to the original material, but as there were more original characters and I'm less familiar with Sense and Sensibility it didn't bother me as much. Once I got past the inevitable comparisons and enjoyed it on its own merits it was quite a fun, cozy little romp. I saw the ending coming, at least as a possibility, but I was sure it was going to fall flat and instead the solution was quite satisfying.
]]> <![CDATA[The Murder of Mr. Wickham (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #1)]]> 59089898 A summer house party turns into a whodunit when Mr. Wickham, one of literature’s most notorious villains, meets a sudden and suspicious end in this mystery featuring Jane Austen’s leading literary characters.

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys� eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.]]> 386 Claudia Gray 059331381X Chelsea 4 3.65 2022 The Murder of Mr. Wickham (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, #1)
author: Claudia Gray
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
An enjoyable little mystery. Nothing too special in plot but still competent enough. Some of the cribbed characters worked better than others—I felt like the author failed to capture the sparkling wit of Austen's cleverest and most beloved characters—but I did love the way others were handled, and her original characters really shone. I'm excited to read the sequels.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lesser Devil (The Sun Eater, #1.5)]]> 53536557 185 Christopher Ruocchio Chelsea 5 3.90 2020 The Lesser Devil (The Sun Eater, #1.5)
author: Christopher Ruocchio
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/13
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
A fun little story that is (so far) totally optional to Sun Eater but adds in a great layer of characterization and was a fun romp in its own right. I enjoyed the Christian themes and seeing just how different Crispin is on the inside.
]]> <![CDATA[The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur, #1)]]> 7562764
Indeed, in his many lives, the entity called Jean le Flambeur has been a thief, a confidence artist, a posthuman mind-burgler, and more. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his deeds are known throughout the Heterarchy, from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. In his last exploit, he managed the supreme feat of hiding the truth about himself from the one person in the solar system hardest to hide from: himself. Now he has the chance to regain himself in all his power—in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed.

The Quantum Thief is a breathtaking joyride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people who communicate via shared memory, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as an MMORPG guild. But for all its wonders, The Quantum Thief is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, jealousy, and revenge.]]> 336 Hannu Rajaniemi 0575088877 Chelsea 3 3.84 2010 The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur, #1)
author: Hannu Rajaniemi
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves:
review:
I feeling like this book might actually be a five star book and I just lost the plot somewhere and got confused.
]]> <![CDATA[The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China]]> 60747078
In the late 8th and early 7th centuries BCE, Scythian warriors conquered and unified most of the vast Eurasian continent, creating an innovative empire that would give birth to the age of philosophy and the Classical age across the ancient world―in the West, the Near East, India, and China. Mobile horse herders who lived with their cats in wheeled felt tents, the Scythians made stunning contributions to world civilization―from capital cities and strikingly elegant dress to political organization and the world-changing ideas of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Laotzu―Scythians all. In The Scythian Empire , Christopher I. Beckwith presents a major new history of a fascinating but often forgotten empire that changed the course of history.

At its height, the Scythian Empire stretched west from Mongolia and ancient northeast China to northwest Iran and the Danube River, and in Central Asia reached as far south as the Arabian Sea. The Scythians also ruled Media and Chao, crucial frontier states of ancient Iran and China. By ruling over and marrying the local peoples, the Scythians created new cultures that were creole Scythian in their speech, dress, weaponry, and feudal socio-political structure. As they spread their language, ideas, and culture across the ancient world, the Scythians laid the foundations for the very first Persian, Indian, and Chinese empires.

Filled with fresh discoveries, The Scythian Empire presents a remarkable new vision of a little-known but incredibly important empire and its peoples.]]> 416 Christopher I. Beckwith 0691240531 Chelsea 0 unfinished 3.27 2023 The Scythian Empire: Central Eurasia and the Birth of the Classical Age from Persia to China
author: Christopher I. Beckwith
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: unfinished
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking]]> 54369251
But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…]]> 306 T. Kingfisher 1614505241 Chelsea 5 4.02 2020 A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves:
review:
It's hard to find a book both charming and awesome but here it is! I loved this one.
]]> <![CDATA[N or M? (Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries, #3)]]> 102313 304 Agatha Christie 0007111452 Chelsea 5 3.80 1941 N or M? (Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries, #3)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1941
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/19
date added: 2024/04/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)]]> 50706646
Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.]]> 435 Andrea Stewart 0316541427 Chelsea 4 3.97 2020 The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)
author: Andrea Stewart
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves:
review:
I honestly don't know why this book wasn't an easy 5 stars for me. It had interesting magic, cool characters, good writing, and a plot with lots of twists and turns. But for some reason I struggled to get into it. That being said I really enjoyed it by the time I finished and I am glad I stuck with it. I will probably check out the sequel one of these days and hopefully I'll be invested from the beginning in book two.
]]> Couture Sewing Techniques 10284283 256 Claire B. Shaeffer 1600853358 Chelsea 5 4.46 2014 Couture Sewing Techniques
author: Claire B. Shaeffer
name: Chelsea
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves:
review:
This is a treasure trove. So many step by step instructions for details. This is definitely a book for a confident seamstress looking to level up the little details, not a beginner.
]]> More Than Human 541024
In this genre-bending novel - among the first to have launched scifi into the arena of literature - one of the great imaginers of the twentieth century tells a story as mind-blowing as any controlled substance and as affecting as a glimpse into a stranger's soul. For as the protagonists of More Than Human struggle to find who they are and whether they are meant to help humanity or destroy it. Theodore Sturgeon explores questions of power and morality, individuality and belonging, with suspense, pathos, and a lyricism rarely seen in science fiction.]]> 186 Theodore Sturgeon 0375703713 Chelsea 0 unfinished 3.95 1953 More Than Human
author: Theodore Sturgeon
name: Chelsea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/30
shelves: unfinished
review:

]]>