Marian 's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 02 May 2025 09:54:43 -0700 60 Marian 's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Remembering 146199 134 Wendell Berry 0865473315 Marian 0 come-back-to-later, to-read 4.01 1988 Remembering
author: Wendell Berry
name: Marian
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: come-back-to-later, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)]]> 26030734
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home—until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.]]> 282 Peter Brown 0316381993 Marian 0 currently-reading 4.19 2016 The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)
author: Peter Brown
name: Marian
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life]]> 271716 What do a chamber pot, a famous poet, a family feud, and a long-ago suitor all have in common?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning might have written about the length and breadth of love, but Abby Randolph has given up on all that, preferring to spend her time between her cluttered "needs work" apartment and an overcrowded antiques mart optimistically named Objects of Desire. Yet Abby can't help but wonder what happened to her earlier passionate self . . .

Then the Antiques Roadshow comes to town, and Abby joins thousands of Boston's hopefuls at the crack of dawn, artifact in hand. But there, among the carousel horses and bedraggled stuffed animals, Abby's rather squalid piece of porcelain gets the star treatment. And from the moment the show airs, everything changes—friendships, her career, love affairs, even the way she views herself and others—as life comes rushing back at Abby Randolph full force.]]> 352 Mameve Medwed 0060831200 Marian 1 not willing to spend the energy tonight to express why]]> 3.23 2006 How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
author: Mameve Medwed
name: Marian
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: did-not-finish, first-person-narrator-2-25
review:
IMO - sorry, not sorry, unreadable.
not willing to spend the energy tonight to express why
]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 181350367 For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 358 Kristen Perrin 0593474015 Marian 0 to-read 3.76 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Marian
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Travels with Charley: In Search of America]]> 7723149 A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula

To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.]]> 277 John Steinbeck Marian 0 currently-reading 4.05 1961 Travels with Charley: In Search of America
author: John Steinbeck
name: Marian
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> How to Say Babylon 62919742 Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author’s struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father’s strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.

In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya’s mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya’s voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them.

How to Say Babylon is Sinclair’s reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.']]> 352 Safiya Sinclair 1982132337 Marian 5 memoir, book-club powerful 4.43 2023 How to Say Babylon
author: Safiya Sinclair
name: Marian
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: memoir, book-club
review:
powerful
]]> The Last Question 4808763
En un relato aparentemente sencillo sobre un asunto sobrecogedor, el fin de los días, Asimov demuestra, una vez más, una mente preclara y una mano maestra para sobrecoger al lector y dejarlo en vilo, incluso después de la lectura.]]> 9 Isaac Asimov 1884214495 Marian 0 to-read 4.56 1956 The Last Question
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Marian
average rating: 4.56
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tilt 214151301 Set over the course of one day, a heart-racing story about a woman facing the unimaginable, determined to find safety

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, she realizes there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. She’s determined to change her life if she can just make it home.]]> 229 Emma Pattee 1668055473 Marian 0 to-read 3.71 2025 Tilt
author: Emma Pattee
name: Marian
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cost of Discipleship 174834
What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.]]> 320 Dietrich Bonhoeffer 0684815001 Marian 0 to-read 4.29 1937 The Cost of Discipleship
author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
name: Marian
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Herb's Pajamas 221080 212 Abigail Thomas 1565121899 Marian 4 short-story 3.71 1998 Herb's Pajamas
author: Abigail Thomas
name: Marian
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: short-story
review:
4.5 I'm not sure where I ran across this little gem, but I certainly enjoyed it. This collection of 4 short stories, linked only tangentially, is beautifully written. I would classify them as largely character profiles, characters who struggle to be sure, but each experiences a relief of redemption along the way.
]]> <![CDATA[Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life]]> 221075 Safekeeping offers a sublimely different kind of autobiography. Setting aside a straightforward narrative in favor of brief passages of vivid prose, Abigail Thomas revisits the pivotal moments and the tiny incidents that have shaped her life: pregnancy at 18; single motherhood (of three!) by the age of 26; the joys and frustrations of three marriages; and the death of her second husband, who was her best friend. The stories made of these incidents are startling in their clarity and reassuring in their wisdom.

This is a book in which silence speaks as eloquently as what is revealed. Openhearted and effortlessly funny, these brilliantly selected glimpses of the arc of a life are, in an age of excessive confession and recrimination, a welcome tonic.]]> 192 Abigail Thomas 0385720556 Marian 0 to-read 4.21 2000 Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life
author: Abigail Thomas
name: Marian
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Impossible Thing 214339571 From the exceptionally original mind of CWA Gold Dagger Award winner and Booker longlisted author Belinda Bauer comes this sweeping tale of obsession, greed, ambition, and a crime that has remained unsolved for a hundred years.

How do you find something that doesn’t exist?

1926. On the cliffs of Yorkshire, men are lowered on ropes to steal the eggs of the sea birds who nest there. The most beautiful are sold for large sums. A small girl—penniless and neglected by her family—retrieves one such treasure. Its discovery will forever alter the course of her life.

A century later. In a remote cottage in Wales, Patrick Fort finds his friend, Nick, and his mother tied up and robbed. The only thing missing: a carved case containing an incredible scarlet egg. Doggedly attempting to retrieve it, Patrick and Nick discover the cruel world of egg trafficking, and soon find themselves on the trail of a priceless collection of eggs lost to history. Until now.

A taut, wonderfully imagined novel brimming with skullduggery at every turn, The Impossible Thing is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer’s status as one of our greatest living crime writers.]]> 336 Belinda Bauer 0802164412 Marian 0 to-read 4.12 The Impossible Thing
author: Belinda Bauer
name: Marian
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secret Garden 2998
Mary Lennox, a spoiled, ill-tempered, and unhealthy child, comes to live with her reclusive uncle in Misselthwaite Manor on England’s Yorkshire moors after the death of her parents. There she meets a hearty housekeeper and her spirited brother, a dour gardener, a cheerful robin, and her wilful, hysterical, and sickly cousin, Master Colin, whose wails she hears echoing through the house at night.

With the help of the robin, Mary finds the door to a secret garden, neglected and hidden for years. When she decides to restore the garden in secret, the story becomes a charming journey into the places of the heart, where faith restores health, flowers refresh the spirit, and the magic of the garden, coming to life anew, brings health to Colin and happiness to Mary.]]> 331 Frances Hodgson Burnett 0517189607 Marian 5 children-junior 4.16 1911 The Secret Garden
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Marian
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1911
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/17
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: children-junior
review:
It's about time I read this- I thought it was pretty great!
]]> <![CDATA[The Collected Regrets of Clover]]> 61214136
From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit , Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a road trip to uncover a forgotten love story—and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.

Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover is perfect for readers of The Midnight Library and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine as it turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.]]> 320 Mikki Brammer 1250284392 Marian 3 4.14 2023 The Collected Regrets of Clover
author: Mikki Brammer
name: Marian
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: book-club, first-person-narrator-2-25
review:
3.5 A book written from the persepective of a "death doula" is a strong premise. This premise is laid on top our first person narrator, a lonely stagnant and grieving 36 year old girl/woman. Parts of it worked and parts just did not. There were moments of great realization and interesting practice, but equally, many moments of overwrought sentimentality. I will say it sparked good conversation about death and dying in my bookclub.
]]> The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Marian 0 to-read 4.01 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Marian
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland, #1)]]> 32075854
When Susan receives Alan's latest manuscript, in which Atticus Pünd investigates a murder at Pye Hall, an English manor house, she has no reason to think it will be any different from the others. There will be dead bodies, a cast of intriguing suspects, and plenty of red herrings and clues. But the more Susan reads, the more she realizes that there's another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript—one of ambition, jealousy, and greed—and that soon it will lead to murder.

Masterful, clever, and ruthlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage crime fiction.]]> 477 Anthony Horowitz 0062645226 Marian 0 to-read 3.93 2016 Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland, #1)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Marian
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Rabbit Moon 217182494 A family drama set in Shanghai, where a fractured American family faces its complicated past

Four years after their bitter divorce, Claire and Aaron Litvak get a phone call no parent is prepared for: Their twenty-two-year-old daughter Lindsey, teaching English in China during a college gap year, has been critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. At a Shanghai hospital they wait at her bedside, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The accident unearths a deeper fissure in the family: the shocking event that ended the Litvaks� marriage and turned Lindsey against them. Estranged from her parents, she has confided only in her younger sister, Grace, adopted as an infant from China. As Claire and Aaron struggle to get their bearings in bustling, cosmopolitan Shanghai, the newly prosperous “miracle city,� they face troubling questions about Lindsey’s life there, in which nothing is as it seems.]]> 288 Jennifer Haigh 0316577138 Marian 0 to-read 3.81 Rabbit Moon
author: Jennifer Haigh
name: Marian
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What I Talk About When I Talk About Running]]> 2195464
Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a panorama of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back.

By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in running.]]> 188 Haruki Murakami Marian 0 to-read 3.87 2007 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Marian
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland]]> 40163119
Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

Patrick Radden Keefe writes an intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions.]]> 441 Patrick Radden Keefe 0385521316 Marian 5 irish-ireland, non-fiction This is an excellent introduction to the Irish struggle for independence during the past 100 years, picking up basically with the 1916 Easter Rising. I found the structure, while complex, to be compelling and easy to follow. There was a lot packed in here, much of which was new to me. Thatcher and Boston College both take it on the chin. Excellent]]> 4.47 2018 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
author: Patrick Radden Keefe
name: Marian
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: irish-ireland, non-fiction
review:
Historical narrative as opposed to historical fiction, yet read so seamlessly.
This is an excellent introduction to the Irish struggle for independence during the past 100 years, picking up basically with the 1916 Easter Rising. I found the structure, while complex, to be compelling and easy to follow. There was a lot packed in here, much of which was new to me. Thatcher and Boston College both take it on the chin. Excellent
]]> <![CDATA[Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life]]> 44600621 Ali Wong's heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero), covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.

In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so heavily that she became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mom comics on stage but you sure see plenty of new dads.

The sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she's learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal singles life in New York (i.e. the inevitable confrontation with erectile dysfunction), reconnecting with her roots (and drinking snake blood) in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong's letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and disgusting) for all.]]> 240 Ali Wong 052550883X Marian 2 did-not-finish, memoir 3.83 2019 Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life
author: Ali Wong
name: Marian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: did-not-finish, memoir
review:
1.5 I guess it says a lot when I'm more interested in reading all of the other 3 books on my nightstand every night. I forced my way through a third of the book and realized why - it simply wasn't interesting or entertaining, imo. Plus, it was so very crass.- not my cup of tea.
]]> <![CDATA[Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland]]> 7059850 'Voices from the Grave is the best-informed account yet written of the IRA's evolution from ruthless guerrilla army into governmental party, ruling Northern Ireland alongside its most intransigent former enemies.]]> 528 Ed Moloney 0571251684 Marian 0 to-read 4.26 2010 Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland
author: Ed Moloney
name: Marian
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary]]> 25019 The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.]]> 242 Simon Winchester 0060839783 Marian 0 to-read 3.84 1998 The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
author: Simon Winchester
name: Marian
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting]]> 54895704
Have you ever felt a crushing wave of panic when you can't for the life of you remember the name of that actor in the movie you saw last week, or you walk into a room only to forget why you went there in the first place? If you're over forty, you're probably not laughing. You might even be worried that these lapses in memory could be an early sign of Alzheimer's or dementia. In reality, for the vast majority of us, these examples of forgetting are completely normal. Why? Because while memory is amazing, it is far from perfect. Our brains aren't designed to remember every name we hear, plan we make, or day we experience. Just because your memory sometimes fails doesn't mean it's broken or succumbing to disease. Forgetting is actually part of being human.

In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You'll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). You'll come to appreciate the clear distinction between normal forgetting (where you parked your car) and forgetting due to Alzheimer's (that you own a car). And you'll see how memory is profoundly impacted by meaning, emotion, sleep, stress, and context. Once you understand the language of memory and how it functions, its incredible strengths and maddening weaknesses, its natural vulnerabilities and potential superpowers, you can both vastly improve your ability to remember and feel less rattled when you inevitably forget. You can set educated expectations for your memory, and in doing so, create a better relationship with it. You don't have to fear it anymore. And that can be life-changing.]]> 256 Lisa Genova 0593137957 Marian 0 to-read 4.15 2021 Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting
author: Lisa Genova
name: Marian
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wandering Stars 220687890 A TIME MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK � The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous.

Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle,where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There—warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts—asking what it means to bethe children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts.]]> 336 Tommy Orange 0593311442 Marian 0 to-read 4.14 2024 Wandering Stars
author: Tommy Orange
name: Marian
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)]]> 7315573
This is an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution. This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women.
It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution. In a plot of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, "Fall Of Giants" moves seamlessly from Washington to St Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.]]> 985 Ken Follett 0525951652 Marian 0 to-read 4.31 2010 Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: Marian
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Doors 156480764
In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It's a book - an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .

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

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

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

Because some doors should never be opened.]]> 408 Gareth Brown 1787637247 Marian 0 to-read 4.03 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Marian
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Isola 212806636 A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this epic saga of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.

Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.]]> 368 Allegra Goodman 0593730089 Marian 4 4.00 2025 Isola
author: Allegra Goodman
name: Marian
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: first-person-narrator-2-25, historical-fiction
review:
3.5 I found the premise fascinating, and did not realize until the epilogue that the tale was based on historical persons and a true event. For me the prose was somewhat overwritten and repetitive in theme. I wish more authors would begin to trust readers more to pull out big ideas without being so obvious- show more, tell less.
]]> The Burgess Boys 15823461
With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is Elizabeth Strout's newest and perhaps most astonishing work of literary art.]]> 320 Elizabeth Strout 1400067685 Marian 0 to-read 3.58 2013 The Burgess Boys
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: Marian
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Politics and Culture)]]> 222796693 Why the crisis of Christianity has become a crisis for democracy
Ěý
What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In this provocative book, the award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch—a lifelong atheist—reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity.
Ěý
Thin Christianity, as Rauch calls the mainline church, has been unable to inspire and retain believers. Worse, a Church of Fear has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings.
Ěý
In this timely critique Rauch addresses secular Americans who think Christianity can be abandoned, and Christian Americans who blame secular culture for their grievances. The two must work together, he argues, to confront our present crisis. He calls on Christians to recommit to the teachings of their faith that align with Madison, not MAGA, and to understand that liberal democracy, far from being oppressive, is uniquely protective of religious freedom. At the same time, he calls on secular liberals to understand that healthy religious institutions are crucial to the survival of the liberal state.]]> 160 Jonathan Rauch 0300281544 Marian 0 to-read 4.20 Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Politics and Culture)
author: Jonathan Rauch
name: Marian
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hannah Coulter 146198 Hannah Coulter is Wendell Berry's seventh novel and his first to employ the voice of a woman character in its telling. Hannah, the now-elderly narrator, recounts the love she has for the land and for her community. She remembers each of her two husbands, and all places and community connections threatened by twentieth-century technologies.]]> 190 Wendell Berry 1593760787 Marian 0 to-read 4.39 2004 Hannah Coulter
author: Wendell Berry
name: Marian
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kinfolk 40669824 414 Pearl S. Buck Marian 0 to-read 4.53 1949 Kinfolk
author: Pearl S. Buck
name: Marian
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna Be Okay]]> 50903653 272 Sean Dietrich 0310355753 Marian 0 to-read 4.47 2020 Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: A Memoir of Learning to Believe You’re Gonna Be Okay
author: Sean Dietrich
name: Marian
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Thinking, Fast and Slow 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Marian 0 to-read 4.17 2011 Thinking, Fast and Slow
author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Marian
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy]]> 54734969
We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. In this paradigm-shifting book, Herman Pontzer reveals for the first time how human metabolism really works so that we can finally manage our weight and improve our health.

Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie.

At the same time, we must exercise to keep our body systems and signals functioning optimally, even if it won't make us thinner. Hunter-gatherers like the Hadza move about five hours a day and remain remarkably healthy into old age. But elite athletes can push the body too far, burning calories faster than their bodies can take them in. It may be that the most spectacular athletic feats are the result not just of great training, but of an astonishingly efficient digestive system.

Revealing, irreverent, and always entertaining, Pontzer has written a book that will change how you eat, move, and live.]]> 384 Herman Pontzer 0525541527 Marian 0 currently-reading 4.08 2021 Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy
author: Herman Pontzer
name: Marian
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Secret Life of Sunflowers 61613291 A gripping, inspiring novel based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law.

When Hollywood auctioneer Emsley Wilson finds her famous grandmother's diary while cleaning out her New York brownstone, the pages are full of surprises. The first surprise is, the diary isn't her grandmother's. It belongs to Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law.

Johanna inherited Vincent van Gogh's paintings. They were all she had, and they weren't worth anything. She was a 28 year old widow with a baby in the 1800s, without any means of supporting herself, living in Paris where she barely spoke the language. Yet she managed to introduce Vincent's legacy to the world.

The inspiration couldn't come at a better time for Emsley. With her business failing, an unexpected love turning up in her life, and family secrets unraveling, can she find answers in the past?]]> 356 Marta Molnar 1940627486 Marian 1 book-club, did-not-finish 4.10 The Secret Life of Sunflowers
author: Marta Molnar
name: Marian
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: book-club, did-not-finish
review:
I didn’t care for this book. I found it oh so overwritten and precious. I tried.
]]> Watching You 38355282
As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…]]> 320 Lisa Jewell 1501190075 Marian 3 mystery-thriller 3.83 2018 Watching You
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Marian
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: mystery-thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Judas Effect: How Evangelicals Betrayed Jesus for Power]]> 215358342
Part Bible study and part personal faith journey, The Judas Effect is about the selling out of Christian values for political gain. It’s about how, buoyed by Trumpism, the message ringing from church bells across America has morphed from “goodwill toward men� to “it’s us against them.� By sharing her own faith crisis, Hawk casts a vision for the evangelical church that steers us away from Judas’s power lust, toward a Christ-centered mission of servitude, humility, compassion, and kindness.]]> 232 Amy Hawk 1666763667 Marian 0 to-read 4.70 The Judas Effect: How Evangelicals Betrayed Jesus for Power
author: Amy Hawk
name: Marian
average rating: 4.70
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man]]> 62918681 One of our nation’s most prominent writers finds the truth about how to live a long and happy life in the centenarian next door.

When a veteran Washington journalist moved to Kansas, he met a new neighbor who was more than a century old. Little did he know that he was beginning a long friendship—and a profound lesson in the meaning of life. Charlie White was no ordinary neighbor. Born before radio, Charlie lived long enough to use a smartphone. When a shocking tragedy interrupted his idyllic boyhood, Charlie mastered survival strategies that reflect thousands of years of human wisdom. Thus armored, Charlie’s sense of adventure carried him on an epic journey across the continent, and later found him swinging across bandstands of the Jazz Age, racing aboard ambulances through Depression-era gangster wars, improvising techniques for early open-heart surgery, and cruising the Amazon as a guest of Peru’s president.

David Von Drehle came to understand that Charlie’s resilience and willingness to grow made this remarkable neighbor a master in the art of thriving through times of dramatic change. As a gift to his children, he set out to tell Charlie’s secrets. The Book of Charlie is a gospel of grit—the inspiring story of one man’s journey through a century of upheaval. The history that unfolds through Charlie’s story reminds you that the United States has always been a divided nation, a questing nation, an inventive nation—a nation of Charlies in the rollercoaster pursuit of a good and meaningful life.]]> 194 David von Drehle 1476773920 Marian 0 to-read 3.86 2023 The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man
author: David von Drehle
name: Marian
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning]]> 195888511
Is the Constitution a living document that needs to evolve with the times? Or should we try to divine the original meaning that our Founding Fathers intended, and hew to that as strictly as possible, as present-day originalists suggest?

In The Year of Living Constitutionally , A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He exercises his Second Amendment rights by marching around Manhattan with a colonial musket. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment and handing them out in Times Square. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles, boiling mutton, and—because women were not allowed to sign contracts—taking over the household finances from his much more business-savvy wife.

The book blends unforgettable adventures—traveling to the Capitol to personally deliver a list of grievances to Congress, consenting to quarter soldiers in his apartment, and battling Redcoats as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment group--with dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides of the debate. Much like he did with the Bible in The Year of Living Biblically , Jacobs provides a crash course on our Constitution as he experiences the benefits and perils of living like it’s the 1790s. In the process, he showcases the potentially dangerous effects originalism has on our democracy as well as the progress we’ve made since the time of its writing in 1789, when, for instance, life expectancy was forty-five years and married women couldn’t own property.

Now more than ever, Americans need to understand the meaning and value of the Constitution. As conservative politicians and Supreme Court Justices continue to argue for a more literal interpretation of the Constitution, A.J. Jacobs provides an entertaining yet illuminating look into how this storied document fits into our democracy today.]]> 304 A.J. Jacobs 0593136748 Marian 4 non-fiction 3.5 rounded up 3.99 2024 The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning
author: A.J. Jacobs
name: Marian
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: non-fiction
review:
3.5 rounded up
]]> Dairy Queen (Dairy Queen, #1) 16178 Harsh words indeed, from Brian Nelson of all people. But, D. J. can’t help admitting, maybe he’s right.

When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Stuff like why her best friend, Amber, isn’t so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mom has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers won’t even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the high school football team herself. And why Brian is so, so out of her league.

When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
Welcome to the summer that fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, learns to talk, and ends up having an awful lot of stuff to say.]]> 275 Catherine Gilbert Murdock 0618683070 Marian 4 I listened to this novel and the Wisconsin accent was spot on! ]]> 3.74 2006 Dairy Queen (Dairy Queen, #1)
author: Catherine Gilbert Murdock
name: Marian
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: children-junior, first-person-narrator-2-25
review:
this was a quality YA read, appropriate, engaging, humorous;
I listened to this novel and the Wisconsin accent was spot on!
]]> <![CDATA[The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1]]> 52085140
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighborhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.

Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.]]> 125 Beth Brower 0998063614 Marian 0 to-read 4.23 2019 The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1
author: Beth Brower
name: Marian
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Letter to the American Church 61034085 Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, SpyĚýwarns of the haunting similarities between today’s American church and the German church of the 1930s. Echoing Bonhoeffer’s prophetic call, Eric Metaxas exhorts his fellow Christians to repent of their silence in the face of evil before it is too late.]]> 159 Eric Metaxas 1684513901 Marian 3 essays 4.09 2022 Letter to the American Church
author: Eric Metaxas
name: Marian
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: essays
review:
There is a lot to agree with in this little letter and plenty to argue with. The author compares today's American Church with the German Lutheran Church during Hitler’s assent to power, invoking many of the words and warnings of Dietrich Bonhoffer. That was interesting and I picked up some new information. But I don’t necessarily believe, as author states, that the German Church did nothing. Yes, the church certainly has a role and a responsibility within the culture to act, but IMO, some of the equivalencies he creates are not valid. Plus, while the author clearly has a bent toward one current party in the states, most of his warnings apply equally or more toward that very party as to the one he is warning about. I’ll leave it at that.
]]> Up a Road Slowly 65954 The Newbery Award-winning novel

From the author of Across Five Aprils and No Promises in the Wind comes her most beloved story of a girl's coming of age.

After her mother's death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.

]]> 197 Irene Hunt 0425202054 Marian 4 sweet and subtle coming-of-age YA novel]]> 4.00 1966 Up a Road Slowly
author: Irene Hunt
name: Marian
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: children-junior, first-person-narrator-2-25
review:
3.5
sweet and subtle coming-of-age YA novel
]]> Tennyson: Poems 294394
This collection includes, of course, such famous poems as “The Lady of Shalott� and “The Charge of the Light Brigade.� There are extracts from all the major masterpieces—“Idylls of the King,� “The Princess,� “In Memoriam”—and several complete long poems, such as “Ulysses� and “Demeter and Persephone,� that demonstrate his narrative grace. Finally, there are many of the short lyrical poems, such as “Come into the Garden, Maud� and “Break, Break, Break,� for which he is justly celebrated.]]> 256 Alfred Tennyson 1400041872 Marian 0 4.24 1892 Tennyson: Poems
author: Alfred Tennyson
name: Marian
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1892
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Hello, Molly!: A Memoir 58541424 A candid, compulsively readable, hilarious, and heartbreaking memoir of resilience and redemption by comedic genius Molly Shannon

At age four, Molly Shannon's world was shattered when she lost her mother, baby sister, and cousin in a car accident with her father at the wheel. Held together by her tender and complicated relationship with her grieving father, Molly was raised in a permissive household where her gift for improvising and role-playing blossomed alongside the fearlessness that would lead her to become a celebrated actress.

From there, Molly ventured into the wider world of New York and Los Angeles show business, where she created her own opportunities and developed her daring and empathetic comedy. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Whitney Houston to Adam Sandler to Monica Lewinsky, many told for the first time here, Hello, Molly! spans Molly's time on Saturday Night Live—where she starred alongside Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Cheri Oteri, Tracy Morgan, and Jimmy Fallon, among many others. At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father, a man who both fostered her gifts and drive and was left with the impossible task of raising his kids alone after the loss of her mother.

Witty, winning, and told with tremendous energy and heart, Hello, Molly!, written with Sean Wilsey, sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our most talented and free-spirited performers.]]> 291 Molly Shannon 0063056232 Marian 3 memoir 4.12 2022 Hello, Molly!: A Memoir
author: Molly Shannon
name: Marian
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: memoir
review:
Perhaps it wasn't her intent to share her healing journey after her father, following an afternoon of drinking and napping, crashed the car, killing her mother, sister and cousin. Perhaps we don't see the work that went into her being able to hang out with him and opine what a great guy he was, even as he continued heavily drinking. We basically follow that young girl, seeing her grit and determination to succeed, with incredibly positivity.
]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 210230679
A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?]]> Richard Osman Marian 4 3.98 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Marian
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:
4.5 This character-driven mystery was really fun to read and had some gentle but lol humor.
]]> <![CDATA[Thursday Murder Club Mysteries & We Solve Murders Series By Richard Osman 5 Books Collection Set (The Thursday Murder Club,Man Who Died Twice,Bullet That Missed,Last Devil To Die,We Solve Murders)]]> 222077624 Please note that this product is a UK edition, and That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be

Titles In This
We Solve Murders [Hardcover]
The Thursday Murder Club [Paperback]
The Man Who Died Twice [Paperback]
The Bullet That Missed [Paperback]
The Last Devil To Die [Paperback]

Thursday Murder Club Mysteries & We Solve Murders Series By Richard Osman 5 Books Collection

We Solve Murders [Hardcover]:
Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and the pub quiz, his favourite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over.

The Thursday Murder
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

The Man Who Died
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

The Bullet That
It is an ordinary Thursday and things should finally be returning to normal.Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder.

The Last Devil To
An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

]]> Richard Osman 4579323327 Marian 0 to-read 4.38 Thursday Murder Club Mysteries & We Solve Murders Series By Richard Osman 5 Books Collection Set (The Thursday Murder Club,Man Who Died Twice,Bullet That Missed,Last Devil To Die,We Solve Murders)
author: Richard Osman
name: Marian
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pax (Pax, #1) 22098550 278 Sara Pennypacker 0062377019 Marian 5 children-junior 3.96 2016 Pax (Pax, #1)
author: Sara Pennypacker
name: Marian
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: children-junior
review:
I stumbled across this book at the library and definitely chose it for its title and cover art; I’m so glad I did. This was a great read- targeted for upper elementary, middle school, but enjoyable for all ages. I would definitely recommend it for a read aloud as well- strong characters, accessible universal themes. I’ve missed this prolific author, but I’ll seek out other works.
]]> Did you hear mammy died? 60287364 A heart-warming and hilarious family memoir of growing up as one of eleven children raised by a single dad in Northern Ireland at the end of the Troubles

After the untimely death of his mother, five-year-old SĂ©amas O'Reilly and his ten siblings were left to the care of their loving but understandably beleaguered father. In this thoroughly delightful memoir, we follow O'Reilly and the rest of his rowdy clan as they learn to cook, clean, do the laundry, and struggle (often hilariously) to keep the household running smoothly and turn into adults in the absence of the woman who had held them together. Along the way, we see O'Reilly through various adventures: There's the time the family's windows were blown out by an IRA bomb; the time a priest blessed their thirteen-seater caravan before they took off for a holiday on which they narrowly escaped death; the time O'Reilly worked as a guide in a leprechaun museum during the recession; and of course, the time he inadvertently found himself on ketamine while serving drinks to the president of Ireland.

Through it all, the lovable, ginger-haired O'Reilly regales us with his combination of wit, absurdity, and tenderness, creating a charming and unforgettable portrait of an oddly gigantic family's search for some semblance of normalcy.]]> 185 SĂ©amas O'Reilly Marian 0 to-read 3.95 2021 Did you hear mammy died?
author: SĂ©amas O'Reilly
name: Marian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Iron Lake (Cork O'Connor, #1) 175828
Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.]]> 464 William Kent Krueger 0671016970 Marian 0 to-read 3.89 1998 Iron Lake (Cork O'Connor, #1)
author: William Kent Krueger
name: Marian
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Place to Hang the Moon 53399305 Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.

It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family--providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.

Moving from one family to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets, and the hollowness of empty tummies. They seek comfort in the village lending library, whose kind librarian, Nora Muller, seems an excellent candidate--except that she has a German husband whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Nevertheless, Nora's cottage is a place of bedtime stories and fireplaces, of vegetable gardens and hot, milky tea. Most important, it's a place where someone thinks they all three hung the moon. Which is really all you need in a mom, if you think about it.

Fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction will find an instant classic in A Place to Hang the Moon.]]> 320 Kate Albus 0823447057 Marian 5 children-junior 4.56 2021 A Place to Hang the Moon
author: Kate Albus
name: Marian
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/28
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: children-junior
review:
Everything about this book is delightful! I loved, loved, loved reading it! Hopefully, it doesn’t get lost among the noise; It deserves to sit among other children’s classics, imo.
]]> Time of the Child 201608156
Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father's shadow, and remains there, having missed one chance at love � and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man.

But in the Advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy's lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter's lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.

Set over the course of one December in the same village as Williams' beloved This Is Happiness, Time of the Child is a tender return to Faha for readers who know its charms, and a heartwarming welcome to new readers entering for the very first time.]]> 304 Niall Williams 1639734201 Marian 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Time of the Child
author: Niall Williams
name: Marian
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

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

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

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Marian 4 4.46 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Marian
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: book-club, first-person-narrator-2-25
review:
I would probably shelve this as YA fiction. While the story itself is compelling and the novel stands on it's own, I think it is more meaningful as a companion book to HF. Subtle is not a word I'd use to describe this book, as we meet characters representing "all types" Still, it lends itself to some interesting conversation. These characters are still alive and kicking in modern America.
]]> The Trees 56269278 309 Percival Everett 164445064X Marian 0 to-read 4.06 2021 The Trees
author: Percival Everett
name: Marian
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Could Make This Place Beautiful]]> 61273812 You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine, hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.]]> 320 Maggie Smith 1982185856 Marian 0 to-read 4.03 2023 You Could Make This Place Beautiful
author: Maggie Smith
name: Marian
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rent Collector 13628812
The Rent Collector is a story of hope, of one woman's journey to save her son and another woman's chance at redemption.]]> 304 Camron Wright 1609071220 Marian 0 to-read 4.22 2012 The Rent Collector
author: Camron Wright
name: Marian
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Marian 1 did-not-finish 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Marian
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
Dull! I read the first 170 pages and it just never picked up, neither the plot nor the writing nor the characters. I skipped to the end to learn the big reveal and was merely happy I didn’t slog through the whole book. It was predictable and kind of pathetic. The highlight of the book is the cover. SNS
]]> River East, River West 127823210 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAYA ANGELOU BOOK AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE STANFORDS' FICTION WITH A SENSE OF PLACE AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

Set against the backdrop of developing modern China, this mesmerizing literary debut is part coming-of-age tale, part family and social drama, as it follows two generations searching for belonging and opportunity in a rapidly changing world.

Shanghai, 2007: Fourteen-year-old Alva has always longed for more. Raised by her American expat mother, she’s never known her Chinese father, and she is certain a better life awaits them in America. But when her mother announces her engagement to their wealthy Chinese landlord, Lu Fang, Alva’s hopes are dashed. She plots for the next best thing: the American School in Shanghai. Upon admission, though, Alva is surprised to discover an institution run by an exclusive community of expats and the ever-wilder thrills of a city where foreigners can ostensibly act as they please.

1985: In the seaside city of Qingdao, Lu Fang is a young married man and a lowly clerk in a shipping yard. Although he once dreamed of a bright future, he is now one of many casualties in his country’s harsh political reforms. So when China opens its doors to the first wave of foreigners in decades, Lu Fang’s world is split wide openĚýafter he meets an American woman who makes him confront difficult questions aboutĚýhis current status in life and how much will ever be enough.

In a stunning reversal of the east-to-west immigrant narrative and set against China’s political history and economic rise,ĚýRiver East, River West is an intimate family drama and a sharp social novel. Alternating between Alva and Lu Fang’s points of view, this is a profoundlyĚýmoving exploration of race and class, cultural identity and belonging, and the often-false promise of the American Dream.]]> 352 Aube Rey Lescure 0063257858 Marian 0 to-read 4.00 2024 River East, River West
author: Aube Rey Lescure
name: Marian
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Freedom Is a Feast 203163907 In the tradition of Isabel Allende’s career-launching debut, The House of the Spirits, a multigenerational, Latin American saga of love and revolution in which a young man abandons his family for the cause—and receives a late-life chance at “a tour de forceâ€� from “the new masterâ€� (Luis Alberto Urrea, New York Times bestselling author of Good Night, Irene). In 1964, Stanislavo, a zealous young man devoted to his ideals, turns his back on his privilege to join the leftist movement in the jungles of Venezuela. There, as he trains, he meets Emiliana, a nurse and fellow revolutionary. Though their intense connection seems to be love at first sight, their romance is upended by a decision with consequences that will echo down through the generations. Ěý Forty years later, the country’s political landscape has drastically changed, as have the trajectories that Stanislavo and Emiliana followed in the intervening decades. When a young boy is accidentally shot on the eve of the attempted coup against President Chávez, Stanislavo’s chance encounter with the boy’s mother forces a reckoning with past missteps and the ways his actions have reverberated into the present. Ěý With its epic scope, gripping narrative, and unflinching intimacy, Freedom Is a FeastĚýannounces a major new talent. Alejandro Puyana has delivered an extraordinarily wise and moving debut about sticking to one’s beliefs at the expense of pain and chaos, about the way others can suffer for our misdeeds even when we have the best of intentions, and about the possibility for redemption when love persists across time.]]> 448 Alejandro Puyana 0316571784 Marian 0 to-read 4.27 2024 Freedom Is a Feast
author: Alejandro Puyana
name: Marian
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Source Code: My Beginnings 213034913 The origin story of one of the most influential and transformative business leaders and philanthropists of the modern age.

The business triumphs of Bill Gates are widely known: the twenty-year-old who dropped out of Harvard to start a software company that became an industry giant and changed the way the world works and lives; the billionaire many times over who turned his attention to philanthropic pursuits to address climate change, global health, and U.S. education.

Source Code is not about Microsoft or the Gates Foundation or the future of technology. It’s the human, personal story of how Bill Gates became who he is today: his childhood, his early passions and pursuits. It’s the story of his principled grandmother and ambitious parents, his first deep friendships and the sudden death of his best friend; of his struggles to fit in and his discovery of a world of coding and computers in the dawn of a new era; of embarking in his early teens on a path that took him from midnight escapades at a nearby computer center to his college dorm room, where he sparked a revolution that would change the world.

Bill Gates tells this, his own story, for the first time: wise, warm, revealing, it’s a fascinating portrait of an American life.]]> 336 Bill Gates 059380158X Marian 0 to-read 4.08 2025 Source Code: My Beginnings
author: Bill Gates
name: Marian
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning]]> 134115745 Read by Liz Cheney with 50+ audio source material clips included, Oath and Honor is a gripping first-hand account from inside the halls of Congress as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution—leading to the violent attack on our Capitol on January 6th, 2021—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.

Liz Cheney, one of the few Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the attack first-hand, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor, she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and the risks we still face.]]> 372 Liz Cheney 0316572063 Marian 4 4.55 2023 Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning
author: Liz Cheney
name: Marian
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
What a surreal experience to be reading this book during the week leading up to the inauguration of Trump 2.0. Liz Cheney is and will continue to be my personal hero; I do not claim this flippantly. I will never meet her, but I am thankful for her diligence and personal sacrifice in following this path - to painstakingly research and lay down the facts of what occurred before during and after 1/6/2021. Facts matter.
]]> The Death of Bees 17188596
Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren’t telling. While life in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst housing estate isn’t grand, they do have each other. Besides, it’s only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.

As the new year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? But he’s not the only one who suspects something isn’t right. Soon, the sisters� friends, their other neighbors, the authorities, and even Gene’s nosy drug dealer begin to ask questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls� family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart.

Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.]]> 306 Lisa O'Donnell 0062209868 Marian 0 to-read 4.01 2012 The Death of Bees
author: Lisa O'Donnell
name: Marian
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom]]> 61272711 New York Times Bestseller | New York Times 10 Best Books of 2023

The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his� slave.

In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.

Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles criss-crossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.

But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line and the stakes never higher.

With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story—one that would challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.]]> 416 Ilyon Woo 1501191055 Marian 3 book-club, non-fiction I stuck with it, but the second half was more of a slog; The final scene, walking around London’s Great Exhibition for a day, was set up as the ultimate triumph. It was a great spectacle, but for me, a weak choice to make the finale. And although there was an epilogue, we didn’t get much info about the remaining years of our couple.]]> 3.95 2023 Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom
author: Ilyon Woo
name: Marian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: book-club, non-fiction
review:
This is probably 2.5 from me. When I finished this non-fiction, I felt compelled to ask my husband, who reads a lot of this genre, what helps make a good non-fiction book. He found it hard to pin down, even the same author can write great and awful works (Eric Larson great � The Splendid and the Vile; awful � Thunderstruck) But we agree, not getting bogged down in detail is key, either in the macro or the micro. Even if background is needed, work on making it interesting. On the flip side, don’t get too granular. I don’t think this book succeeded in either of these. It felt as if the author wanted to include every price of evidence she ran across, which weirdly often felt like name dropping. Furthermore, as one reviewer stated, “…I was done in by the “should have� and “could have� and “might have� phrasing.� I think the author and the reader can enter a tacit agreement that not every word will be verbatim.
I stuck with it, but the second half was more of a slog; The final scene, walking around London’s Great Exhibition for a day, was set up as the ultimate triumph. It was a great spectacle, but for me, a weak choice to make the finale. And although there was an epilogue, we didn’t get much info about the remaining years of our couple.
]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 35967101 A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror.

'Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.'

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed.

But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden � one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party � can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

Also titled as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.]]> 505 Stuart Turton Marian 3 3.87 2018 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Marian
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Don Quixote 175854 32 Marcia Williams 0744536251 Marian 5 3.77 1605 Don Quixote
author: Marcia Williams
name: Marian
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1605
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Homeseeking 211025407 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593712993.

An epic and intimate tale of one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.

A single choice can define an entire life.

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts.

At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.]]> 512 Karissa Chen Marian 0 to-read 4.24 2025 Homeseeking
author: Karissa Chen
name: Marian
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Starter Villain 61885029
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 thing: 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, hyperintelligent 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.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Marian 0 to-read 4.09 2023 Starter Villain
author: John Scalzi
name: Marian
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements]]> 10294187 428 Hugh Aldersey-Williams 0670918113 Marian 0 to-read 3.71 2011 Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements
author: Hugh Aldersey-Williams
name: Marian
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Narrow Road to the Deep North]]> 17905709
Richard Flanagan's story � of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle's wife � journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road to the Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.]]> 467 Richard Flanagan Marian 5 4.02 2013 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
author: Richard Flanagan
name: Marian
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:
This was one of the most profoundly depressing novels I have ever read. The brutality of war is on full display in this gut-wrenching epic of an Australian man who serves as a Japanese prisoner of war building the Death Railway during WWII - his life, love, and loss. Our protagonist is an ordinary man facing extraordinary trauma. The author weaves past and present seamlessly as he lets it all unfold and fall apart. The 3rd person POV is effective and allows insight into the most intimate of thoughts and feelings of the suffering men. HOW can one survive? It’s just beyond. I alway look for the redemption - it is there, but it is tiny. This novel has lingered with me.
]]> Cher: The Memoir, Part 1 214363953
After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir.

Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woman to top Billboard charts in seven consecutive decades, she is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who has been lauded by the Kennedy Center.

She is a lifelong activist and philanthropist.

As a dyslexic child who dreamed of becoming famous, Cher was raised in often-chaotic circumstances, surrounded by singers, actors, and a mother who inspired her in spite of their difficult relationship.

With her trademark honesty and humor, Cher: The Memoir traces how this diamond in the rough succeeded with no plan and little confidence to become the trailblazing superstar the world has been unable to ignore for more than half a century.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One follows her extraordinary beginnings through childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono—and reveals the highly complicated relationship that made them world-famous, but eventually drove them apart.

Cher: The Memoir reveals the daughter, the sister, the wife, the lover, the mother, and the superstar.

It is a life too immense for only one book.]]> 432 Cher 0008355371 Marian 3 memoir (Audio version switched readers which I found distracting)]]> 4.23 2024 Cher: The Memoir, Part 1
author: Cher
name: Marian
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: memoir
review:
Enjoyable enough - pretty much what I expected, learned a few things. Maybe a little too detailed
(Audio version switched readers which I found distracting)
]]> <![CDATA[Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults (Jossey Bass Higher & Adult Education Series)]]> 520552 375 Raymond J. Wlodkowski 0787903604 Marian 0 to-read 4.12 1998 Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults (Jossey Bass Higher & Adult Education Series)
author: Raymond J. Wlodkowski
name: Marian
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Marian 3 book-club 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Marian
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/20
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: book-club
review:
There were some interesting ideas, just a bit too precious for my tastes. Best read in short sittings.
]]> <![CDATA[Getting to Know Death: A Meditation]]> 198902280
I can't see a way out of this.
Things will not necessarily get better.
This is my life, but I may not get to do what I want in it.

Ingmar Bergman once said that an artist should always have one work between himself and death. When renowned author Gail Godwin tripped and broke her neck while watering the dogwood tree in her garden at age 85, a lifetime of writing and publishing behind her and a half-finished novel in tow, the idea quickly unfurled in front of her, forcing her to confront a creative life interrupted. In GETTING TO KNOW DEATH, Godwin shares what spoke to her while in a desperate place, remembering those she has loved and survived over the course of a long life, including a brother and father lost to suicide; finding meaning in the encounters she has with other patients as she heals; and taking stock of a life toward the end of its long, graceful arc, finding her path through the words she has written and the people she has loved.

At once beautiful, biting, precise, poetic, and propulsive, GETTING TO KNOW DEATH is her own reckoning with the meaning of a life, the forms of passion that guide it, and how the stories we hold can shape our memories and preserve our selves as we write our own endings.]]> 192 Gail Godwin 1639734449 Marian 0 to-read 3.08 2024 Getting to Know Death: A Meditation
author: Gail Godwin
name: Marian
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky]]> 31522415
In “Who Will Greet You at Home,� a National Magazine Award finalist for The New Yorker, A woman desperate for a child weaves one out of hair, with unsettling results. In “Wild,� a disastrous night out shifts a teenager and her Nigerian cousin onto uneasy common ground. In "The Future Looks Good," three generations of women are haunted by the ghosts of war, while in "Light," a father struggles to protect and empower the daughter he loves. And in the title story, in a world ravaged by flood and riven by class, experts have discovered how to "fix the equation of a person" - with rippling, unforeseen repercussions.

Evocative, playful, subversive, and incredibly human, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky heralds the arrival of a prodigious talent with a remarkable career ahead of her.]]> 232 Lesley Nneka Arimah 0735211027 Marian 0 come-back-to-later, to-read 4.10 2017 What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
author: Lesley Nneka Arimah
name: Marian
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves: come-back-to-later, to-read
review:

]]> Crying in H Mart 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band � and meeting the man who would become her husband � her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Marian 2 memoir 4.25 2021 Crying in H Mart
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Marian
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: memoir
review:
It was just ok. With the caveat that critiquing a memoir is tricky, I would say that there is nothing new or earth-shattering here. My understanding is that the book was commissioned in response to a well-received essay, and I think that's about all the material may have merited. Plus, I thought it was entirely over-written. The tb vaccination scar on her mother's arm looked like she had been burned by a car lighter...and reminded her mom it was her duty to protect her from everything the daughter might regret oh the angst
]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Marian 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Marian
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Almost Everything: Notes on Hope]]> 39203790 From Anne Lamott, the New York Times-bestselling author of Help, Thanks, Wow, comes the book we need from her now: How to bring hope back into our lives

"I am stockpiling antibiotics for the Apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen," Anne Lamott admits at the beginning of Almost Everything. Despair and uncertainty surround us: in the news, in our families, and in ourselves. But even when life is at its bleakest--when we are, as she puts it, "doomed, stunned, exhausted, and over-caffeinated"--the seeds of rejuvenation are at hand. "All truth is paradox," Lamott writes, "and this turns out to be a reason for hope. If you arrive at a place in life that is miserable, it will change." That is the time when we must pledge not to give up but "to do what Wendell Berry wrote: 'Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.'"

In this profound and funny book, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life's essential truths, Almost Everything pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward.]]> 208 Anne Lamott 0525537449 Marian 4 essays Anne Lamott 3.82 2018 Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
author: Anne Lamott
name: Marian
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: essays
review:
Anne Lamott
]]> Outlander (Outlander, #1) 685403 Ěý
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.]]> 850 Diana Gabaldon 0440212561 Marian 4 historical-fiction I had heard of this book, and I knew there was an affiliated series, but no idea what I was getting into by opening this book. The writing was entertaining and never-a-dull-moment. There were some leaps in believability (besides the time travel part ha), but I enjoyed the ride!
]]> 4.30 1991 Outlander (Outlander, #1)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Marian
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: historical-fiction
review:
Outlander
I had heard of this book, and I knew there was an affiliated series, but no idea what I was getting into by opening this book. The writing was entertaining and never-a-dull-moment. There were some leaps in believability (besides the time travel part ha), but I enjoyed the ride!

]]> <![CDATA[The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York]]> 1111 The Power Broker tells the hidden story behind the shaping (and mis-shaping) of twentieth-century New York (city and state) and makes public what few have known: that Robert Moses was, for almost half a century, the single most powerful man of our time in New York, the shaper not only of the city's politics but of its physical structure and the problems of urban decline that plague us today.

In revealing how Moses did it--how he developed his public authorities into a political machine that was virtually a fourth branch of government, one that could bring to their knees Governors and Mayors (from La Guardia to Lindsay) by mobilizing banks, contractors, labor unions, insurance firms, even the press and the Church, into an irresistible economic force--Robert Caro reveals how power works in all the cities of the United States. Moses built an empire and lived like an emperor. He personally conceived and completed public works costing 27 billion dollars--the greatest builder America (and probably the world) has ever known. Without ever having been elected to office, he dominated the men who were--even his most bitter enemy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, could not control him--until he finally encountered, in Nelson Rockefeller, the only man whose power (and ruthlessness in wielding it) equalled his own.]]> 1246 Robert A. Caro 0394720245 Marian 0 to-read 4.51 1974 The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
author: Robert A. Caro
name: Marian
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Playground 205478762 The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

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

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.]]> 381 Richard Powers 1324086033 Marian 0 to-read 4.16 2024 Playground
author: Richard Powers
name: Marian
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Soul 53377292 The only book in English for readers of all ages by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Olga Tokarczuk is a beautifully illustrated meditation on the fullness of life.

Bologna Ragazzi Award, Special Mention 2018
Prix de l'Union Internationale pour les Livres de Jeunesse (IBBY)
The White Raven (IJB Munich)
ĹĂłdĹş Design Festival Award

"Once upon a time there was a man who worked very hard and very quickly, and who had left his soul far behind him long ago. In fact his life was all right without his soul - he slept, ate, worked, drove a car and even played tennis. But sometimes he felt as if the world around him were flat, as if he were moving across a smooth page in a math book that was covered in evenly spaced squares... " -from The Lost Soul

The Lost Soul is a deeply moving reflection on our capacity to live in peace with ourselves, to remain patient, attentive to the world. It is a story that beautifully weaves together the voice of the Nobel Prize-winning Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and the finely detailed pen-and-ink drawings of illustrator Joanna Concejo, who together create a parallel narrative universe full of secrets, evocative of another time. Here a man has forgotten what makes his heart feel full. He moves to a house away from all that is familiar to him to wait for his soul to return.
The Lost Soul is a sublime album, a rare delicacy that will delight readers young and old.

"You must find a place of your own, sit there quietly and wait for your soul."]]> 48 Olga Tokarczuk 1644210347 Marian 5 illustrated I'm now on to read Flights which I've run across because of this little gem.]]> 4.25 2017 The Lost Soul
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Marian
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: illustrated
review:
What’s not to like?
I'm now on to read Flights which I've run across because of this little gem.
]]> <![CDATA[Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep]]> 54405228 ECPA Christian Book of the Year
Christianity Today Book of the Year
Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist
IVP Readers' Choice Award

How can we trust God in the dark?

Framed around a nighttime prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. When she navigated a time of doubt and loss, the prayer was grounding for her. She writes that practices of prayer gave words to my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter the doctrines of the church not as tidy little antidotes for pain, but as a light in darkness, as good news.

Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.]]> 208 Tish Harrison Warren 0830846794 Marian 0 to-read 4.63 2021 Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep
author: Tish Harrison Warren
name: Marian
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation]]> 95747 Thich Nhat Hanhs enkla, rättframma stil går rakt in i hjärtat och förmedlar en stark känsla av sinnesnärvaro. Han vet hur man gör för att släppa taget om alla tankar som driver oss hit och dit och hindrar oss från att vara närvarande i stunden.
Praktiska övningar varvas med enkla berättelser ur vardagen som visar att vi alltid kan välja att fokusera på det väsentliga och därmed fånga nuet. Thich Nhat Hanh lär oss att diska varje kopp och tallrik varsamt, som om de vore heliga ting. På köpet lär vi oss att se värdet i vardagliga göromål och finna ro i oss själva.
Han delar också med sig av meditationsövningar som leder oss inåt mot vårt autentiska jag. Vi är större än vad vi tror och genom att iaktta och släppa taget om negativa tankar och föreställningar kan vi så småningom leva ett mer medvetet och glädjefyllt liv.]]> 140 Thich Nhat Hanh 0807012394 Marian 0 to-read 4.20 1975 The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Marian
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets]]> 30200112
Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive documentary style, Secondhand Time is a monument to the collapse of the USSR, charting the decline of Soviet culture and speculating on what will rise from the ashes of Communism.

As in all her books, Alexievich gives voice to women and men whose stories are lost in the official narratives of nation-states, creating a powerful alternative history from the personal and private stories of individuals.]]> 496 Svetlana Alexievich 1922253995 Marian 0 to-read 4.44 2013 Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
author: Svetlana Alexievich
name: Marian
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees]]> 195853505 From the New York Times bestselling author of World of Wonders, a lyrical book of short essays about food offering a banquet of tastes, smells, memories, associations, and little-known facts about nature

In Bite by Bite, poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil explores the way food and drink evokes our associations and remembrances � a subtext or layering, a flavor tinged with joy, shame, exuberance, grief, desire, or nostalgia.

Here, Nezhukumatathil restores some of our astonishment and wonder about food through her encounter with a range of foods and food traditions. From shave ice to lumpia, mangoes to pecans, rambutan to vanilla, she investigates how food marks our experiences and identities; the boundaries between heritage and memory; and the ethics and environmental pressures around gathering and consuming food.

Bite by Bite offers a rich and textured kaleidoscope of vignettes and visions into the world of food and nature, drawn together by intimate and funny personal reflections and Fumi Nakamura’s gorgeous imagery and illustration.]]> 224 Aimee Nezhukumatathil 0063282267 Marian 1 did-not-finish 4.03 2024 Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees
author: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
name: Marian
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
This review right here� copied from Kathleen� my sentiments exactly - except the avocado obsession!
]]> Dogs and Monsters: Stories 205436002 From the "terrifyingly talented" (TheĚýTimes, UK) author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Porpoise, eight mesmerizingly imaginative, deeply-humane stories that use Greek myths and contemporary dystopian narratives to examine mortality, moral choices and the many variants of loveGreek myths have fascinated people for millennia, seeing in them lessons about fate and hubris and the contingency of existence. Mark Haddon digs into the heart of these ancient fables and sees them anew.In "The Quiet Limit of the World" Haddon imagines Tithonus' life as he slowly ages over thousands of years, turning the cautionary tale of tempting the gods into a spellbinding meditation on witnessing death from the outside, and ultimately, how carnal love evolves into something richer and more poignant with time. In "The Mother’s Story," Haddon takes the myth of the minotaur in his labyrinth, in which the beast is the spawn of the monstrous lust of the king's wife Pasiphae, and turns it into a wrenching parable of maternal love for a damaged child, and the more real monstrosities of patriarchy. In "D.O.G.Z." the story of Actaeon, who was turned into a stag after glimpsing the naked goddess Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about the continuum of human and animal behavior.Other stories play with contemporary mythic tropes—genetic engineering, trying to escape the future, the viciousness of adolescent ostracism—to showcase how modern humans are subject to the same capriciousness that obsessed the Greeks. Haddon's tales cover a vast range, from the mythic to the domestic, from ancient Greece to the present day, from stories about love to stories about cruelty, from battlefields to bed and breakfasts, from dogs in space to doors between worlds—all of them bound together by a profound sympathy and an understanding of how human beings act and think and feel when pushed to the very edge. Throughout Haddon's supple prose, he showcases his astonishing powers of observation, of both the physical world and the workings of the psyche. His vision is clear-eyed, but always resolutely empathetic.]]> 273 Mark Haddon 0385550863 Marian 0 to-read 3.54 2024 Dogs and Monsters: Stories
author: Mark Haddon
name: Marian
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The JGOOT Way of Travel: When You Just Get Out Of Town... You can travel more often, more luxuriously, and spend half as much]]> 192785835 130 Joel McDonald Marian 0 to-read 4.08 The JGOOT Way of Travel: When You Just Get Out Of Town... You can travel more often, more luxuriously, and spend half as much
author: Joel McDonald
name: Marian
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments]]> 48615751
As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted--no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape--she was able to turn to our world's fierce and funny creatures for guidance.

"What the peacock can do," she tells us, "is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life." The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world's gifts.

Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy.]]> 165 Aimee Nezhukumatathil 1571313656 Marian 3 book-club 4.05 2020 World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
author: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
name: Marian
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/01
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: book-club
review:
Best nibbles in small bites� like doctor’s office or car pool line
]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)]]> 13586707 331 Elena Ferrante Marian 0 to-read 3.91 2011 My Brilliant Friend (My Brilliant Friend, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Marian
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Flights 36885304 Flights interweaves reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. Chopin’s heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time. Where are you from? Where are you coming in from? Where are you going? we call to the traveler. Enchanting, unsettling, and wholly original, Flights is a master storyteller’s answer.

Here I am --
World in your head --
Your head in the world --
Syndrome --
Cabinet of curiosities --
Seeing is knowing --
Seven years of trips --
Guidance from Cioran --
Kunicki: water (I) --
Benedictus, quivenit]]> 416 Olga Tokarczuk 0525534199 Marian 0 to-read 3.73 2007 Flights
author: Olga Tokarczuk
name: Marian
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Life, After 57951396
'A beacon of hope in a dark world'
Cathy Rentzenbrink, on international bestseller You Will Not Have My Hate


A moving account of single fatherhood in the wake of bereavement.

When Antoine Leiris lost his wife, Hélène, in a terrorist attack in Paris, he was left to care for their baby alone. In this wry and honest book Antoine talks about how they have both fared since that terrible day.

Grief is a succession of transformations. Four years later, I am no longer the same man. The same is true for Melvil. He isn't a baby anymore, but a happy little boy.

Life, After follows a single father learning how to create a happy home for his son. From imagining the reviews he might receive as a parent, to dealing with the complicated emotions that arise around a new relationship and talking to children about bereavement, Antoine charts the course of their life together with remarkable humour and self-awareness.

At times heartbreaking and at times vibrating with the joy of the companionship of a lively little boy, Life, After finds a way to answer the question 'How can I go on?'

That is when it begins. Life, after.]]> 192 Antoine Leiris 1787302636 Marian 3 3.25 Life, After
author: Antoine Leiris
name: Marian
average rating: 3.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
I read this as a follow-up to You Will Not Have My Hate. For me, it was a little disjointed, maybe because he covered a much longer period of time and because he tried to bring his parents more into the narrative to address some of the reasons he is the way he is. Liked, but didn't love
]]> Men We Reaped: A Memoir 17286683 '...And then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.' Harriet Tubman

In five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five men in her life, to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the bad luck that can follow people who live in poverty, particularly black men. Dealing with these losses, one after another, made Jesmyn ask the question: why? And as she began to write about the experience of living through all the dying, she realized the truth--and it took her breath away. Her brother and her friends all died because of who they were and where they were from, because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle that fostered drug addiction and the dissolution of family and relationships. Jesmyn says the answer was so obvious she felt stupid for not seeing it. But it nagged at her until she knew she had to write about her community, to write their stories and her own.

Jesmyn grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi. She writes powerfully about the pressures this brings, on the men who can do no right and the women who stand in for family in a society where the men are often absent. She bravely tells her story, revisiting the agonizing losses of her only brother and her friends. As the sole member of her family to leave home and pursue high education, she writes about this parallel American universe with the objectivity distance provides and the intimacy of utter familiarity.]]> 256 Jesmyn Ward 160819521X Marian 4 4.28 2013 Men We Reaped: A Memoir
author: Jesmyn Ward
name: Marian
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
This was a strong memoir, structured in an interesting and effective way. It’s easy to be naïve about the struggles of others when we have no such experience. That the South still harbors such racism is unconscionable, and the current mood in many places seems to be feeding it’s growth � fear does that. I wonder if the author will have a different perspectives as she grows older, looking back at the same circumstances. We all get to shape our own narrative, but as we grow, we change.
]]> <![CDATA[Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction]]> 26031211
From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now, in Between Breaths , Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety--which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam--and how she dealt with this anxiety as she came of age, eventually turning to alcohol for a release from her painful reality. The now-A&E Network reporter reveals how she found herself living in denial about the extent of her addiction, and how she kept her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who could never find the right balance between a career and parenting. Honest and hopeful, Between Breaths is an inspiring read. Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award in the First Book category Instant New York Times and USA Today Bestseller]]> 256 Elizabeth Vargas 1455559636 Marian 4 ]]> 3.95 2016 Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction
author: Elizabeth Vargas
name: Marian
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
Well- written, candid, informative, interesting

]]> A Little Life 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.ĚýYet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 Marian 0 to-read 4.28 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Marian
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bad Science 3272165
We are obsessed with our health. And yet—from the media's "world-expert microbiologist" with a mail-order Ph.D. in his garden shed laboratory, via multiple health scares and miracle cures, to the million-pound trial that Durham Council now denies ever existed—we are constantly bombarded with inaccurate, contradictory and sometimes even misleading information. Until now.

Ben Goldacre masterfully dismantles the dodgy science behind some of the great drug trials, court cases and missed opportunities of our time, but he also goes further: out of the bullshit, he shows us the fascinating story of how we know what we know, and gives us the tools to uncover bad science for ourselves.]]> 338 Ben Goldacre 0007240198 Marian 0 to-read 4.05 2008 Bad Science
author: Ben Goldacre
name: Marian
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler]]> 37863426 176 John Hendrix 1419728385 Marian 0 to-read 4.42 2018 The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler
author: John Hendrix
name: Marian
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]> 353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 Marian 4 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: Marian
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:
Overall, I found the book very thought-provoking; dipped into lots of big topics including powerlessness, culpability, happiness, stoicism, choices, and time.
]]> <![CDATA[All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake]]> 56108283
In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose gave this sack filled with a few precious items to her daughter, Ashley, as a token of love and to try to ensure Ashley’s survival as well. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the bag in spare yet haunting language—including Rose’s wish that “It be filled with my Love always.� Now, in this illuminating, deeply moving new book inspired by Rose’s gift to Ashley, historian Tiya Miles carefully unearths these women’s faint presence in archival records and draws on objects and art, to follow the paths of their lives—and the lives of so many women like them—in a singular and revelatory history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward, in the United States.

All That She Carried is a poignant story of resilience and of love passed down through generations of women against steep odds. It honors the creativity and fierce resourcefulness of people who preserved family ties even when official systems refused to do so.]]> 385 Tiya Miles 1984854992 Marian 0 to-read 3.94 2021 All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
author: Tiya Miles
name: Marian
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/20
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]]> Break Shot: My First 21 Years 52191800 2 James Taylor Marian 0 to-read 3.96 2020 Break Shot: My First 21 Years
author: James Taylor
name: Marian
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Intermezzo 208931300 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 454 Sally Rooney 0374602638 Marian 0 to-read 3.87 2024 Intermezzo
author: Sally Rooney
name: Marian
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: to-read
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