Stuart's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:23:36 -0700 60 Stuart's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 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 Stuart 0 currently-reading 4.04 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma]]> 90590134
We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change.?
?
Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.?
?
None of us are prepared.
?
As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.?
?
In The Coming Wave , Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential unprecedented harms on one side, the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.?
?
Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?]]> 332 Mustafa Suleyman 0593593952 Stuart 3 3.78 2023 The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma
author: Mustafa Suleyman
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Necessity of Rain 58158847
Since the dawn of time, life has been comfortable and predictable. The gods have wrested pockets of Creation from Chaos, formed civilizations, and built entire realities. Now, the nature of Creation is changing and the Divine are losing their divinity.

Rosemary, daughter of the God of Creation, can no longer deny this when a strange delegation from Dawnland braves the paths through Chaos and survives. Come to negotiate trade and protection agreements with the Divine of Meadowsweet, it is the butterfly woman who so captivates Rosemary. The weight of her sorrow, the heaviness of her secrets.

For the soul is a battleground. Clouds are massing along the horizon, and Rosemary...

She must survive the storm.

- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Prettiest Book Interior
- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Disabled Representation by a Disabled Author]]> Sarah Chorn Stuart 0 to-read 4.40 The Necessity of Rain
author: Sarah Chorn
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/06
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]]> <![CDATA[If Cats Disappeared from the World]]> 40740914
Because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the Devil our narrator will take himself ¨C and his beloved cat ¨C to the brink. Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World is a story of loss and reconciliation, of one man¡¯s journey to discover what really matters in modern life.

This beautiful tale is translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland, who also translated The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. Fans of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles will also surely love If Cats Disappeared from the World.]]> 202 Genki Kawamura 1509889175 Stuart 0 to-read 3.77 2012 If Cats Disappeared from the World
author: Genki Kawamura
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne, #1)]]> 205668510 In the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy, author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention in an own-voices story of trans witchcraft.

Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There¡¯s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy.

When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend¡¯s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse.]]> 343 Margaret Killjoy 1558613315 Stuart 0 currently-reading 4.04 2024 The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne, #1)
author: Margaret Killjoy
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Poet X 33294200 Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers¡ªespecially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami¡¯s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school¡¯s slam poetry club, she doesn¡¯t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can¡¯t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.]]> 368 Elizabeth Acevedo Stuart 4 4.37 2018 The Poet X
author: Elizabeth Acevedo
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Time Song: Searching for Doggerland]]> 40060765
A journey told through stories and songs into Doggerland, the ancient region that once joined the east coast of England to Holland

Time Song tells of the creation, the existence and the loss of a country now called Doggerland , a huge and fertile area that once connected the entire east coast of England with mainland Europe, until it was finally submerged by rising sea levels around 5000 BC.

Julia Blackburn mixes fragments from her own life with a series of eighteen 'songs' and all sorts of stories about the places and the people she meets in her quest to get closer to an understanding of this vanished land. She sees the footprints of early humans fossilised in the soft mud of an estuary alongside the scattered pockmarks made by rain falling eight thousand years ago. She visits a cave where the remnants of a Neanderthal meal have turned to stone. In Denmark she sits beside Tollund Man who, despite having lain in a peat bog since the start of the Bronze Age, seems to be about to wake from a dream...

'This book is a wonder' Adam Nicolson, Spectator

'A clairvoyant and poetic conversation with the past' Antony Gormley]]> 0 Julia Blackburn 1473546702 Stuart 0 to-read 3.92 2019 Time Song: Searching for Doggerland
author: Julia Blackburn
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Incandescent 217387935 Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.

Walden is good at her job¨Dno, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It¡¯s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it¡¯s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from¨Dis herself.]]> 432 Emily Tesh 1250835011 Stuart 0 to-read 4.30 2025 The Incandescent
author: Emily Tesh
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Bottoms 102113 The Bottoms is Harry Collins, an old man obsessively reflecting on certain key experiences of his childhood. In 1933, the year that forms the centerpiece of the narrative, Harry is 11 years old and living with his mother, father, and younger sister on a farm outside of Marvel Creek, Texas, near the Sabine River bottoms. Harry's world changes forever when he discovers the corpse of a young black woman tied to a tree in the forest near his home. The woman, who is eventually identified as a local prostitute, has been murdered, molested, and sexually mutilated. She is also, as Harry will soon discover, the first in a series of similar corpses, all of them the victims of a new, unprecedented sort of monster: a traveling serial killer.


From his privileged position as the son of constable (and farmer and part-time barber) Jacob Collins, Harry watches as the distinctly amateur investigation unfolds. As more bodies -- not all of them "colored" -- surface, the mood of the local residents darkens. Racial tensions -- never far from the surface, even in the best of times -- gradually kindle. When circumstantial evidence implicates an ancient, innocent black man named Mose, the Ku Klux Klan mobilizes, initiating a chilling, graphically described lynching that will occupy a permanent place in Harry Collins's memories. With Mose dead and the threat to local white women presumably put to rest, the residents of Marvel Creek resume their normal lives, only to find that the actual killer remains at large and continues to threaten the safety and stability of the town.


Lansdale uses this protracted murder investigation to open up a window on an insular, poverty-stricken, racially divided community. With humor, precision, and great narrative economy, he evokes the society of Marvel Creek in all its alternating tawdriness and nobility, offering us a varied, absolutely convincing portrait of a world that has receded into history. At the same time, he offers us a richly detailed re-creation of the vibrant, dangerous physical landscapes that were part of that world and have since been buried under the concrete and cement of the industrialized juggernaut of the late 20th century. In Lansdale's hands, the gritty realities of Depression-era Texas are as authentic -- and memorable -- as anything in recent American fiction.

]]> 328 Joe R. Lansdale 0446677922 Stuart 0 to-read 4.17 2000 The Bottoms
author: Joe R. Lansdale
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 Stuart 0 to-read 4.28 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory]]> 205212830 When lies become truths and
two kingdoms¡¯ head to a bloody war,
a man is exiled for his conscience

Refusing the queen¡¯s order to gas a crowd of protesters, Minister Shea Ashcroft is banished to the border to oversee construction of the biggest defensive tower in history. However, the use of advanced technology taken from refugees makes the tower volatile and dangerous, becoming a threat to local interests. Shea has no choice but to fight the local hierarchy to ensure the construction succeeds¡ªand to reclaim his own life.

Surviving an assassination attempt, Shea confronts his inner demons, encounters an ancient legend, and discovers a portal to a dead world¡ªall the while struggling to stay true to his own principles and maintain his sanity. Fighting memories and hallucinations, he starts to question everything...

Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory is a thought-provoking meditation on the fragility of the human condition, our beliefs, the manipulation of propaganda for political gains, and our ability to distinguish the real from the unreal and willingness to accept convenient ¡°truths.¡± The novel is a compelling exploration of memory, its fragile nature, and its profound impact on our perception of identity, relationships, and facts themselves.

A unique blend of science fiction, fantasy and noir, with zeitgeist and prophetic qualities (the original novella anticipated the Russo-Ukrainian War), this is a must for fans of China Mi¨¦ville¡¯s Bas-Lag series, Ted Chiang¡¯s Tower of Babylon, and Robert Silverberg¡¯s Tower of Glass.]]> 300 Yaroslav Barsukov 1647101360 Stuart 0 to-read 4.19 2024 Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory
author: Yaroslav Barsukov
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Fish Don¡¯t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life]]> 50887097 A wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction, Why Fish Don¡¯t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and¡ªpossibly¡ªeven murder.

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake¡ªwhich sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life¡¯s work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool¡ªa cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don¡¯t Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.]]> 225 Lulu Miller Stuart 0 to-read 4.15 2020 Why Fish Don¡¯t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
author: Lulu Miller
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Orbital 123314421 A singular new novel from Betty Trask Prize-winner Samantha Harvey,?Orbital?is an eloquent meditation on space and life on our planet through the eyes of six astronauts circling the earth in 24 hours


"Ravishingly beautiful."?¡ª?Joshua Ferris,?New York Times

A slender novel of epic power,?Orbital?deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space.?Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts¡ªfrom America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan¡ªhave left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.?

Profound and contemplative,?Orbital?is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.]]> 212 Samantha Harvey 0802161553 Stuart 3
For such a short book, I was surprised to feel it was 1/4 to 1/3 too long. At first, I really liked the meditations and the characters and the unfolding of remote events (a Typhoon, a death in a crew member's family). And even the repetitive recycling of continents and countries and cities that would roll into and out of view. For a good while, the lack of plot and just good lyrical insights was enough.

But then, towards the end and too far from the end, it felt like that recycling was all there was and I couldn't wait for it to be over. ]]> 3.90 2023 Orbital
author: Samantha Harvey
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:
Was intrigued by such a brief book about space winning the Booker Prize (and being on the book list for Obama or Gates or whomever). But I'm a bit perplexed at the traction.

For such a short book, I was surprised to feel it was 1/4 to 1/3 too long. At first, I really liked the meditations and the characters and the unfolding of remote events (a Typhoon, a death in a crew member's family). And even the repetitive recycling of continents and countries and cities that would roll into and out of view. For a good while, the lack of plot and just good lyrical insights was enough.

But then, towards the end and too far from the end, it felt like that recycling was all there was and I couldn't wait for it to be over.
]]> <![CDATA[The Registry of Forgotten Objects: Stories]]> 209122694 In this haunting debut collection, best-selling author Miles Harvey probes the mysterious relationship between human longings and the secret lives of inanimate objects.

In one story, an artist discovers an uncanny ability to transform modern sculptures into priceless ancient treasures. In another, a teenager experiences visions of other people¡¯s pasts while vandalizing their abandoned houses. In a third, a grieving couple returns again and again to the beach where their son disappeared, pulling plastic bottles, fishing nets, buoys, and other bits of beach trash from the surf ¡°as if those random bits of wreckage were the untranslated hieroglyphs of some secret language that might help them understand their loss.¡±

Harvey¡ªwhose work Dave Eggers called ¡°ludicrously unputdownable¡±¡ªdelivers a constellation of stories that explore the gravitational pull of material things: how they drift into and out of our hands, how they assume new meanings, and the ways they serve as conduits between the present and past, the everyday and incomprehensible. Most of all, he explores how these objects have the power to reveal strange and moving facets of the human condition.]]> 200 Miles Harvey 0814259146 Stuart 4 4.10 The Registry of Forgotten Objects: Stories
author: Miles Harvey
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> Good Night, Sleep Tight 204237191 ¡°PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP ANOTHER PERSON. PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP NOT A PERSON AT ALL.¡±

From the ¡°master of literary horror¡± (GQ) comes a collection of new stories tracing the limits and consequences of artificial intelligence and ¡°post-human¡± relationships. Populated by twins stepping into worlds of absence, bears who lick their cubs into creation, and artificial beings haunted by their less-than-human nature, each page sketches a world where our all-too-real feelings of isolation and ecological dread take on an otherworldly tinge.

In Good Night, Sleep Tight, Brian Evenson deftly weaves ethical dilemmas, maternal warmth, and echoes of apocalypse into his most tender, disquieting book yet.]]> 256 Brian Evenson 1566897092 Stuart 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Good Night, Sleep Tight
author: Brian Evenson
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)]]> 213014601 An exciting new look at the essential gathering spaces in our society where friendships are formed, relationships are nurtured, and the tapestry of community is woven.

Do you have a third place? Your first place is home, your second place is work, and your third place is where you go to socialize and build friendships. Yet, for several reasons, many people today find themselves without a third place of their own. At a time when our nation is facing an epidemic of loneliness and communities are suffering from a loss of trust, low levels of engagement, despair, and political polarization, what if the answer to many of our problems lies in a simple idea? What if we just need to pay attention to the places where we find ourselves?

Rick Kyte combines storytelling, social science, and philosophy to What makes a third place Factors that create and support vibrant communities The role of hospitality in creating belonging and social connection How third places foster friendships and bind us to others in our community What it takes to find and create a third place of your own

"Rick Kyte's insight into the vital human experience of connection and friendship is both scholarly and inspiring. The next time I visit my favorite coffee shop, I'm leaving my laptop at home. It's time to look outward and engage more fully with others in our third places." ¡ªAmy Dickinson, "Ask Amy" advice columnist and author of The Mighty Queens of Freeville


]]> 118 Richard Kyte 1682754731 Stuart 3 4.22 Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)
author: Richard Kyte
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Grief Is for People 133287167 Following the death of her closest friend, Sloane Crosley explores multiple kinds of loss in this disarmingly witty and poignant memoir.

Grief Is for People is a deeply moving and surprisingly suspenseful portrait of friendship and a book about loss packed with verve for life. Sloane Crosley is one of our most renowned observers of contemporary behavior, and now the pathos that has been ever present in her trademark wit is on full display. After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend to suicide, Crosley looks for answers in friends, philosophy, and art, hoping for a framework more useful than the unavoidable stages of grief.]]> 193 Sloane Crosley Stuart 5
The first 20-30 pages centers on a burglary, which felt hard to get going -- but it's relevant and worth it. I saw another review that complained about the focus (like so many other novels) on NYC like it was the center of the universe -- true there's a substantial passage 60ish % in that describes pandemic life in the city, and to be fair it took me out of my groove too. But I've lived there and I get it and it was so proximal to her loss that at can't not be included.]]> 3.97 2024 Grief Is for People
author: Sloane Crosley
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
Having lost someone very close by suicide, Sloan's lyrical writing captures the emotions and mindspace of this unique grief like nobody else I've read (and in the last 2.5 years I've read a lot). I highlighted so, so many artful passages. Feeling that resonance is healing in ways that are hard to explain. And the prose, which is not prose but lyrical and literary brings us into the narrative and makes emotional content all the more accessible.

The first 20-30 pages centers on a burglary, which felt hard to get going -- but it's relevant and worth it. I saw another review that complained about the focus (like so many other novels) on NYC like it was the center of the universe -- true there's a substantial passage 60ish % in that describes pandemic life in the city, and to be fair it took me out of my groove too. But I've lived there and I get it and it was so proximal to her loss that at can't not be included.
]]> Kh¨­r¨¦¨­ Magazine #1.1 57875139
Table of Contents:

"The Taste of Centuries, the Taste of Home" by Jennifer Hudak
Skelly¡¯s grandmother is teaching her to bake challah, an old recipe from Earth. But is preserving tradition enough when a portal to her grandmother¡¯s world beckons?

"Vampirito" by K. Victoria Hernandez
Eli is¡ªone hundred percent, without a doubt¡ªvampiro, but he¡¯s missing all the stereotypical traits. Is there room for him to exist in a world where everyone has already decided who and what he is?

"A Little History of Things Lost & Found" by Shingai Njeri Kagunda
The trees always spoke to Muta¡ªuntil she lost herself in grief. Now, Karura Forest is silent; now, Nairobi beckons with noise and life. Can she find a way back to the whispering leaves?

"The Frankly Impossible Weight of Han" by Maria Dong
For Grant Rutherford, work is both life and legacy¡ªbut when he dies a mere week after his wife, what he leaves behind will have metaphysical reverberations he could never have foreseen.

"All Worlds Left Behind" by Iona Datt Sharma
Priya¡¯s grandfather found Amarnath Noy, but the family's ties to it weaken with each generation. Can Priya still find comfort there as she prepares for her father¡¯s funeral and her upcoming wedding?

"Grandma Stories and the Gaps They Bridge,"
This issue's non-fiction explores the importance of accepting that stories from one's heritage can evolve--and that it¡¯s ok to tell them in your own voice, to create something new while paying homage to your origins.]]> 80 Aleksandra Hill Stuart 0 to-read 4.43 Kh¨­r¨¦¨­ Magazine #1.1
author: Aleksandra Hill
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> After the Bloom 34390720 A daughter¡¯s search for her mother reveals her family¡¯s past in a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War.


Lily Takemitsu goes missing from her home in Toronto one luminous summer morning in the mid-1980s. Her daughter, Rita, a high-school art teacher, knows her mother has a history of dissociation and memory problems, which have led her to wander off before. But never has she stayed away so long. Unconvinced the police are taking the case seriously, Rita begins to carry out her own investigation. In the course of searching for her mom, she is forced to confront a labyrinth of secrets surrounding the family¡¯s internment at a camp in the California desert during the Second World War, their postwar immigration to Toronto, and the father she has never known.


Epic in scope, intimate in style, After the Bloom blurs between the present and the ever-present past, beautifully depicting one family¡¯s struggle to face the darker side of its history and find some form of redemption.]]> 438 Leslie Shimotakahara 1459737458 Stuart 3 3.28 2017 After the Bloom
author: Leslie Shimotakahara
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Death of the Author 214283593 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391147 Stuart 0 to-read 4.11 2025 Death of the Author
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Power 29751398 The Power the world is a recognizable place: There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; and a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: They can cause agonizing pain and even death. With this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.]]> 341 Naomi Alderman 0670919985 Stuart 0 to-read 3.75 2016 The Power
author: Naomi Alderman
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power]]> 26195941 The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth.

Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets," where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification."

The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit--at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future.

With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future--if we let it.

Table of contents

INTRODUCTION
1. Home or exile in the digital future

I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM
2. August 9, 2011: Setting the stage for Surveillance Capitalism
3. The discovery of behavioral surplus
4. The moat around the castle
5. The elaboration of Surveillance Capitalism: Kidnap, corner, compete
6. Hijacked: The division of learning in society

II. THE ADVANCE OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM
7. The reality business
8. Rendition: From experience to data
9. Rendition from the depths
10. Make them dance
11. The right to the future tense

III. INSTRUMENTARIAN POWER FOR A THIRD MODERNITY
12. Two species of power
13. Big Other and the rise of instrumentarian power
14. A utopia of certainty
15, The instrumentarian collective
16. Of life in the hive
17. The right to sanctuary

CONCLUSION
18. A coup from above

Acknowledgements
About the author
Detailed table of contents
Notes
Index]]> 691 Shoshana Zuboff 1610395697 Stuart 2
Honestly waffled between a 1 and a 3.

Frankly the highly stilted academic language and constant outrage made this a seriously hard 24 hour listen -- a very long screed/polemic. Just how many times in how many ways can you use the words "milieu", "second modernity", the "right to will" or the "right to the future tense."

Which is really unfortunate because I don't disagree with many if not most of the conclusions. I appreciated the deep research, the concrete examples an especially liked the passages towards the end discussing the influence of BF Skinner. I felt she spent too much time characterizing the collection of 'behavioral excess" data as lawless personal theft and not enough on the resulting use.

Shocking more time wasn't spent on Cambridge Analytica -- arguably the apex of of the dangers she's trying to prove. Also surprised there was no consideration or analysis of voices within the industry calling for regulation by the government. Similarly -- and maybe I was too glad to get to the end to notice-- but I didn't notice much in the way of practical solutions other than to simply "resist."

Bottom line -- an excellent essay undermined by length, tone and focus. Could have calmly laid out all the facts and led to the same damning conclusion. Bet she lost hearts and mins by brow-beating the reader with the conclusion every other sentence.]]> 4.05 2018 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
author: Shoshana Zuboff
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2020/06/18
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
Listened on Audible

Honestly waffled between a 1 and a 3.

Frankly the highly stilted academic language and constant outrage made this a seriously hard 24 hour listen -- a very long screed/polemic. Just how many times in how many ways can you use the words "milieu", "second modernity", the "right to will" or the "right to the future tense."

Which is really unfortunate because I don't disagree with many if not most of the conclusions. I appreciated the deep research, the concrete examples an especially liked the passages towards the end discussing the influence of BF Skinner. I felt she spent too much time characterizing the collection of 'behavioral excess" data as lawless personal theft and not enough on the resulting use.

Shocking more time wasn't spent on Cambridge Analytica -- arguably the apex of of the dangers she's trying to prove. Also surprised there was no consideration or analysis of voices within the industry calling for regulation by the government. Similarly -- and maybe I was too glad to get to the end to notice-- but I didn't notice much in the way of practical solutions other than to simply "resist."

Bottom line -- an excellent essay undermined by length, tone and focus. Could have calmly laid out all the facts and led to the same damning conclusion. Bet she lost hearts and mins by brow-beating the reader with the conclusion every other sentence.
]]> 'Salem's Lot 6283263 This is an alternate cover edition for ASIN B0019LV31E.

Stephen King¡¯s second novel, the classic vampire bestseller ¡¯SALEM¡¯S LOT, tells the story of evil in small-town America. For the first time in a major trade edition, this terrifying novel is accompanied by previously unpublished material from King¡¯s archive, two short stories, and eerie photographs that bring King¡¯s fictional darkness and evil to vivid life.]]> 451 Stephen King Stuart 4 4.25 1975 'Salem's Lot
author: Stephen King
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2017/11/02
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Different after You: Rediscovering Yourself and Healing after Grief and Trauma]]> 58993269
No one who lives and loves will be immune from grief and trauma. While this suffering is universal, living through a devastating event often leaves people feeling alone and even alienated. Michele Neff Hernandez experienced this when her thirty-nine-year-old husband died after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Her most transformative realization was that grief changes us. There is no going back or bucking up. Life is now different.

In Different after You , Michele presents easy-to-digest steps based on her work with thousands of widowed people and her innovative grief support programs. Through this process, anyone who has experienced life-altering trauma will discover a map for grieving what they¡¯ve lost, identifying what they¡¯ve gained, and learning to embrace the person they¡¯ve become.]]> 216 Michele Neff Hernandez 1608687783 Stuart 0 currently-reading 4.24 Different after You: Rediscovering Yourself and Healing after Grief and Trauma
author: Michele Neff Hernandez
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom]]> 208580597 The long-awaited essay collection from one of the most influential voices in disability activism that detonates a bomb in our collective understanding of care and illness, showing us that sickness is a fact of life.

In the wake of the 2014 Ferguson riots, and sick with a chronic condition that rendered them housebound, Johanna Hedva turned to the page to How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can¡¯t get out of bed? It was not long before this essay, ¡°Sick Woman Theory¡±, became a seminal work on disability, because in reframing illness as not just a biological experience but a social one, Hedva argues that under capitalism¡ªa system that limits our worth to the productivity of our bodies¡ªwe must reach for the revolutionary act of caring for ourselves and others.

How to Tell When We Will Die expands upon Hedva¡¯s paradigm-shifting perspective in a series of slyly subversive and razor-sharp essays that range from the theoretical to the personal¡ªfrom Deborah Levy and Susan Sontag to wrestling, kink, mysticism, death, and the color yellow. Drawing from their experiences with America¡¯s byzantine healthcare system, and considering archetypes they call The Psychotic Woman, The Freak, and The Hag in Charge, Hedva offers a bracing indictment of the politics that exploit sickness¡ªrelying on and fueling ableism¡ªto the detriment of us all.

With the insight of Anne Boyer¡¯s The Undying and Leslie Jamison¡¯s The Empathy Exams, and the wit of Samantha Irby, Hedva¡¯s debut collection upends our collective understanding of disability. In their radical reimagining of a world where care and pain are symbiotic, and our bodies are allowed to live free and well, Hedva implores us to remember that illness is neither an inconvenience or inevitability, but an enlivening and elemental part of being alive.]]> 384 Johanna Hedva 163893116X Stuart 0 to-read 3.88 How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom
author: Johanna Hedva
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
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 Stuart 5 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Ethan Frome 50809887
Ethan lives with his wife Zenobia and her cousin Mattie. Ethan and Mattie once had an emotional affair. Feeling suffocated, they attempted suicide by sledding into a tree, but they survived the accident and now live in misery.

Like Wharton?s novel "Summer", considered "Ethan Frome"?s sequel , it is set in New England. Both deal with sexual awakening and appetite and their devastating consequences.?]]> 102 Edith Wharton 8834174828 Stuart 3 3.96 1911 Ethan Frome
author: Edith Wharton
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1911
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Dutch House 44318414
The story is told by Cyril¡¯s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.

Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they¡¯re together. Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they¡¯ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they¡¯re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.]]> 337 Ann Patchett 0062963678 Stuart 4 4.08 2019 The Dutch House
author: Ann Patchett
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts]]> 55711552 Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake is an imaginative tour-de-force that tells the story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall¡¯s efforts to uncover the truth about these women warriors who, until now, have been left out of the historical record.

Women warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history.

Wake tells the story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told her that enslaved women took a back seat. But Rebecca decides to look deeper, and her journey takes her through old court records, slave ship captain¡¯s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women from the ¡°negro burying ground¡± uncovered in Manhattan. She finds women warriors everywhere.

Using in-depth archival research and a measured use of historical imagination, Rebecca constructs the likely pasts of Adono and Alele, women rebels who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. We also follow Rebecca¡¯s own story as the legacy of slavery shapes life, both during her time as a successful attorney and later as a historian seeking the past that haunts her.

Illustrated beautifully in black and white, Wake will take its place alongside classics of the graphic novel genre, like Marjane Satrapi¡¯s Persepolis and Art Spiegelman¡¯s Maus. The story of both a personal and national legacy, it is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.]]> 208 Rebecca Hall 1982115181 Stuart 0 to-read 4.28 2021 Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
author: Rebecca Hall
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Real Musashi: The Manga Edition: The True Story Of Japan's Greatest Warrior]]> 203871351 128 Kozo Kaku 4805317965 Stuart 0 to-read 3.22 The Real Musashi: The Manga Edition: The True Story Of Japan's Greatest Warrior
author: Kozo Kaku
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.22
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones]]> 176442699
Gareth Jones is a young journalist with powerful connections after a groundbreaking interview with Adolf Hitler and his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels in the early 1930s. This notoriety gains him permission to travel to the Soviet Union for a potential interview with Joseph Stalin.

Jones hopes to learn more about the Soviets mass economic gains but finds himself stonewalled and trapped in Moscow. While looking for a way out, he meets new allies that alert him to the growing man-made famine, or Holodomor, happening in Ukraine under the government's guidance. Jones, seeking the truth in all its ugliness, embarks on a journey of discovery, strife, and a cover-up of the deaths of millions of people.

A gripping tale of true-life horror and heroism from journalist and screenwriter Andrea Chalupa ( Orwell and the The Untold Story of Animal Farm ) and artist Ivan Rodrigues.]]> 144 Andrea Chalupa 1637152779 Stuart 0 to-read 3.79 In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones
author: Andrea Chalupa
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women¡ªat once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

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

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

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

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm¡¯s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Stuart 0 to-read 4.59 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Is Rising (The Dark is Rising, #2)]]> 210329 This night will be bad and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.

It's Midwinter's Eve, the day before Will's eleventh birthday. But there is an atmosphere of fear in the familiar countryside around him. This will be a birthday like no other. Will discovers that he has the power of the Old Ones, and that he must embark on a quest to vanquish the terrifyingly evil magic of the Dark.

The second novel in Susan Cooper's highly acclaimed Dark is Rising sequence.]]> 244 Susan Cooper 1416949658 Stuart 4 4.04 1973 The Dark Is Rising (The Dark is Rising, #2)
author: Susan Cooper
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:
Listened on Audible¡ª a gift from a good friend. Cozy, British YA fantasy. Missed Book #1, but this stands on its own. Well written and narrated ¡ª A child¡¯s Christmas in Wales ¡­ battling ancient dark forces. Channels Narnia a good bit.
]]> <![CDATA[Boom Box (Duck & Cover Adventures Books 1-3) (A Duck & Cover Adventure)]]> 34379896 Join the Librarian as he strives to make the post-apocalyptic world a better world. Protecting the weak, fighting injustice, squaring off against a group of former renaissance fair workers who have established a kingdom in the Rocky Mountains, etc¡­ Can one man make a difference in the face of such murderous cannibals and super smart bears? Probably not.

The Boom Box includes:

Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors (Book 1)
An army of savage raiders have their sights set on the town of New Hope and the people there need help. So, when two heroes offer their assistance, one is invited to stay and the other is sent back into the wasteland. Did they choose the right man for the job? Find out in Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors.

Knights of the Apocalypse (Book 2)
A price on their heads has driven the post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior, Erica and their loyal mastiff west in search of a new beginning. But when their truck breaks down in what was once southern Colorado they are swept into an epic quest at the behest of King Elias, ruler of the Kingdom of the Five Peaks. The adventure that began in Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors, continues here in Knights of the Apocalypse.

Pursuit of the Apocalypse (Book 3)
The bounty hunter Mr. Christopher has kidnapped Erica and The Librarian and his dog, Chewy are desperate to get her back.
Be a part of the greatest chase the apocalypse has ever known in this exciting sequel to Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors and Knights of the Apocalypse.

It¡¯s the end of the world as you've never known it. ]]> 622 Benjamin Wallace Stuart 3
Downloaded this one on a lark as it had been described as Mad Max meets Monty Python. So, there's a little road-warrior activity, and the action scenes are reasonably well done -- So just a slightly annoyed Max and while it has some humorous moments, whoever invoked Monty Python had obviously never seen a movie or skit by the troupe. OK there is a town run by former Renaissance Fair workers -- but the hilarity is muted and not sustained.

There are enough suggestions that a "woke" worldview is responsible for the apocalypse that I can guess Wallace's political bent (which is not mine), but he thankfully doesn't dwell on that. I am, however, very curious how female readers find his female characters --- the arcs all strike me as a bit patronizing, the man always coming to the rescue (it seemed to me), the love narratives being pretty predictable. ]]> 4.17 Boom Box (Duck & Cover Adventures Books 1-3) (A Duck & Cover Adventure)
author: Benjamin Wallace
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
Amused, a little disappointed, and somewhat curious.

Downloaded this one on a lark as it had been described as Mad Max meets Monty Python. So, there's a little road-warrior activity, and the action scenes are reasonably well done -- So just a slightly annoyed Max and while it has some humorous moments, whoever invoked Monty Python had obviously never seen a movie or skit by the troupe. OK there is a town run by former Renaissance Fair workers -- but the hilarity is muted and not sustained.

There are enough suggestions that a "woke" worldview is responsible for the apocalypse that I can guess Wallace's political bent (which is not mine), but he thankfully doesn't dwell on that. I am, however, very curious how female readers find his female characters --- the arcs all strike me as a bit patronizing, the man always coming to the rescue (it seemed to me), the love narratives being pretty predictable.
]]> The Anomaly 56920684
In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna, a formidable lawyer whose flaws have caught up with her; and Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful writer who suddenly becomes a cult hit. All of them believed they had double lives. None imagined just how true that was.

This witty variation on the doppelg?nger theme, which takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House, is Herv¨¦ Le Tellier's most ambitious work yet.]]> 391 Herv¨¦ Le Tellier 1635421691 Stuart 3
First half you learn the many characters then, after the reveal mid-book, the rest is mostly following the same characters in the aftermath. There are further consequential plot points, but it didn't feel like a climax to me.

I liked the short chapters and little bits that allowed you to how you'd respond in a similar bizzarre situation -- and thats fine. I was interested in some characters, liked one (the author) but I did not love any of them. I kept thinking in the lead-up that I was reading something like Dean Koontz the Strangers . . . the multiplicity of storylines and narrative heading to a somewhat contrived sci-fi premise. I can forgive Dean his farfetched premises because I am invested in his characters.

Here, Herve's philosophical framing is almost enough to forgive the weird arc and tedium. Almost . . . ]]> 3.80 2020 The Anomaly
author: Herv¨¦ Le Tellier
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:
long buildup and slow denouement. But still, for all that, a remarkably fast read.

First half you learn the many characters then, after the reveal mid-book, the rest is mostly following the same characters in the aftermath. There are further consequential plot points, but it didn't feel like a climax to me.

I liked the short chapters and little bits that allowed you to how you'd respond in a similar bizzarre situation -- and thats fine. I was interested in some characters, liked one (the author) but I did not love any of them. I kept thinking in the lead-up that I was reading something like Dean Koontz the Strangers . . . the multiplicity of storylines and narrative heading to a somewhat contrived sci-fi premise. I can forgive Dean his farfetched premises because I am invested in his characters.

Here, Herve's philosophical framing is almost enough to forgive the weird arc and tedium. Almost . . .
]]> <![CDATA[For There Is Always Light: A Journal]]> 206180610
For there is always light,
If only we¡¯re brave enough to see it,
If only we¡¯re brave enough to be it.

Pulsing with hope and the fire to make change, Amanda Gorman¡¯s poetry is a call to action. Her poems insist on the pursuit of positive change, the power of a single voice, and the universality of the human experience¡ªthat we all must come back to each other to create a better future.

As the youngest presidential inaugural poet, Gorman has established herself as a dynamic wordsmith with the power to inspire. Here for the first time is a journal that invites you to actively engage with her poetry. Flip from page to page to find over fifty quotes that challenge, uplift, and prompt dreams of a bright future, with an occasional poem reprinted in its entirety.

With vibrant, graphic designs, this journal provides readers an opportunity to consider their own influence on their communities, their dreams for the future, and the plans for positive change that are available within all of us.]]> 192 Amanda Gorman 0593796896 Stuart 0 to-read 4.36 For There Is Always Light: A Journal
author: Amanda Gorman
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Yoke Of Stars 198820966
In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate, and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ul¨ªn.

Ul¨ªn has heard the Orphan Star¡¯s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ul¨ªn is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan¡¯s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ul¨ªn to help her decide the fate of three men.

In R. B. Lemberg¡¯s newest, lyrical Birdverse novella ( The Four Profound Weaves ; Geometries of Belonging ), an assassin and a linguist negotiate their very different languages, past betrayals, and an unexpected bond. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ul¨ªn narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two hurt souls find hope in each other through a radical listening.]]> 184 R.B. Lemberg 1616964189 Stuart 0 to-read 4.27 2024 Yoke Of Stars
author: R.B. Lemberg
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sisters of the Spruce 194951463 280 Leslie Shimotakahara 1773861379 Stuart 0 to-read 4.08 Sisters of the Spruce
author: Leslie Shimotakahara
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The African Samurai 63057794
In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope¡¯s. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past.

From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land¡¯s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano ¡°gifts¡± his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold.

After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke¡¯s ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within.

A magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, The African Samurai is an enthralling narrative about the tensions between the East and the West and the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely hero.]]> 275 Craig Shreve 1668002868 Stuart 0 to-read 3.99 2023 The African Samurai
author: Craig Shreve
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights]]> 60778947 From the creators of The Haunting Season comes a dazzling collection of never-before-seen ghostly tales.

The tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. These twelve stories, authored by some of today's most loved and lauded writers of historical and gothic fiction, are all centered on Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience. Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret, these stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights.

Featuring new and original stories from Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Natasha Pulley, Elizabeth Macneal, Laura Purcell, Susan Stokes Chapman, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Stuart Turton, and Catriona Ward.]]> 464 Bridget Collins Stuart 0 to-read 3.97 2023 The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights
author: Bridget Collins
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights]]> 56075256
Now eight bestselling, award-winning authors - master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre - bring this time-honoured tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.

From a bustling Covent Garden Christmas market to the frosty moors of Yorkshire, from a country estate with a dreadful secret, to a London mansion where a beautiful girl lies frozen in death, these are stories to make your hair stand on end, send shivers down your spine and to serve as your indispensable companion to the long nights of winter.

So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the spell of The Haunting Season . . .

Featuring new and original tales from:

Bridget Collins
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding

Imogen Hermes Gowar
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies

Andrew Michael Hurley
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Loney

Jess Kidd
International award-winning author of Things in Jars

Elizabeth Macneal
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Doll Factory

Natasha Pulley
Sunday Times bestselling author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Laura Purcell
Award-winning author of The Silent Companions]]> 304 Bridget Collins 0751581976 Stuart 0 to-read 3.61 2021 The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights
author: Bridget Collins
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Crime: 22 Crime Stories from Diverse Cultures Around the World]]> 58505725 Murder
Blackmail
Revenge

From Lagos to Mexico City, Australia to the Caribbean, Toronto to Los Angeles, Darjeeling to rural New Zealand, London to New York ¨C twenty-two bestselling crime writers from diverse cultures come together from across the world in a razor sharp and deliciously sinister collection of crime stories.


Featuring Oyinkan Braithwaite, Abir Mukherjee, S.A. Cosby, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, J.P. Pomare, Sheena Kamal, Vaseem Khan, Sulari Gentill, Nelson George, Rachel Howzell Hall, John Vercher, Sanjida Kay, Amer Anwar, Henry Chang, Nadine Matheson, Mike Phillips, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Felicia Yap, Thomas King, Imran Mahmood, David Heska Wanbli Weiden and Walter Mosley.]]> 448 Vaseem Khan 0008462321 Stuart 0 to-read 3.51 2022 The Perfect Crime: 22 Crime Stories from Diverse Cultures Around the World
author: Vaseem Khan
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> House Made of Dawn 43226513 The magnificent Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a stranger in his native land

¡°Both a masterpiece about the universal human condition and a masterpiece of Native American literature. . . . A book everyone should read for the joy and emotion of the language it contains.¡± ¨C The Paris Review

A young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his father¡¯s, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the ancient rites and traditions of his people. But the other world¡ªmodern, industrial America¡ªpulls at Abel, demanding his loyalty, trying to claim his soul, and goading him into a destructive, compulsive cycle of depravity and disgust.

]]> 195 N. Scott Momaday 0062911066 Stuart 5 3.74 1968 House Made of Dawn
author: N. Scott Momaday
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/05
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]]> <![CDATA[New York Dead (Stone Barrington, #1)]]> 41014420
Suddenly he's on the front page of every New York newspaper, and his life is hopelessly entwined in the shocking life and death of Sasha Nijinsky, the country's hottest and most beautiful television anchorwoman.

No matter where he turns, the case is waiting for him, haunting his nights and turning his days into a living hell. Stone finds himself caught in a perilous web of unspeakable crimes and dangerous friends with one common thread: Sasha.

Librarian's note: the characters, settings and other information for the first 25 books in the series are complete as best possible (corrections are welcome!) for: #1, New York Dead, 1991; #2, Dirt, 1996; #3, Dead in the Water, 1997; #4, Swimming to Catalina, 1998; #5, Worst Fears Realized, 1999; #6, L.A. Dead, 2000; #7, Cold Paradise, 2001; #8, The Short Forever, 2002; #9, Dirty Work, 2003; #10, Reckless Abandon, 2004; #11, Two Dollar Bill, 2004; #12. Dark Harbor, 2006; #13, Fresh Disasters, 2007; #14, Shoot Him if He Runs, 2007; #15, Hot Mahogany, 2008; #16, Loitering with Intent, 2009; #17, Kisser, 2009; #18, Lucid Intervals, 2010; #19, Strategic Moves, 2010; #20, Bel-Air Dead, 2011; #21, Son of Stone, 2011; #22, D.C. Dead, 2011; #23, Unnatural Acts, 2012; #24, Severe Clear, 2012; and #25, Collateral Damage, 2012.]]> 352 Stuart Woods Stuart 0 to-read 4.07 1991 New York Dead (Stone Barrington, #1)
author: Stuart Woods
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/02
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]]> The Gray Man (Gray Man, #1) 6547865 Courtland Gentry is a good man. But he¡¯s a great assassin.

To those who lurk in the shadows, he¡¯s known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target. Always.

But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness.

But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there¡¯s no gray area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive¡­]]> 456 Mark Greaney Stuart 0 to-read 4.12 2009 The Gray Man (Gray Man, #1)
author: Mark Greaney
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/02
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]]> <![CDATA[How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community]]> 45032310



After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they're standing alone. They're "winning" at the American Dream, but they're lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied.




It seems counterintuitive that living the "good life"--the well-paying job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility--can make us feel isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser, we've forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the first community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia Birdsong shows that what separates us isn't only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we've built walls, and instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on concrete.




Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. Showing up--literally and figuratively--points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.]]> 272 Mia Birdsong 1580058078 Stuart 0 to-read 4.24 2020 How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community
author: Mia Birdsong
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/31
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]]> 100 Poems 41940258 Selected poems from a Nobel laureate

Seamus Heaney had the idea to form a personal selection of poems from across the entire arc of his writing life, small yet comprehensive enough to serve as an introduction for all comers. He never managed to do this himself, and no other edition exists that has such a broad range, drawing from the first to the last of his prizewinning collections. But now, finally, the project has been returned to, resulting in an intimate gathering of poems chosen and introduced by the Heaney family. In 100 Poems, readers will enjoy the most loved and celebrated poems, and will discover new favorites. It is a singular and welcoming anthology, reaching far and wide, for now and for years to come.]]> 192 Seamus Heaney 0374100292 Stuart 4 4.26 100 Poems
author: Seamus Heaney
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> Horrorst?r 13129925
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they¡¯ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorst?r is designed to retain its luster and natural appearance for a lifetime of use. Pleasingly proportioned with generous French flaps and a softcover binding, Horrorst?r delivers the psychological terror you need in the elegant package you deserve.

Designed by Andie Reid, cover photography by Christine Ferrara.]]> 248 Grady Hendrix 1594745269 Stuart 4 3.64 2014 Horrorst?r
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection]]> 157981748 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593243916.

Who and what are supercommunicators? They're the people who can steer a conversation to a successful conclusion. They are able to talk about difficult topics without giving offence. They know how to make others feel at ease and share what they think. They're brilliant facilitators and decision-guiders. How do they do it?

In this groundbreaking book, Charles Duhigg unravels the secrets of the supercommunicators to reveal the art - and the science - of successful communication. He unpicks the different types of everyday conversation and pinpoints why some go smoothly while others swiftly fall apart. He reveals the conversational questions and gambits that bring people together. And he shows how even the most tricky of encounters can be turned around. In the process, he shows why a CIA operative was able to win over a reluctant spy, how a member of a jury got his fellow jurors to view an open-and-shut case differently, and what a doctor found they needed to do to engage with a vaccine sceptic.

Above all, he reveals the techniques we can all master to successfully connect with others, however tricky the circumstances. Packed with fascinating case studies and drawing on cutting-edge research, this book will change the way you think about what you say, and how you say it.]]> 320 Charles Duhigg Stuart 0 to-read 4.00 2024 Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen]]> 112974860 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? A practical, heartfelt guide to the art of truly knowing another person in order to foster deeper connections at home, at work, and throughout our lives¡ªfrom the author of The Road to Character and The Second Mountain

As David Brooks observes, ¡°There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen¡ªto accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.¡±

And yet we humans don¡¯t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person¡¯s story should you pay attention to?

Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.

The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.]]> 304 David Brooks 059323006X Stuart 0 to-read 4.09 2023 How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
author: David Brooks
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/21
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]]> Night Sky with Exit Wounds 30245389 Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a book of poetry unlike any other. Steeped in war and cultural upheaval and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most profound subjects ¨C love and loss, conflict, grief, memory and desire ¨C and attends to them all with lines that feel newly-minted, graceful in their cadences, passionate and hungry in their tender, close attention: ¡®¡­the chief of police/facedown in a pool of Coca-Cola./A palm-sized photo of his father soaking/beside his left ear.¡¯ This is an unusual, important book: both gentle and visceral, vulnerable and assured, and its blend of humanity and power make it one of the best first collections of poetry to come out of America in years.

¡®These are poems of exquisite beauty, unashamed of romance, and undaunted by looking directly into the horrors of war, the silences of history. One of the most important debut collections for a generation.¡¯ Andrew McMillan]]> 93 Ocean Vuong Stuart 4 4.05 2016 Night Sky with Exit Wounds
author: Ocean Vuong
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/02
date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)]]> 7733239
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.]]> 417 Cherie Priest 1429942495 Stuart 3 3.54 2009 Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)
author: Cherie Priest
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2020/02/17
date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> The Ruin of Kasch 438546 400 Roberto Calasso 0674780299 Stuart 0 to-read 4.11 1983 The Ruin of Kasch
author: Roberto Calasso
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/25
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]]> Cowboy Graves: Three Novellas 55304234
Escritor incansable, Roberto Bola?o se desenvuelve con igual maestr¨ªa en las novelas de largo aliento que le han dado fama universal y en los relatos y novelas cortas. Este volumen incluye tres nouvelles in¨¦ditas -?Patria?, ?Sepulcros de vaqueros? y ?Comedia del horror de Francia?- en las que est¨¢ presente lo mejor del genio literario del autor chileno: el Mal, la violencia, la historia, la literatura, la iron¨ªa, M¨¦xico, Chile, el amor, el suspense, la b¨²squeda... a lo que se suma alguno de sus personajes m¨¢s c¨¦lebres, como el ubicuo detective salvaje Arturo Belano.

?Hablar de las novelas y los cuentos de Roberto Bola?o como fragmentarios resulta parcial, puesto que cada fragmento depende de una unidad en constante movimiento, en un verdadero proceso de creaci¨®n que es al mismo tiempo consolidaci¨®n de un universo. [...] La imaginaci¨®n desbordada, la intensidad de los sentimientos, la incisiva cr¨ªtica, la febril actividad o los extra?os personajes hacen deSepulcros de vaqueros un libro enormemente atractivo y original.?
Del pr¨®logo de Juan Antonio Masoliver R¨®denas]]> 125 Roberto Bola?o 0735222894 Stuart 0 to-read 3.58 2017 Cowboy Graves: Three Novellas
author: Roberto Bola?o
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/23
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]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 214161672
Yet the cautious Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician. Young, handsome and daring, Jonathan Strange is his very antithesis. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men ¨C which overwhelms that between England and France. And soon their own secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine¡­]]> 864 Susanna Clarke 1526681552 Stuart 0 to-read 4.23 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Midnight Verdict (Gallery Books) Paperback ¨C July, 2001]]> 139596784 0 Seamus Heaney Ovid Stuart 3 3.00 The Midnight Verdict (Gallery Books) Paperback ¨C July, 2001
author: Seamus Heaney Ovid
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
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]]> Hamnet 43890641 Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.

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

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

A New York Times Notable Book (2020), Best Book of 2020: Guardian, Financial Times, Literary Hub, and NPR.]]> 372 Maggie O'Farrell 1472223799 Stuart 0 currently-reading 4.16 2020 Hamnet
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/14
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]]> Migrations 58938614
Epic and intimate, heartbreaking and galvanizing, Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is an ode to a disappearing world and a breathtaking page-turner about the possibility of hope against all odds.]]> 278 Charlotte McConaghy Stuart 0 to-read 4.22 2020 Migrations
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/12
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]]> Everything That Isn't Winter 31450424
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 23 Margaret Killjoy 0765390507 Stuart 5 3.71 2016 Everything That Isn't Winter
author: Margaret Killjoy
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/20
date added: 2024/09/11
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]]> Normal People 49833634
A year later, they're both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.]]> 305 Sally Rooney 1984822187 Stuart 0 to-read 3.76 2018 Normal People
author: Sally Rooney
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/10
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]]> The Nickel Boys 43269446 This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood's only salvation is his friendship with fellow "delinquent" Turner, which deepens despite Turner's conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead 0345804341 Stuart 0 to-read 4.35 2019 The Nickel Boys
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/09
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]]> Holly 65916335 Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King¡¯s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

¡°Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.¡± ¡ª BILL HODGES

Stephen King¡¯s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly¡¯s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges¡¯s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King¡¯s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl¡¯s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie¡¯s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.]]> 480 Stephen King 1668014947 Stuart 0 to-read 4.00 2023 Holly
author: Stephen King
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)]]> 203578881 The nineteenth mystery in the #1 New York Times bestselling Armand Gamache series

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Qu¨¦bec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the S?ret¨¦, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "This might interest you," a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list¡ªand then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache; Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command; and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Qu¨¦bec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they¡¯re chasing becomes clear. If they fail, the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.]]> 421 Louise Penny 1250328136 Stuart 0 to-read 3.95 2024 The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)
author: Louise Penny
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop]]> 133938826 should feel successful¡ªbut all she feels is drained. Haunted by an abandoned dream, she takes a leap of faith and leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a quiet residential neighborhood outside the city and opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.

The transition isn¡¯t easy. For months, all Yeongju can do is cry. But as the long hours in the shop stretch on, she begins to reflect on what makes a good bookseller and a meaningful store. She throws herself into reading voraciously, hosting author events, and crafting her own philosophy on bookselling. Gradually, Yeongju finds her footing in her new surroundings.

Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that bind them, Yeongju begins to write a new chapter in her life. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop evolves into a warm, welcoming haven for lost souls¡ªa place to rest, heal, and remember that it¡¯s never too late to scrap the plot and start over.]]> 307 Hwang Bo-Reum Stuart 3 3.94 2022 Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
author: Hwang Bo-Reum
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/11
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]]> Our Souls at Night 23602562
In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf's inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis's wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Their brave adventures - their pleasures and their difficulties - are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer's enduring contribution to American literature.]]> 179 Kent Haruf 1101875895 Stuart 0 to-read 3.91 2015 Our Souls at Night
author: Kent Haruf
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/08
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]]> <![CDATA[In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961-1991]]> 26328111 169 N. Scott Momaday 0826348173 Stuart 3 4.27 1992 In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961-1991
author: N. Scott Momaday
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/14
date added: 2024/08/06
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]]> Pyre at the Eyreholme Trust 40023214
All that goes up in smoke the day Eli is forced to use his magic to foil a jewelry heist, and in doing so unwittingly catches the eye of Duke Haven, leader of the fire-flinging Pyre gang. Seeing a useful asset, Duke promptly blackmails Eli into providing unregistered spellwork.

Duke needs Eli's ink-magic to help him pull a dangerous con against a rival gang. As the heist comes together, Eli finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the Temperance underworld¡ªand, perhaps most dangerously, to Duke himself.]]> 96 Lin Darrow 1684313104 Stuart 0 to-read 3.99 2018 Pyre at the Eyreholme Trust
author: Lin Darrow
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Angel of Indian Lake (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #3)]]> 178072409 The final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror literature

It¡¯s been four years since Jade Daniels last set foot in Proofrock, Idaho. Since then, her reputation, and everything around Indian Lake, has changed dramatically. There¡¯s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there¡¯s one aspect of the savage history of Proofrock, Idaho, no one¡¯s got the mettle to confront ¨C no one except a final girl, making her last stand, this time for everything.

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma and stolen hope. It¡¯s the story of the American West written in blood. And it¡¯s the story of one girl who doesn¡¯t know how to give up.]]> 416 Stephen Graham Jones 1668011689 Stuart 4 4.24 2024 The Angel of Indian Lake (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #3)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/18
date added: 2024/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The City and Its Uncertain Walls]]> 209192695 From the bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World comes a love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for our peculiar times.

We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears . . . and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life.

Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world¡ªa mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he¡¯s been missing all along.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a singular and towering achievement by one of modern literature¡¯s most important writers.]]> 449 Haruki Murakami 0593801970 Stuart 0 to-read 3.73 2023 The City and Its Uncertain Walls
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Child Called "It" (Dave Pelzer, #1)]]> 60748 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games¡ªgames that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive¡ªdreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.]]> 184 Dave Pelzer Stuart 0 to-read 4.13 1995 A Child Called "It" (Dave Pelzer, #1)
author: Dave Pelzer
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Secret Staircase Mystery, #1)]]> 57693382 Under Lock & Skeleton Key layers architecture with mouthwatering food in an ode to classic locked-room mysteries.

An impossible crime. A family legacy. The intrigue of hidden rooms and secret staircases.

After a disastrous accident derails Tempest Raj¡¯s career, and life, she heads back to her childhood home in California to comfort herself with her grandfather¡¯s Indian home-cooked meals. Though she resists, every day brings her closer to the inevitable: working for her father¡¯s company. Secret Staircase Construction specializes in bringing the magic of childhood to all by transforming clients¡¯ homes with sliding bookcases, intricate locks, backyard treehouses, and hidden reading nooks.

When Tempest visits her dad¡¯s latest renovation project, her former stage double is discovered dead inside a wall ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ supposedly been sealed for more than a century. Fearing she was the intended victim, it¡¯s up to Tempest to solve this seemingly impossible crime. But as she delves further into the mystery, Tempest can¡¯t help but wonder if the Raj family curse ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ plagued her family for generations¡ªsomething she used to swear didn¡¯t exist¡ªhas finally come for her.]]> 343 Gigi Pandian 1250804981 Stuart 0 to-read 3.50 2022 Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Secret Staircase Mystery, #1)
author: Gigi Pandian
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fruit of the Dead 177058753 An electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, about addiction and sex, family and independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.

Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother in New York, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is middle-aged, divorced, magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo proffers a childcare job (and an NDA), Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and opiates manufactured by his company, she continues to tell herself she¡¯s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help she alone is convinced she hears.

Alternating between the two women¡¯s perspectives, Rachel Lyon¡¯s Fruit of the Dead incorporates its mythic inspiration with a light touch and devastating precision. The result is a tale that explores love, control, obliteration, and America¡¯s own late capitalist mythos. Lyon¡¯s reinvention of Persephone and Demeter¡¯s story makes for a haunting and ecstatic novel that vibrates with lush abandon. Readers will not soon forget it.]]> 316 Rachel Lyon 1668020874 Stuart 0 to-read 3.54 2024 Fruit of the Dead
author: Rachel Lyon
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hard Rain Falling 6553843 308 Don Carpenter 1590173244 Stuart 0 to-read 4.13 1966 Hard Rain Falling
author: Don Carpenter
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry]]> 52191228 A fresh twist on 24 classic poems, these visual interpretations by comic artist Julian Peters will change the way you see the world.

This stunning anthology of favorite poems visually interpreted by comic artist Julian Peters breathes new life into some of the greatest English-language poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

These are poems that can change the way we see the world, and encountering them in graphic form promises to change the way we read the poems. In an age of increasingly visual communication, this format helps unlock the world of poetry and literature for a new generation of reluctant readers and visual learners.

Grouping unexpected pairings of poems around themes such as family, identity, creativity, time, mortality, and nature, Poems to See By will also help young readers see themselves differently. A valuable teaching aid appropriate for middle school, high school, and college use, the collection includes favorites from the Western canon already taught in countless English classes.

Includes poems by Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, Christina Rossetti, William Wordsworth, William Ernest Henley, Robert Hayden, Edgar Allen Poe, W. H. Auden, Thomas Hardy, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Philip Johnson, W. B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Bishop, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Tess Gallagher, Stevie Smith, and Siegfried Sassoon.]]> 168 Julian Peters 087486318X Stuart 0 to-read 4.21 2020 Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry
author: Julian Peters
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage]]> 41022133 A?New York Times?#1 Bestseller
A New York Times and Washington Post notable book, and one of the?Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,?Slate,?Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, and BookPage's best books of the year

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage?is the long-awaited new novel¡ªa book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan¡ªfrom the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami.

Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.]]> 308 Haruki Murakami 0385352115 Stuart 0 to-read 3.93 2013 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> After the Quake 11299 147 Haruki Murakami Stuart 3 3.81 2000 After the Quake
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves:
review:

]]> The Folklore of Our Times 13555588 22 Haruki Murakami Stuart 0 to-read 3.94 The Folklore of Our Times
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Long Ships 438452 478 Frans G. Bengtsson 000612609X Stuart 0 to-read 4.26 1941 The Long Ships
author: Frans G. Bengtsson
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)]]> 37794149
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion¡ªall while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret¡ªone that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life¡ªor rescue it from annihilation.]]> 448 Arkady Martine 1529001587 Stuart 4 4.08 2019 A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)
author: Arkady Martine
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1) 195790810
¡°Wolfsong is so well written that I'm in awe of TJ Klune's talent.¡± ¨DCharlaine Harris

The Bennett family has a They're not just a family, they're a pack. Wolfsong is Ox Matheson's story.

Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him a Ox wasn¡¯t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he¡¯s known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he¡¯s a man ¨C charming, handsome, but haunted ¨C and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.

Now available from Tor Books.]]> 528 T.J. Klune 1250890330 Stuart 0 to-read 4.11 2016 Wolfsong (Green Creek, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Our Hideous Progeny 195853471 400 C.E. McGill 0063256800 Stuart 0 to-read 3.85 2023 Our Hideous Progeny
author: C.E. McGill
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wind Knows My Name 207677111 NATIONAL BESTSELLER ? ¡°The lives of a Jewish boy escaping Nazi-occupied Europe and a mother and daughter fleeing twenty-first-century El Salvador intersect in this ambitious, intricate novel about war and immigration¡± (People), from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea and Violeta

¡°Timely, provocative . . . emotionally satisfying . . . [a story about] the kindness of strangers who become family.¡±¡ªThe New York Times Book Review

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht¡ªthe night his family loses everything. As her child¡¯s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel¡¯s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita D¨ªaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Dur¨¢n, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita¡¯s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers¡ªand never stop dreaming.]]> 304 Isabel Allende 0593598121 Stuart 0 to-read 3.94 2023 The Wind Knows My Name
author: Isabel Allende
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia de Luce, #2)]]> 8102672 why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she¡¯s letting on? What about Porson¡¯s charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can¡¯t solve¡ªwithout Flavia¡¯s help. But in getting so close to who¡¯s secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?]]> 364 Alan Bradley 0385343450 Stuart 0 to-read 4.05 2010 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia de Luce, #2)
author: Alan Bradley
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise]]> 200869482
But the story of the garden doesn¡¯t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It¡¯s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can and have been attempted amidst the flower beds, experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change.

The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud and pollen-laden.]]> 336 Olivia Laing 0393882004 Stuart 0 to-read 3.88 2024 The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
author: Olivia Laing
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heretical Fishing (Heretical Fishing, #1)]]> 208099994 A world abandoned by the gods, mystifying cosmic forces, unimaginable power for those willing to ascend, and a hero who would rather . . . go fishing???

When summoned to a fantastical world and granted powers by a broken System, most freshly minted protagonists would strap on their big-boy boots and get ready for their stats to start climbing. But Fischer isn¡¯t like most MCs. In fact, he doesn¡¯t want to be a hero at all.

Fame? Fortune? Power? He had enough of all that in his old life. Discovering forbidden fishing techniques and petting every cute animal that comes within scritching distance? Now ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ a good time.

Unfortunately for Fischer, cosmic forces rarely care for mortal feelings. He¡¯s hounded on all sides by inept cults, conspiring nobles, and more magical misunderstandings than those of a preteen relationship. Even his dutiful pet crab is firing energy blades like an anime antagonist.

So grab your fishing rod and a good snack, and pet your dog for me. The catch of a lifetime awaits!

The first volume of the laugh-out-loud LitRPG adventure series¡ªa #1 Rising Star on Royal Road with over three million views¡ªnow available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!]]> 533 Haylock Jobson 1039453112 Stuart 0 to-read 4.33 2024 Heretical Fishing (Heretical Fishing, #1)
author: Haylock Jobson
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Restless Dead: Necrowriting and Disappropriation]]> 51344492
Disappropriating is a political operation at the core of projects acknowledging, both at ethical and aesthetic levels, that writers always work with materials that are not their own. Writers borrow from the practitioners of a language, entering in a debt relationship that can only be covered by ushering the text back to the communities from which it grew. In a world rife with violence, where the experiences of many are erased by pillage and extraction, writing among and for the dead is a form of necrowriting that may well become a life-affirming act of decolonization and resistance.]]> 178 Cristina Rivera Garza 0826501214 Stuart 0 to-read 4.06 2013 The Restless Dead: Necrowriting and Disappropriation
author: Cristina Rivera Garza
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Memory Police 50349968 A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor.

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses--until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.]]> 274 Y¨­ko Ogawa 1101911816 Stuart 0 to-read 3.84 1994 The Memory Police
author: Y¨­ko Ogawa
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fruit of the Dead 176443312
Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother in New York, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is middle-aged, divorced, magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo proffers a childcare job (and an NDA), Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and opiates manufactured by his company, she continues to tell herself she¡¯s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help she alone is convinced she hears.

Alternating between the two women¡¯s perspectives, Rachel Lyon¡¯s Fruit of the Dead incorporates its mythic inspiration with a light touch and devastating precision. The result is a tale that explores love, control, obliteration, and America¡¯s own late capitalist mythos. Lyon¡¯s reinvention of Persephone and Demeter¡¯s story makes for a haunting and ecstatic novel that vibrates with lush abandon. Readers will not soon forget it.]]> 320 Rachel Lyon 1668020858 Stuart 0 to-read 3.50 2024 Fruit of the Dead
author: Rachel Lyon
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Song of the Huntress 182761629
Britain, 60AD. Hoping to save her lover, her land, and her people from the Romans, Herla makes a desperate pact with the king of the Otherworld. But years pass unheeded in his realm, and she escapes to find everyone she loved long dead. Cursed to wield his blade, she becomes Lord of the Hunt. And for centuries, she rides, leading her immortal warriors and reaping wanderers¡¯ souls. Until the night she meets a woman on a bloody battlefield¡ªa Saxon queen with ice-blue eyes.

Queen ?thelburg of Wessex is a proven fighter. But when she leads her forces to disaster in battle, her husband¡¯s court turns against her. Yet King Ine needs ?thel more than ever. Something dark and dangerous is at work in the Wessex court. His own brother seeks to usurp him. And their only hope is the magic in Ine¡¯s bloodline ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù¡¯²õ lain dormant since ancient days.

The moment she and ?thel meet, Herla knows it¡¯s no coincidence. The dead kings are waking. The Otherworld seeks to rise, to bring the people of Britain under its dominion. And as Herla and ?thel grow closer, Herla must find her humanity¡ªand a way to break the curse¡ªbefore it¡¯s too late.]]> 448 Lucy Holland 0316321656 Stuart 0 to-read 3.70 2024 Song of the Huntress
author: Lucy Holland
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere]]> 177317625 In this bold hybrid collection of poetry, flash fiction, and Afrofuturism sci-fi, the award-winning interdisciplinary writer and author of?Side Notes from the Archivist?explores what happens when god is a Black woman in a town. What happens when there are multiple universes in the middle of nowhere?

And what if in each universe there reigned other Black woman gods? One million versions of god, and one million saints to watch over us? And what if this Black woman god were placed here on earth?

These are just a few of the questions ´¡²Ô²¹²õ³Ù²¹³¦¾±²¹-¸é±ð²Ô±ð¨¦ asks in this daring and mind-bending hybrid collection. Hers is a universe of striking variety¡ªmonsters, nontraditional saints, witches, zombies, the couple in the apartment next door, the wise elders from down the block, and gods watching over us all¡ªas well as community and connectedness.

With a prose storyline and characters that connect through family, time, and place, ´¡²Ô²¹²õ³Ù²¹³¦¾±²¹-¸é±ð²Ô±ð¨¦ paints world(s) rich with wonder and the paranormal as she peers into the lives of everyday people and spectacular creatures inhabiting not just our neighborhoods, but other dimensions. Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere?is about interstellar ancestry, community and spirituality. It is about the things we invoke, conjure, and rely on to maintain joy as we keep it moving through difficult eras. ´¡²Ô²¹²õ³Ù²¹³¦¾±²¹-¸é±ð²Ô±ð¨¦¡¯s power imbues her spellbinding storytelling with lovingly rendered characters brought to life in lyrical poetry. She builds worlds within worlds and dares us to fully see and love ourselves in all our complexity.



]]> 144 ´¡²Ô²¹²õ³Ù²¹³¦¾±²¹-¸é±ð²Ô±ð¨¦ 0063221683 Stuart 0 to-read 4.04 Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere
author: ´¡²Ô²¹²õ³Ù²¹³¦¾±²¹-¸é±ð²Ô±ð¨¦
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Canopy Keepers (The Scorched Earth, #1)]]> 168433913 What happens when nature will no longer stand by and accept its destruction? A female fire chief discovers an ancient world rooted with secrets that can save¡ªor destroy¡ªin the newest fantasy by Veronica G. Henry, author of Bacchanal.

Beneath the forest floor, they watch¡­

Syrah Carthan doesn¡¯t know why she accepted a job as the first female fire chief at Sequoia National Park, where, decades earlier, a forest fire killed her parents. That day, her brother, Romelo, disappeared, as if pulled into the scorched earth itself. Syrah has always had an uncanny affinity for the natural wonders of the park she protects, but after she sanctions a prescribed burn that goes terribly wrong, she quits her position in disgrace.

However, when another devastating wildfire breaks out, Syrah, reluctantly pulled back into action, discovers an unknown world that has existed underground since the beginning of time. This secret society, built around the forest¡¯s complex root system, is now divided into two factions. One is ruled by the Keeper, the giant sequoias¡¯ benevolent caretaker. The other by a mysterious undoer, who¡¯s determined to wage war on humanity. Through him, nature can retaliate and wipe out the earth¡¯s careless ravagers for good.

Torn between human loyalty and preserving the delicate balance of nature, Syrah must make a choice¡ªone that will change both her destiny and that of the world above and below forever.]]> 363 Veronica G. Henry 1662503792 Stuart 0 to-read 3.77 2024 The Canopy Keepers (The Scorched Earth, #1)
author: Veronica G. Henry
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit]]> 55277028
In Rooted , cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth?

Award-winning writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt¡¯s highly personal new book is a brilliant invitation to live with the earth in both simple and profound ways¡ªfrom walking barefoot in the woods and reimagining our relationship with animals and trees, to examining the very language we use to describe and think about nature. She invokes rootedness as a way of being in concert with the wilderness¡ªand wildness¡ªthat sustains humans and all of life.

In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Mary Oliver, Haupt writes with urgency and grace, reminding us that?at the crossroads of science, nature, and spirit we find true hope. Each chapter provides tools for bringing our unique gifts to the fore and transforming our sense of belonging within the magic and wonder of the natural world.?]]> 240 Lyanda Lynn Haupt 0316426482 Stuart 0 to-read 4.00 2021 Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit
author: Lyanda Lynn Haupt
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Crime of Reason: And the Closing of the Scientific Mind]]> 3887694 The Crime of Reason is a reader-friendly jeremiad, On Bullshit for the Slashdot and Creative Commons crowd: a short, fiercely argued essay on a problem of increasing concern to people at the frontiers of new ideas.]]> 186 Robert B. Laughlin 0465005071 Stuart 0 to-read 3.29 2008 The Crime of Reason: And the Closing of the Scientific Mind
author: Robert B. Laughlin
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Transit of Venus 12738 337 Shirley Hazzard 1860491812 Stuart 0 to-read 3.99 1980 The Transit of Venus
author: Shirley Hazzard
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Biography of X 127278790
"A major novel, and a notably audacious one." ¨DDwight Garner, The New York Times

"It feels fairly rare for a novel to be hugely intelligent and moving and fun in equal measure, but with Biography of X , Catherine Lacey somehow¨Dmagically¨Dmakes the nearly impossible look easy." ¨DLauren Groff

From one of our fiercest stylists, a roaring epic chronicling the life, times, and secrets of a notorious artist.

When X¨Dan iconoclastic artist, writer, and polarizing shape-shifter¨Dfalls dead in her office, her widow, wild with grief and refusing everyone¡¯s good advice, hurls herself into writing a biography of the woman she deified. Though X was recognized as a crucial creative force of her era, she kept a tight grip on her life story. Not even CM, her wife, knew where X had been born, and in her quest to find out, she opens a Pandora¡¯s box of secrets, betrayals, and destruction. All the while, she immerses herself in the history of the Southern Territory, a fascist theocracy that split from the rest of the country after World War II, as it is finally, in the present day, forced into an uneasy reunification.

A masterfully constructed literary adventure complete with original images assembled by X¡¯s widow, Biography of X follows a grieving wife seeking to understand the woman who enthralled her. CM traces X¡¯s peripatetic trajectory over decades, from Europe to the ruins of America's divided territories, and through her collaborations and feuds with everyone from Bowie and Waits to Sontag and Acker. And when she finally understands the scope of X¡¯s defining artistic project, CM realizes her wife¡¯s deceptions were far crueler than she imagined.

Pulsing with suspense and intellect while blending nonfiction and fiction, Biography of X is a roaring epic that plumbs the depths of grief, art, and love. In her most ambitious novel yet, Catherine Lacey, one of our most acclaimed literary innovators, pushes her craft to its highest level, introducing us to an unforgettable character who, in her tantalizing mystery, shows us the fallibility of the stories we craft for ourselves.]]> 416 Catherine Lacey 1250321689 Stuart 0 to-read 3.89 2023 Biography of X
author: Catherine Lacey
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Shortest History of Economics]]> 193791641 Explore the human story of economics ¡­



'The secret of economics is that the most powerful insights come from a handful of big ideas that anyone can follow.'


This small book tells a big story. From ancient times to the modern world, The Shortest History of Economics unearths the hidden economic forces behind war, innovation and social transformation. It traces how capitalism and the market system emerged, and introduces the key ideas and people who shaped the discipline of economics.


From the agricultural revolution to the warming of our planet, Andrew Leigh tells the story of economics that ranges across centuries and continents, highlighting the diversity of the discipline. He delves into the radical origins of the game of Monopoly, why the invention of the plough worsened gender inequality, how certain diseases shaped the patterns of colonialism, the reasons skyscrapers emerged first in American cities, and much more.


The result is an illuminating, entertaining book about the economic ideas and forces that shape our world.


'This "short" book is bursting with insights about economics, illustrated by memorable stories and historical events. People who are curious about but confused by economics will learn enough from this volume to be conversant for life. Andrew Leigh is not only an engaging writer, he is charming and fun as well -- something that cannot be said of all economists!' -- Caroline M. Hoxby, Donya Bommer Professor of Economics, Stanford University


'If you read just one book about economics, make it Andrew Leigh's clear, insightful, and remarkable (and short) work. Learn why we are richer, live longer, have healthier children, are monumentally more productive and are happier than our ancestors.' -- Claudia Goldin, Nobel Laureate, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, Harvard University


'Leigh takes the reader on an engaging romp through key moments in the world's economic history that created the economies we see today around the globe. It is essential reading for anyone looking to understand today's economy.'-- Betsey Stevenson, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan, and co-author of Principles of Economics]]> 241 Andrew Leigh 1743823428 Stuart 0 to-read 3.93 The Shortest History of Economics
author: Andrew Leigh
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.93
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]]> Ordinary Human Failings 62601701
FINALIST FOR THE FALLON BOOK CLUB SELECTION

When we look beyond the headlines, everyone has a story to tell

It's 1990 in London and Tom Hargreaves has it all: a burgeoning career as a reporter, fierce ambition and a brisk disregard for the "peasants" - ordinary people, his readers, easy tabloid fodder. His star looks set to rise when he stumbles across a scoop: a dead child on a London estate, grieving parents loved across the neighbourhood, and the finger of suspicion pointing at one reclusive family of Irish immigrants and 'bad apples': the Greens.

At their heart sits Carmel: beautiful, otherworldly, broken, and once destined for a future beyond her circumstances until life - and love - got in her way. Crushed by failure and surrounded by disappointment, there's nowhere for her to go and no chance of escape. Now, with the police closing in on a suspect and the tabloids hunting their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations.]]> 218 Megan Nolan 1787332500 Stuart 0 to-read 3.73 2023 Ordinary Human Failings
author: Megan Nolan
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Furious Heaven (The Sun Chronicles #2)]]> 61301180 Furious Heaven is Kate Elliott's highly anticipated sequel to the thrilling space adventure Unconquerable Sun!

The Republic of Chaonia fleets, under the joint command of Princess Sun and her formidable mother, Queen-Marshal Eirene, have defeated and driven out an invading fleet of the Phene Empire, though not without heavy losses. But the Empire remains undeterred. While Chaonia scrambles to rebuild its military, the Empire¡¯s rulers are determined to squash Chaonia once and for all. They believe their military might is strong enough to defeat the enemy, but they also secure a secret alliance with a deadly religious sect skilled in the use of assassination and covert ops, to destabilize the republic.

On the eve of Eirene¡¯s bold attack on the rich and populous Karnos System, an unexpected tragedy strikes the republic. Sun must take charge or lose the throne. Will Sun be content with the pragmatic path laid out by her mother for Chaonia¡¯s future? Or will she choose to forge her own legend? Can she succeed despite all the forces arrayed against her?

Also by Kate Elliott

The Sun Chronicles
Unconquerable Sun
Furious Heaven

Young Adult Novels by Kate Elliott

Court of Fives
Court of Fives
Poisoned Blade
Buried Heart

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 728 Kate Elliott 1250867010 Stuart 0 to-read 4.38 2023 Furious Heaven (The Sun Chronicles #2)
author: Kate Elliott
name: Stuart
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)]]> 9317452 392 Ben Aaronovitch 0575097566 Stuart 0 to-read 3.83 2011 Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
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]]> Archangels of Funk 195790558
The Water Wars have scrambled the world. Flood refugees are on the run. Disruptors and the nostalgia militia roam the roads wreaking havoc. Invisible Darknet Lords troll the internet solidifying their power, while Cinnamon her three Circus-Bots, and two dogs, work with a community of Farmers, Motor Fairies and Wheel-Wizards to provide housing, healthcare and education for flood refugees.

Slipping into periodic despair, Cinnamon¡¯s been hiding out. She¡¯s ready to ditch the Next World Festival she runs¨Da sci-fi carnival jam featuring music, dance, masked revelers, drum circles and storytellers in a grassy amphitheatre on the farm she inherited. Her elders haunt her, insisting she do the Festival no matter what.

As she confronts threats from the Darknet Lords and the nostalgia militia, Cinnamon must determine how best to honor her elders and her history, while building a future for herself and her charges.

It¡¯s not going to be easy.]]> 384 Andrea Hairston 125080728X Stuart 0 to-read 3.55 2024 Archangels of Funk
author: Andrea Hairston
name: Stuart
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/10
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