Elynor's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:42:37 -0700 60 Elynor's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Wondrous Moment: Selected Poetry of Alexander Pushkin]]> 20628661 51 Alexander Pushkin Elynor 0 4.15 Wondrous Moment: Selected Poetry of Alexander Pushkin
author: Alexander Pushkin
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.15
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]]> <![CDATA[Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History]]> 22442136
In this enlightening biography, Joseph Telushkin offers a captivating portrait of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a towering figure who saw beyond conventional boundaries to turn his movement, Chabad-Lubavitch, into one of the most dynamic and widespread organizations ever seen in the Jewish world. At once an incisive work of history and a compendium of Rabbi Schneerson's teachings,Rebbeis the definitive guide to understanding one of the most vital, intriguing figures of the last centuries.

From his modest headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the Rebbe advised some of the world's greatest leaders and shaped matters of state and society. Statesmen and artists as diverse as Ronald Reagan, Robert F. Kennedy, Yitzchak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Elie Wiesel, and Bob Dylan span the spectrum of those who sought his counsel.Rebbeexplores Schneerson's overarching philosophies against the backdrop of treacherous history, revealing his clandestine operations to rescue and sustain Jews in the Soviet Union, and his critical role in the expansion of the food stamp program throughout the United States. More broadly, it examines how he became in effect an ambassador for Jews globally, and how he came to be viewed by many as not only a spiritual archetype but a savior. Telushkin also delves deep into the more controversial aspects of the Rebbe's leadership, analyzing his views on modern science and territorial compromise in Israel, and how in the last years of his life, many of his followers believed that he would soon be revealed as the Messiah, a source of contention until this day.]]> 645 Joseph Telushkin Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.39 2014 Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History
author: Joseph Telushkin
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/04/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays]]> 880483 272 Arthur Waskow 0807036110 Elynor 0 4.39 1982 Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays
author: Arthur Waskow
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1982
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man]]> 345500 The Sabbath has been hailed as a classic of Jewish spirituality ever since its original publication-and has been read by thousands of people seeking meaning in modern life.
In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the idea of an "architecture of holiness" that appears not in space but in time. Judaism, he argues, is a religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the material things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that "the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals."]]> 118 Abraham Joshua Heschel 0374529752 Elynor 0 4.37 1951 The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man
author: Abraham Joshua Heschel
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1951
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]]> <![CDATA[The Woman Who Laughed at God: The Untold History of the Jewish People (Compass)]]> 539880 336 Jonathan Kirsch 0142196118 Elynor 0 3.92 2001 The Woman Who Laughed at God: The Untold History of the Jewish People (Compass)
author: Jonathan Kirsch
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2001
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]]> <![CDATA[Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor]]> 46141936
Now with a new Epilogue, containing letters of response from Palestinian readers.

"A profound and original book, the work of a gifted thinker."--Daphne Merkin, The Wall Street Journal

Attempting to break the agonizing impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, the Israeli commentator and award-winning author ofLike Dreamersdirectly addresses his Palestinian neighbors in this taut and provocative book, empathizing with Palestinian suffering and longing for reconciliation as he explores how the conflict looks through Israeli eyes.

I call you "neighbor" because I don’t know your name, or anything personal about you. Given our circumstances, "neighbor" might be too casual a word to describe our relationship. We are intruders into each other’s dream, violators of each other’s sense of home. We are incarnations of each other’s worst historical nightmares. Neighbors?

Letters to My Palestinian Neighboris one Israeli’s powerful attempt to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians and into the hearts of "the enemy." In a series of letters, Yossi Klein Halevi explains what motivated him to leave his native New York in his twenties and move to Israel to participate in the drama of the renewal of a Jewish homeland, which he is committed to see succeed as a morally responsible, democratic state in the Middle East.

This is the first attempt by an Israeli author to directly address his Palestinian neighbors and describe how the conflict appears through Israeli eyes. Halevi untangles the ideological and emotional knot that has defined the conflict for nearly a century. In lyrical, evocative language, he unravels the complex strands of faith, pride, anger and anguish he feels as a Jew living in Israel, using history and personal experience as his guide.

Halevi’s letters speak not only to his Palestinian neighbor, but to all concerned global citizens, helping us understand the painful choices confronting Israelis and Palestinians that will ultimately help determine the fate of the region.

ձ> 291 Yossi Klein Halevi 0062968661 Elynor 0 to-read 4.52 2019 Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
author: Yossi Klein Halevi
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2019
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]]> The Keeper of Happy Endings 57429914 An enchanting novel about fate, second chances, and hope, lost and found, by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls.

Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.

Decades later, while coping with her own tragic loss, aspiring gallery owner Rory Grant leases Soline’s old property and discovers a box containing letters and a vintage wedding dress, never worn. When Rory returns the mementos, an unlikely friendship develops, and eerie parallels in Rory’s and Soline’s lives begin to surface. It’s clear that they were destined to meet—and that Rory may hold the key to righting a forty-year wrong and opening the door to shared healing and, perhaps, a little magic.]]> 415 Barbara Davis 1542021480 Elynor 0 to-read 4.47 2021 The Keeper of Happy Endings
author: Barbara Davis
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts]]> 44072157 Today we see the Quran being used by some to justify war and terrorism, the Torah to deny Palestinians the right to live in the Land of Israel, and the Bible to condemn homosexuality and contraception. The holy texts at the centre of all religious traditions are often employed selectively to underwrite arbitrary and subjective views. They are believed to be divinely ordained; they are claimed to contain eternal truths.
But as Karen Armstrong, a world authority on religious affairs, shows in this fascinating journey through millennia of history, this narrow reading of scripture is a relatively recent phenomenon. For hundreds of years these texts were instead viewed as spiritual tools: scripture was a means for the individual to connect with the divine, to transcend their physical existence, and to experience a higher level of consciousness. Holy texts were seen as fluid and adaptable, rather than a set of binding archaic rules or a ‘truth� that has to be ‘believed�.
Armstrong argues that only by rediscovering an open engagement with their holy texts will the world’s religions be able to curtail arrogance, intolerance and violence. And if scripture is used to engage with the world in more meaningful and compassionate ways, we will find that it still has a great deal to teach us.]]> 624 Karen Armstrong 0451494865 Elynor 3 3.97 2019 The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts
author: Karen Armstrong
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Heat of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #3)]]> 124936017
After her disastrous coronation, Diem finds herself at the center of the conflict between the Descended and the Guardians. With her newfound friends and the man she’s falling for on one side, and the mortals she has vowed to protect on the other, Diem must walk a careful line to save the people she loves� even from each other.

The mystery of her unusual heritage begins to unravel, sending Diem and Luther on an unexpected journey across the realms. The answers may hold the key to winning the war, but finding them will require her to face painful truths about her mother, her bloodline, and her fate.

Meanwhile, the Crowns have set Diem in their sights. Some could be her greatest allies—while others want her dead. To end their oppressive reign, Diem must sort friend from foe and risk it all to build an army of her own.

But a powerful figure in the north has plans that could change everything...

Heat of the Everflame is the third book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book epic fantasy romance series that follows our fiesty, bad*ss heroine Diem Bellator in her fight against injustice, her struggle to survive in a royal palace full of betrayal and intrigue, and her journey of self-discovery and finding true love. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers series is perfect for fans of unique magic systems, dragons and other mythical creatures, angst and romantic tension, and hilarious banter. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]> 1026 Penn Cole Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.27 2023 Heat of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #3)
author: Penn Cole
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1)]]> 123471760 When old secrets catch fire, everything will burn.

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.

With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

Spark of the Everflame is the first book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book fantasy romance series. This slow burn, enemies-to-lovers epic is perfect for lovers of magic, dragons, angst, and banter and will appeal to fans of books like A Court of Thorns and Roses, From Blood and Ash, Gild, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]> 438 Penn Cole Elynor 0 4.20 2023 Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1)
author: Penn Cole
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)]]> 124935969
The threat of war has arrived at Diem’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil’s bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren’t as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

Meanwhile, her mother is still missing, and the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

War is coming, and dangerous enemies wait on all sides.. but the most deadly battle Diem faces may be the one for her heart.

Glow of the Everflame is the second book in The Kindred's Curse Saga, a four-book fantasy romance series. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.]]> 637 Penn Cole Elynor 0 4.36 2023 Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)
author: Penn Cole
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[King of Greed (Kings of Sin, #3)]]> 124943221 He had her, he lost her…and he’ll do anything to win her back.

Powerful, brilliant, and ambitious, Dominic Davenport clawed his way up from nothing to become the King of Wall Street.

He has everything—a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and more money than he could spend in a lifetime. But no matter how much he accumulates, he’s never satisfied.

In his endless quest for more, he drives away the only person who saw him as enough.

It isn’t until she’s gone that he realizes there may be more to life than riches and glory…but by then, it may be too late.

***

Kind, intelligent, and thoughtful, Alessandra Davenport has played the role of trophy wife for years.

She stood by her husband while he built an empire, but now that they’ve reached the top, she realizes he’s no longer the man she fell for.

When it becomes clear that she’ll always come second to his work, she finally takes charge of her life and puts herself first—even if it means leaving the only man she’s ever loved.

But what she didn’t count on was his refusal to let her go…or for him to fight for their marriage, no matter what it takes.

King of Greed is a steamy marriage in trouble/second chance romance. It's book three in the Kings of Sin series but can be read as a standalone.]]> 352 Ana Huang Elynor 0 3.91 2023 King of Greed (Kings of Sin, #3)
author: Ana Huang
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Midnight at the Blackbird Café]]> 42435479 Добре дошли в Уиклоу, Алабама � очарователно южняшко градче, закътано в сянката на планините, където хората са сърдечни, а от витрината на кафене „Черният дрозд� се носи ароматът на знаменития вълшебен пай.

Анна Кейт пристига в Уиклоу за погребението на баба си Зий, собственичка на кафенето, и за да сложи в ред делата Ӝ, преди да продължи по пътя си. Израснала далеч от градчето, тя няма намерение да се задържа или пък да се сближава с леко смахнатите му жители. И особено с роднините на баща си, когото никога не е познавала.

За нейна изненада, завещанието на Зий обаче идва с условия � Анна Кейт ще трябва да остане в Уиклоу поне два месеца и да управлява любимото на всички кафене „Черният дрозд�.

Младата жена скоро ще научи, че миналото крие редица неразплетени загадки, сред които е и истината за случилото се с баща Ӝ, причината майка Ӝ да избяга от градчето� а също и тайната на прословутия дроздов пай.
Може би когато открие отговора, Анна Кейт ще знае дали иска да остане, или да отлети.]]> 329 Heather Webber Elynor 0 4.21 2019 Midnight at the Blackbird Café
author: Heather Webber
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life]]> 24040543 When Bad Things Happen to Good People, deeply moving and illuminating reflections on what it means to live a good life.

As a congregational rabbi for half a century and the best-selling author of twelve books on faith, ethics, and how to apply the timeless wisdom of religious thought to everyday challenges, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner has demonstrated time and again his understanding of the human spirit. In this compassionate new work, his most personal since When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Kushner relates how his time as a twenty-first-century rabbi has shaped his senses of religion and morality. He elicits nine essential lessons from the sum of his teaching, study, and experience, offering a lifetime’s worth of spiritual food for thought, pragmatic advice, inspiration for a more fulfilling life, and strength for trying times.

With fresh, vital insight into belief (“there is no commandment in Judaism to believe in God�), conscience (the Garden of Eden story as you’ve never heard it), and mercy (forgiveness is “a favor you do yourself, not an undeserved gesture to the person who hurt you�), grounded in Kushner's brilliant readings of Scripture, history, and popular culture, Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life is compulsory reading from one of modern Judaism’s foremost sages.

Distilling the wisdom of an extraordinary career, this profoundly inspiring yet practical guide to well-being is truly the capstone to Kushner’s luminous oeuvre.]]> 171 Harold S. Kushner 0385354096 Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.21 2015 Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life
author: Harold S. Kushner
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
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]]> <![CDATA[You Could Make This Place Beautiful]]> 61940694 “Life, like a poem, is a series of choices.�

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

You Could Make This Place Beautiful, like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is “extraordinary� (Ann Patchett) in the way that it reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new and beautiful.]]> 316 Maggie Smith Elynor 0 to-read 4.21 2023 You Could Make This Place Beautiful
author: Maggie Smith
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Doppelganger: a Trip into the Mirror World]]> 138383358
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience—she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us—and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now—and an intellectual adventure story for our times.]]> 397 Naomi Klein 0374610339 Elynor 0 to-read 4.23 2023 Doppelganger: a Trip into the Mirror World
author: Naomi Klein
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Gilgamesh: The New Translation]]> 22921779 #1 Best-Seller in Ancient, Classical and Medieval Poetry on Amazon.Special Pre-Publication Promotional Price. "Gilgamesh is monumental!" - Rainer Maria Rilke. The EPIC OF GILGAMESH is the oldest story that has come down to us through the ages of history. It predates the BIBLE, the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY. GILGAMESH relates the tale of the fifth king of the first dynasty of Uruk (in what is modern day Iraq) who reigned for one hundred and twenty-six years, according to the ancient Sumerian King List. The EPIC OF GILGAMESH was first inscribed in cuneiform writing on clay tablets by an unknown author during the Sumerian era and has been described as one of the greatest works of literature in the recounting of mankind's unending quest for immortality.]]> 139 Anonymous 1311408746 Elynor 0 to-read 3.90 -1200 Gilgamesh: The New Translation
author: Anonymous
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.90
book published: -1200
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> Operation Bethlehem 184616914 Winner of The 2023 National Jewish Book Awards for Hebrew Fiction in Translation. Discover a rare glimpse into the secret world of Mossad spies and terrorists with Operation Bethlehem, a best-seller from Israel.

A traumatic anti-Semitic attack during his youth led Daniel, a young French Jew, to immigrate to Israel, where he served in an elite unit and later joined the Mossad. However, his tempestuous personality caused him to lose everything. Now, years later, in complete secrecy, Daniel sets out on a private operation to restore meaning in his life.

Daniel infiltrates hostile territory and tries to locate a national treasure which is seemingly hidden on the site of a psychiatric hospital. He pieces together the clues, delving ever deeper undercover. So determined is he to uncover his personal and national identity that he suddenly finds himself in grave danger, risking not just himself but a mission far greater than even he is aware. Beyond the thrills of Daniel’s operation, Operation Bethlehem explores the existential questions and tough decisions faced by those responsible for Israel's security, probing the moral complexities of espionage and national defense.

Full of unexpected twists and turns, Operation Bethlehem documents the human reality behind the James Bond acts of espionage, leaving you pondering its complex issues long after you turn the final page. So, take a chance to discover this provocative and exhilarating novel that takes the reader into the shadowy underworld of Mossad spies and one’s search for personal redemption.]]> 321 Yariv Inbar 9659310609 Elynor 0 to-read 4.29 Operation Bethlehem
author: Yariv Inbar
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.29
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]]> <![CDATA[Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome]]> 18971145 244 Rudy Simone Elynor 0 to-read 3.98 2010 Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger Syndrome
author: Rudy Simone
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> Chaos (I Bring the Fire, #3) 27879750
Things can’t get any worse, but when Loki’s involved, it’s certain they will. In the third chapter of I Bring the Fire, humanity’s demons are unleashed on the Nine Realms and Amy Lewis and Steve Rogers get front row seats.

Chaos might be their only hope.

THE I BRING THE FIRE SERIES:
I Bring the Fire: Part I Wolves (Free eBook!)
Monsters: I Bring the Fire Part II
Chaos: I Bring the Fire Part III
In the Balance
Fates: I Bring the Fire Part IV
The Slip: a Short Story
Warriors: I Bring the Fire Part V
Ragnarok: I Bring the Fire Part VI
The Fire Bringers: a Short Story
Soul Marked
Magic After Midnight]]> 322 C. Gockel Elynor 0 to-read 4.16 2013 Chaos (I Bring the Fire, #3)
author: C. Gockel
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East]]> 17262206 A thrilling and revelatory narrative of one of the most epic and consequential periods in 20th century history � the Arab Revolt and the secret “great game� to control the Middle East

The Arab Revolt against the Turks in World War One was, in the words of T.E. Lawrence, “a sideshow of a sideshow.”� Amidst the slaughter in European trenches, the Western combatants paid scant attention to the Middle Eastern theater. As a result, the conflict was shaped to a remarkable degree by a small handful of adventurers and low-level officers far removed from the corridors of power.

Curt Prüfer was an effete academic attached to the German embassy in Cairo, whose clandestine role was to foment Islamic jihad against British rule. Aaron Aaronsohn was a renowned agronomist and committed Zionist who gained the trust of the Ottoman governor of Syria. William Yale was the fallen scion of the American aristocracy, who traveled the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Standard Oil, dissembling to the Turks in order gain valuable oil concessions. At the center of it all was Lawrence. In early 1914 he was an archaeologist excavating ruins in the sands of Syria; by 1917 he was the most romantic figure of World War One, battling both the enemy and his own government to bring about the vision he had for the Arab people.

The intertwined paths of these four men � the schemes they put in place, the battles they fought, the betrayals they endured and committed � mirror the grandeur, intrigue and tragedy of the war in the desert. Prüfer became Germany’s grand spymaster in the Middle East. Aaronsohn constructed an elaborate Jewish spy-ring in Palestine, only to have the anti-Semitic and bureaucratically-inept British first ignore and then misuse his organization, at tragic personal cost. Yale would become the only American intelligence agent in the entire Middle East � while still secretly on the payroll of Standard Oil. And the enigmatic Lawrence rode into legend at the head of an Arab army, even as he waged secret war against his own nation’s imperial ambitions.

Based on years of intensive primary document research, Lawrence in Arabia definitively overturns received wisdom on how the modern Middle East was formed. Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.]]> 577 Scott Anderson 038553292X Elynor 0 to-read 4.04 2013 Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East
author: Scott Anderson
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation]]> 20250453
In Like Dreamers, acclaimed journalist Yossi Klein Halevi interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the present.

Following the lives of seven young members from the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the unit responsible for restoring Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, Halevi reveals how this band of brothers played pivotal roles in shaping Israel’s destiny long after their historic victory. While they worked together to reunite their country in 1967, these men harbored drastically different visions for Israel’s future.

One emerges at the forefront of the religious settlement movement, while another is instrumental in the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. One becomes a driving force in the growth of Israel’s capitalist economy, while another ardently defends the socialist kibbutzim. One is a leading peace activist, while another helps create an anti-Zionist terror underground in Damascus.

Featuring an eight pages of black-and-white photos and maps, Like Dreamers is a nuanced, in-depth look at these diverse men and the conflicting beliefs that have helped to define modern Israel and the Middle East.]]> 616 Yossi Klein Halevi Elynor 0 to-read 4.42 2013 Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation
author: Yossi Klein Halevi
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2013
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]]> Jerusalem: The Biography 12114607
How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world� and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women—kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores—who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan.

Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime’s study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice—in heaven and on earth.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 688 Simon Sebag Montefiore Elynor 0 to-read 4.17 2011 Jerusalem: The Biography
author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/14
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 14891 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.]]> 496 Betty Smith 0061120073 Elynor 0 to-read 4.29 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
author: Betty Smith
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity]]> 24895661 A groundbreaking book that upends conventional thinking about autism and suggests a broader model for acceptance, understanding, and full participation in society for people who think differently.

What is autism: a devastating developmental disorder, a lifelong disability, or a naturally occurring form of cognitive difference akin to certain forms of genius? In truth, it is all of these things and more—and the future of our society depends on our understanding it. WIRED reporter Steve Silberman unearths the secret history of autism, long suppressed by the same clinicians who became famous for discovering it, and finds surprising answers to the crucial question of why the number of diagnoses has soared in recent years.

Going back to the earliest days of autism research and chronicling the brave and lonely journey of autistic people and their families through the decades, Silberman provides long-sought solutions to the autism puzzle, while mapping out a path for our society toward a more humane world in which people with learning differences and those who love them have access to the resources they need to live happier, healthier, more secure, and more meaningful lives.

Along the way, he reveals the untold story of Hans Asperger, the father of Asperger’s syndrome, whose “little professors� were targeted by the darkest social-engineering experiment in human history; exposes the covert campaign by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner to suppress knowledge of the autism spectrum for fifty years; and casts light on the growing movement of "neurodiversity" activists seeking respect, support, technological innovation, accommodations in the workplace and in education, and the right to self-determination for those with cognitive differences.
]]> 400 Steve Silberman 1101639644 Elynor 0 to-read 4.42 2015 NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
author: Steve Silberman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> Rules of Civility 10054335 335 Amor Towles Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.06 2011 Rules of Civility
author: Amor Towles
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey between Worlds]]> 19392987 156 Jonathan Rosen 142993588X Elynor 0 currently-reading 3.62 2000 The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey between Worlds
author: Jonathan Rosen
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Splendor of Tefillin: Insights into the Mitzvah of Tefillin from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook: 9 Essays on Tefillin as a Vehicle to Bind our Hearts and Thoughts to God]]> 19454744 "Well written and concise. This book makes the mitzvah of Tefillin so much more meaningful. Highly recommended reading." --Robert WeissWhat are tefillin? What is their deeper significance? How can we bind our hearts and souls to God, as we bind these these scrolls to our arms and heads? Nine insightful essays on the mitzvah of tefillin, based on the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook.Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), the celebrated first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, is recognized as being among the most important Jewish thinkers. Just as his writings reflect the mystic s search for underlying unity in all aspects of life and the world, his unique personality united a rare combination of talents and gifts. A prominent rabbinical authority and active public leader, Rav Kook was, at the same time, a deeply religious mystic. He was both Talmudic scholar and poet, original thinker and tzaddik.]]> 46 Chanan Morrison Elynor 0 4.42 2011 The Splendor of Tefillin: Insights into the Mitzvah of Tefillin from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook: 9 Essays on Tefillin as a Vehicle to Bind our Hearts and Thoughts to God
author: Chanan Morrison
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently]]> 54272171 512 Amy-Jill Levine 0062560174 Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.35 2020 The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently
author: Amy-Jill Levine
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> The Bones Beneath My Skin 211004023 A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.

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

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

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 1250890438 Elynor 4 4.12 2018 The Bones Beneath My Skin
author: T.J. Klune
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
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]]> All Other Nights 5294347 A gripping epic about the great moral struggles of the Civil War.

How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a question his commanders have already answered for him - on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn't to murder the spy but to marry her.

Based on real personalities such as Judah Benjamin, the Confederacy's Jewish secretary of state and spymaster, and on historical facts and events ranging from an African American spy network to the dramatic self-destruction of the city of Richmond, All Other Nights is a story of men and women driven to the limits of loyalty and betrayal. It is also a parable of the rift in America that lingers a century and a half later: between those who value family and tradition first, and those dedicated, at any cost, to social and racial justice for all.]]> 363 Dara Horn 0393064921 Elynor 0 currently-reading 3.74 2009 All Other Nights
author: Dara Horn
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> The Source 894361

From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 909 James A. Michener 0394446305 Elynor 3 4.32 1965 The Source
author: James A. Michener
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1965
rating: 3
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date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land: Stories]]> 60604687 From“a marvelous new voice� (Rebecca Makkai), these“extraordinarily imaginative� (Sigrid Nunez), “revelatory� (Nicole Krauss),“superb� (Kiran Desai) stories transcend borders as they render the intimate lives of people striving for connection.WINNER OF THE AJL JEWISH FICTION AWARD � FINALIST FOR THE WINGATE PRIZEThe Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land announces the arrival of a natural-born storyteller of immense talent. Warm, poignant, delightfully whimsical, Omer Friedlander’s gorgeously immersive and imaginative stories take you to the narrow limestone alleyways of Jerusalem, the desolate beauty of the Negev Desert, and the sprawling orange groves of Jaffa, with characters that spring to vivid life. A divorced con artist and his daughter sell empty bottles of “holy air� to credulous tourists; a Lebanese Scheherazade enchants three young soldiers in a bombed-out Beirut radio station; a boy daringly “rooftops� at night, climbing steel cranes in scuffed sneakers even as he reimagines the bravery of a Polish-Jewish dancer during the Holocaust; an Israeli volunteer at a West Bank checkpoint mourns the death of her son, a soldier killed in Gaza.These stories render the intimate lives of people striving for connection. They are fairy tales turned on their head by the stakes of real life, where moments of fragile intimacy mix with comedy and notes of the absurd. Told in prose of astonishing vividness that also demonstrates remarkable control and restraint, they have a universal appeal to the heart.]]> 256 Omer Friedlander 059324298X Elynor 0 4.19 2022 The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land: Stories
author: Omer Friedlander
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA["The Rest of Us": The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews]]> 28042723 A remarkable history of the Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland who altered the American landscape from New York to Hollywood

The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the “old country� to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined, and in no time they were moving up from the ghetto tenements of New York’s Lower East Side to make their marks and their fortunes across the country in a variety of fields, from media and popular music to fashion, motion pictures, and even organized crime.

Among the unforgettable personages author Stephen Birmingham profiles are radio pioneer David Sarnoff, makeup mogul Helena Rubinstein, Hollywood tycoons Samuel Goldwyn and Harry Cohn, Broadway composer Irving Berlin, and mobster Meyer Lansky. From the author of “Our Crowd�, comes this treasure trove of fascinating tales and unforgettable “rags-to-riches� success stories that celebrates the indomitable spirit of a unique community.]]> 412 Stephen Birmingham Elynor 0 to-read 4.24 1984 "The Rest of Us": The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews
author: Stephen Birmingham
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Midwives' Escape: From Egypt to Jericho]]> 212689360
The Bible contains many extraordinary stories of a sometimes benevolent, sometimes vengeful deity, who guides the Israelites out of slavery, across the Sea of Reeds and through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Maggie Anton's The Midwives' From Egypt to Jericho brings to life this exceptional Biblical journey through vivid descriptions of what daily life was like at this time, epic battlefield scenes and a colorful cast of characters.

An Egyptian mother and daughter, Asenet and Shifra, a midwife and her apprentice, wake up on the morning of the tenth plague to find Asenet's husband and son, both firstborns, dead. Asenet's sister Pua, married to an Israelite, urges Asenet's family to leave Egypt with them, which they reluctantly do, along with Asenet's wainwright father and his two apprentices. Recognizing that the Hebrew god is more powerful than any of the Egyptians' gods, other non-Israelites join the exodus, including Hittite and Nubian palace guards. Once hearing and accepting God's commandments at Mt. Sinai, these two Egyptian midwives join the Israelites on their forty-year journey to The Promised Land where they tend to the wounded, share hardship and adversity, fall in love, and start a new home and a new generation.

With The Midwives' Escape, Anton has written an original and stunning recreation of the trials and tribulations on the road to the Promised Land.]]> 296 Maggie Anton 0976305089 Elynor 3 3.78 The Midwives' Escape: From Egypt to Jericho
author: Maggie Anton
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 3
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]]> The Essential Rabbi Nachman 31425233 323 Avraham Greenbaum Elynor 0 to-read 4.54 2006 The Essential Rabbi Nachman
author: Avraham Greenbaum
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/05
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]]> A Guide for the Perplexed 17573649 The incomparable Dara Horn returns with a spellbinding novel of how technology changes memory and how memory shapes the soul.

Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented an application that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt’s postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is abducted—leaving Judith free to take over Josie’s life at home, including her husband and daughter, while Josie’s talent for preserving memories becomes a surprising test of her empathy and her only means of escape.

A century earlier, another traveler arrives in Egypt: Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor hunting for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. Both he and Josie are haunted by the work of the medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides, a doctor and rationalist who sought to reconcile faith and science, destiny and free will. But what Schechter finds, as he tracks down the remnants of a thousand-year-old community’s once-vibrant life, will reveal the power and perils of what Josie’s ingenious work brings into being: a world where nothing is ever forgotten.

An engrossing adventure that intertwines stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a novel of profound inner meaning and astonishing imagination.

See also: String Theory: The Parents Askenazi , the digital only prequel to A Guide for the Perplexed.]]> 342 Dara Horn 0393064891 Elynor 4 3.67 2013 A Guide for the Perplexed
author: Dara Horn
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
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]]> <![CDATA[One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe]]> 213395488 A lost Afikomen, a time-traveling talking goat, and a never-ending seder illuminate the meaning of Passover in Dara Horn’s dryly funny graphic novel.


A family sits at the table, ready to start their Passover seder. There’s Grandpa, who’s attempting to lead; anxious dad and pregnant mom; Cool Cousin and Uncool Cousin; 98-year-old great-grandma who survived the Warsaw Ghetto; our narrator, Wise Child, and his siblings—one of whom has lost the Afikomen. Without it, this seder can never end. Accompanied by a wisecracking, irreverent little goat who shows up at the front door, Wise Child takes a journey through time and all the Passovers past to retrieve the Afikomen, end the seder, and understand his family, his faith, and his history along the way.


Complemented by Theo Ellsworth’s fantastical artwork, Dara Horn’s first graphic novel is a delightfully bizarre exploration of the meaning of Passover, layered with joy, humor, and magic.]]> 152 Dara Horn 1324082135 Elynor 0 4.09 One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe
author: Dara Horn
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.09
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]]> Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet 944291 312 Harry Kemelman 0688030602 Elynor 3 3.82 1976 Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet
author: Harry Kemelman
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1976
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)]]> 208841368 Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell's long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell's murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell's magic-and Emily's knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.
]]> 368 Heather Fawcett 0356519198 Elynor 0 4.17 2025 Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales (Emily Wilde, #3)
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life]]> 127282273
A dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the Christianity is the religion of love, and Judaism the religion of law. In the face of centuries of this widespread misrepresentation, Rabbi Shai Held―one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today―recovers the heart of the Jewish tradition, offering the radical and moving argument that love belongs as much to Judaism as it does to Christianity. Blending intellectual rigor, a respect for tradition and the practices of a living Judaism, and a commitment to the full equality of all people, Held seeks to reclaim Judaism as it authentically is. He shows that love is foundational and constitutive of true Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness.

Ambitious and revelatory, Judaism Is About Love illuminates the true essence of Judaism―an act of restoration from within.]]> 546 Shai Held 0374192448 Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.56 Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life
author: Shai Held
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.56
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]]> Babylonia 210204151
When kings fall, queens rise.

Nothing about Semiramis's upbringing could have foretold her legacy or the power she would come to wield. A female ruler, once an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire - certainly no one in Ancient Assyria would bend to her command willingly. Semiramis was a woman who knew if she wanted power, she would have to claim it.

There are whispers of her fame in Mesopotamian myth- Semiramis was a queen, an ambitious warrior, a commander whose reputation reaches the majestic proportions of Alexander the Great. Historical record, on the other hand, falls eerily quiet.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her. The world Casati expertly builds is rich with dazzling detail and will transport her readers to the heat of the Assyrian Empire and a world long gone.]]> 448 Costanza Casati 1464228213 Elynor 3 4.07 2024 Babylonia
author: Costanza Casati
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World]]> 127463723 The national bestseller

From one of our country’s most prominent rabbis, an inspiring book about the power of community based on one of her most impactful sermons.

In a time of loneliness and isolation, social rupture and alienation, what will it take to mend our broken hearts and rebuild our society?

Sharon Brous—a leading American rabbi—makes the case that the spiritual work of our time, as instinctual as it is counter-cultural, is to find our way to one other in celebration, in sorrow, and in solidarity. To show up for each other in moments of joy and pain, vulnerability and possibility, to invest in relationships of shared purpose and build communities of care.

Brous contends that it is through honoring our most basic human instinct-- the yearning for real connection-- that we reawaken our shared humanity and begin to heal.This kind of sacred presence is captured by the word amen, a powerful ancient idea that we affirm the fullness of one another’s experience by demonstrating, in body and “I see you. You are not alone.”�

An acclaimed preacher and story-teller, Brous pairs heart-driven anecdotes from her experience building and pastoring to a leading-edge faith community over the past two decades with ancient Jewish wisdom and contemporary science. The result is a clarion the sense of belonging engendered byour genuine presence is not only a social and biological need, but a moral and spiritual necessity.

With original insights and practical tools, The Amen Effect translates foundational ideas into simple practices that connect us to our better angels, offering a blueprint for a more meaningful life and a more connected and caring world.]]> 239 Sharon Brous 0593543327 Elynor 0 4.54 The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World
author: Sharon Brous
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.54
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]]> <![CDATA[World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made]]> 36420978 The National Book Award–winning, New York Times–bestselling history of Yiddish-speaking immigrants on the Lower East Side and beyond. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two million Jewish immigrants poured into America, leaving places like Warsaw or the Russian shtetls to pass through Ellis Island and start over in the New World. This is a “brilliant� account of their stories (The New York Times). Though some moved on to Philadelphia, Chicago, and other points west, many of these new citizens settled in New York City, especially in Manhattan’s teeming tenements. Like others before and after, they struggled to hold on to the culture and community they brought from their homelands, all the while striving to escape oppression and find opportunity. They faced poverty and crime, but also experienced the excitement of freedom and previously unimaginable possibilities. Over the course of decades, from the 1880s to the 1920s, they were assimilated into the great melting pot as the Yiddish language slowly gave way to English; work was found in sweatshops; children were sent to both religious and secular schools; and, for the lucky ones, the American dream was attained—if not in the first generation, then by the second or third. Nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, World of Our Fathers explores the many aspects of this time and place in history, from the political to the cultural. In this compelling American story, Irving Howe addresses everything from the story of socialism, the hardships of the ghetto, and the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that killed scores of garment workers to the “Borscht Belt� resorts of the Catskills in colorful and dramatic detail. Both meticulously researched and lively, it is “a stirring evocation of the adventure and trauma of migration� (Newsweek).]]> 1192 Irving Howe Elynor 0 to-read 4.21 1976 World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made
author: Irving Howe
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1976
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> The Matchmaker's Gift 56249410 From the bestselling author of The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters comes a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to realize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.

How much of our lives is fate, and how much is choice?

Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her she is a maker of matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men-men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to take her rightful place among her peers, and to demand the recognition she deserves.

Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients. When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of handwritten journals recording the details of Sara’s matches. But among the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers. Why did Abby’s grandmother leave this library to her and what did she hope Abby would discover within its pages? Why does the work Abby once found so compelling suddenly feel inconsequential and flawed? Is Abby willing to sacrifice the career she’s worked so hard for in order to keep her grandmother’s mysterious promise to a stranger? And is there really such a thing as love at first sight?]]> 320 Lynda Cohen Loigman 1250278082 Elynor 0 currently-reading 4.33 2022 The Matchmaker's Gift
author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/24
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]]> Girl Abroad 175379842
Abbey has never considered herself a rulebreaker. But soon, she's lying to her father about her living situation and falling for not one, but two men she can't have: her rugby-player roommate and a broody musician with a girlfriend. Not to mention, her research for school has gotten her tangled in a deeply hidden scandal of a high nobility family, surrounding her in secrets on all sides.

If there's any hope of Abbey finding love, answers, or a future in London, she'll have to decide which rules—and hearts—might be worth breaking.]]> 419 Elle Kennedy 1728299802 Elynor 0 3.85 2024 Girl Abroad
author: Elle Kennedy
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red (The Rabbi Small Mysteries)]]> 26035878 “The Jewish Sherlock Holmes� investigates a deadly disruption on a college campus in this New York Times bestseller (The Detroit News). Once again, Rabbi Small finds himself looking for solace outside the confines of the contentious world of his synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts. When a member of his congregation expresses that she does not want him to officiate her wedding, Rabbi Small has had enough. He seeks escape by dabbling in academia with a part-time teaching gig at a local college. But his fantasy of a tranquil life in an ivory tower is about to come tumbling down. A bombing at the school kills one of the rabbi’s coworkers, and Small finds himself caught between adversarial students and feuding faculty members. As he investigates possible suspects with the same logic and measured caution that make him a brilliant religious leader, Rabbi Small finds that everyone has a motive—and an alibi—and it’s up to him to uncover the truth. ձ> 309 Harry Kemelman 1504016084 Elynor 0 4.31 1973 Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red (The Rabbi Small Mysteries)
author: Harry Kemelman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/20
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]]> Exodus 33135382 610 Leon Uris 1475606109 Elynor 0 4.66 1960 Exodus
author: Leon Uris
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.66
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Beekeeper's Apprentice: or, On the Segregation of the Queen (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Book 1)]]> 217146777 370 Laurie R. King Elynor 0 to-read 4.09 1994 The Beekeeper's Apprentice: or, On the Segregation of the Queen (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Book 1)
author: Laurie R. King
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> Living Your Strengths 333227

Even in a country as religious as the U.S., many people feel disengaged from their faith communities. More than half report that they really don't get the opportunity in their congregation to do what they do best. People just feel disconnected.

Maybe it's because those faith communities make unwitting Pastors ask shy people to be greeters or recruit innately disorganized people to coordinate church events.

The problem is simply Too many people's talents are going unappreciated. But it doesn't have to be this way. Living Your Strengths shows readers how to use their innate gifts to enrich their faith communities. The book � written by former pastors Albert Winseman and Curt Liesveld and Don Clifton, coauthor of the national bestseller N ow, Discover Your Strengths � shows people how to identify and affirm their talents and how to use them for growth and service. Most importantly, Living Your Strengths helps people discover their true calling.

The book includes an access code to take the CliftonStrengths assessment (formerly called Clifton StrengthsFinder) that reveals a reader’s top five talent themes. Spiritual enrichment begins with turning talents into strengths. Living Your Strengths is an indispensable guide to help readers to just that.]]> 246 Albert L. Winseman 1595620028 Elynor 0 3.82 2003 Living Your Strengths
author: Albert L. Winseman
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> The Wolf Hunt 62874014 Award-winning author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen returns with a timely exploration of the fault lines in a community, a school, and a family, as a mother begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a terrible crime.

Lilach has it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a successful husband and stable marriage, and a teenage son, Adam, with whom she has always felt a particular closeness. Israeli immigrants, the family has now lived in the U.S. long enough that they consider it home. But after a brutal attack on a local synagogue shakes their sense of safety, Adam enrolls in a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. There, for the first time, he finds a sense of confidence and belonging.

Then, tragedy strikes again when an African American boy dies at a house party, apparently from a drug overdose. Though he was a high school classmate, Adam claims not to know him. Yet rumors begin to circulate that the death was not accidental, and that Adam and his new friends had a history with Jamal. As more details surface and racial tensions in the community are ignited, Lilach begins to question everything she thought she knew about her son. Could her worst fears be possible? Could her quiet, reclusive child have had something to do with Jamal’s death?

Praised for “instilling emotional depth into a thriller plot� (New York Times Book Review on Waking Lions), Ayelet Gundar-Goshen once again brings together taut, page-turning suspense, superb writing, and razor-sharp insight into the fault lines of race, identity, and privilege and the dark secrets we hide from those we love most.]]> 288 Ayelet Gundar-Goshen 0316423475 Elynor 3 3.92 2021 The Wolf Hunt
author: Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/18
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]]> Curvy Girl Summer 158043903 Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Survival of the Thickest in Danielle Allen’s CURVY GIRL SUMMER, a smoking-hot, hilarious novel about the perils of online dating.

“There’s got to be an easier way than dating. I want the shortcut. I just want to find my person and start our lives together.�
After a one-night stand with her clingy ex, Aaliyah James has an this ain’t it. She knows what she wants, and she’s ready to move past casual hookups, flings, and situationships.

But for her family, the clock is ticking—after all, she’s almost thirty. And when they imply that her personality (and her body) might be too big to land a man, she lets them know they’ve gone too far—and her (nonexistent) man loves her curves, thank you very much. Now, she has seven weeks to find the perfect boyfriend to rub in their faces at the big, fancy birthday celebration she’s been planning.

After her first blind date goes wrong, charming local bartender Ahmad Williamson consoles her with a drink and some playful banter. Aaliyah takes him up on his suggestion to use a dating app—but the more she sees of his warm, funny, and easygoing nature, the less she wants to check her DMs. Will her next swipe bring her closer to true love—or is her real match closer than she thinks?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 362 Danielle Allen 1250331056 Elynor 0 4.37 2024 Curvy Girl Summer
author: Danielle Allen
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King]]> 13166586 Alegendary tale, both true and astonishing,from theauthor of Israel is Real and Sweet and Low

When Samuel Zemurray arrived in America in 1891, he was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. In between, he worked as a fruit peddler, a banana hauler, a dockside hustler, and a plantation owner. He battled and conquered the United Fruit Company, becoming a symbol of the best and worst of the United States: proof that America is the land of opportunity, but also a classic example of the corporate pirate who treats foreign nations as the backdrop for his adventures. In Latin America, when people shouted “Yankee, go home!� it was men like Zemurray they had in mind.

Rich Cohen’s brilliant historical profile The Fish That Ate the Whale unveils Zemurray as a hidden kingmaker and capitalist revolutionary, driven by an indomitable will to succeed. Known as El Amigo, the Gringo, or simply Z, the Banana Man lived one of the great untold stories of the last hundred years. Starting with nothing but a cart of freckled bananas, he built a sprawling empire of banana cowboys, mercenary soldiers, Honduran peasants, CIA agents, and American statesmen. From hustling on the docks of New Orleans to overthrowing Central American governments, from feuding with Huey Long to working with the Dulles brothers, Zemurray emerges as an unforgettable figure, connected to the birth of modern American diplomacy, public relations, business, and war—a monumental life that reads like a parable of the American dream.




ձ> 288 Rich Cohen 0374299277 Elynor 3 4.06 2012 The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King
author: Rich Cohen
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)]]> 123247704
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.]]> 852 Sarah J. Maas Elynor 0 4.40 2024 House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence]]> 24727435
In this powerful and timely book, one of the most admired and authoritative religious leaders of our time tackles the phenomenon of religious extremism and violence committed in the name of God. If religion is perceived as being part of the problem, Rabbi Sacks argues, then it must also form part of the solution. When religion becomes a zero-sum conceit—that is, my religion is the only right path to God, therefore your religion is by definition wrong—and individuals are motivated by what Rabbi Sacks calls “altruistic evil,� violence between peoples of different beliefs appears to be the only natural outcome.

But through an exploration of the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, and employing groundbreaking biblical analysis and interpretation, Rabbi Sacks shows that religiously inspired violence has as its source misreadings of biblical texts at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths. By looking anew at the book of Genesis, with its foundational stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Rabbi Sacks offers a radical rereading of many of the Bible’s seminal stories of sibling Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Rachel and Leah.

“Abraham himself,� writes Rabbi Sacks, “sought to be a blessing to others regardless of their faith. That idea, ignored for many of the intervening centuries, remains the simplest definition of Abrahamic faith. It is not our task to conquer or convert the world or enforce uniformity of belief. It is our task to be a blessing to the world. The use of religion for political ends is not righteousness but idolatry . . . To invoke God to justify violence against the innocent is not an act of sanctity but of sacrilege.� Here is an eloquent call for people of goodwill from all faiths and none to stand together, confront the religious extremism that threatens to destroy us, and Not in God’s Name.]]> 320 Jonathan Sacks 0805243348 Elynor 4 4.32 2015 Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence
author: Jonathan Sacks
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
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]]> The World to Come 92644 336 Dara Horn 0393329062 Elynor 4 3.87 2006 The World to Come
author: Dara Horn
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)]]> 57941596
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels� plans, the choice becomes stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.]]> 807 Sarah J. Maas 1635574080 Elynor 0 4.57 2022 House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Catch The Jew!: Eye-opening education - You will never look at Israel the same way again]]> 24784387
From the self-hating leftists in Tel Aviv to the self-promoting PLO execs in Ramallah, from the black-clad Haredim of Bet Shemesh to the glowing foreign human rights activists in Beit Hanina, from Jewish settlers and the Christians who come from abroad to toil with them to ardent Jerusalem monks and Bedouins in surprisingly glorious shacks, Tenenbom takes on the people of the land, getting to know them and disarming them as he breaks bread and mingles with anyone and everyone.

Does Palestinian wife number one hate the Jews more than she hates wife number two? Who finances cash-rich NGOs pursuing a Judenrein Israel? Who sets Palestinian olive groves on fire and why? What is the emotional gravity that pulls idealistic human rights activists from other countries to Israel and only to Israel? Who are the flaming feminists who sacrifice their lives for the rights of polygamists? Whose land is this, anyway?

By turns poignant, enraging, and laugh-out-loud funny, this unique travelogue lays bare the intensity of this turbulent land in an unprecedented, eye-opening education, person by person, city by city, and meal by meal. You will never look at Israel the same way again.]]> 485 Tuvia Tenenbom Elynor 0 4.43 2014 Catch The Jew!: Eye-opening education - You will never look at Israel the same way again
author: Tuvia Tenenbom
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Year One Challenge for Women: The Official Thinner Leaner Stronger Workout Journal (The Thinner Leaner Stronger Series Book 2)]]> 40378963 This program has helped thousands of women build their best bodies ever. Will YOU be next?

What if you could build that hot “Hollywood body� without having your life revolve around it?

What if you didn't have to starve yourself, put in long hours at the gym, or do grueling cardio sessions that turn your stomach?

What if you could eat all of the foods you actually like and do muscle-building workouts that you actually enjoy?

Imagine waking up every morning, looking in the mirror, and feeling downright excited by your reflection. Imagine being able to proudly wear the clothes you really want to wear and take them off with confidence.

Well, you can have all of these things, and it’s not nearly as difficult or complicated as you probably think.

The Year One Challenge for Women is a workout journal companion to the bestselling women’s fitness book Thinner Leaner Stronger, and it contains a full year's worth of workouts neatly organized so you can record, track, and review your progress toward the body you've always wanted.

With this program, you can melt away up to 35 pounds of fat—including stubborn hip, belly, and thigh fat—add lean muscle to all the right places on your body, and double or even triple your whole-body strength. And that's just year one!]]> 431 Michael Matthews 1938895401 Elynor 0 3.86 2014 The Year One Challenge for Women: The Official Thinner Leaner Stronger Workout Journal (The Thinner Leaner Stronger Series Book 2)
author: Michael Matthews
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body]]> 18814795
In this book you're going to learn something most women will never know: The exact formula of exercise and eating that makes losing 10 - 15 pounds of fat and replacing it with lean, sexy muscle a breeze..."and it only takes 8 - 12 weeks."
This book reveals things like...

-The 5 biggest fat loss myths & mistakes that keep women overweight, frustrated, and confused.

-The real science of healthy fat loss that makes losing 1 - 2 lbs of fat per week not only easy, but guaranteed.

-The HORRIBLE lies women are told about how to "tone" and "shape" their bodies, and what you REALLY need to do to have sexy, lean curves.
-How to develop a lightning-fast metabolism that burns up fat quickly and leaves you feeling full of energy all day long.

-The carefully-selected exercises that deliver MAXIMUM results for your efforts. This is how you quickly get a firm, round butt, toned legs, a flat stomach, and sculpted arms.

-A no-BS guide to supplements that will save you hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars each year that you would've wasted on products that are nothing more than bunk science and marketing hype.

-How to get lean while still indulging in the "cheat" foods that you love every week like pasta, pizza, and ice cream.

-And a whole lot more!

The bottom line is you CAN achieve that "Hollywood babe" body without having your life revolve around it-no long hours in the gym, no starving yourself, no grueling cardio that turns your stomach.

SPECIAL BONUS FOR READERS!

With this book you'll also get a free 75-page bonus report from the author called "The Year One Challenge." In this bonus report, you'll learn exactly how to exercise, eat, and supplement to make the most of your first year of training.

By applying what you learn in the book and in this report, you can make more progress in one year than most women make in three, four, or even five (seriously!).

Buy this book now and begin your journey to a thinner, leaner, and stronger you!]]> 549 Michael Matthews Elynor 0 4.00 2012 Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
author: Michael Matthews
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)]]> 44797223 #1 ​New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas launches her brand-new CRESCENT CITY series with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion—otherwise known as Crescent City—has to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city—and Bryce’s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city’s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there’s far more to Bryce than meets the eye—and that he’s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir�

With unforgettable characters and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.]]> 874 Sarah J. Maas Elynor 0 4.58 2020 House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)]]> 75513900 She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites� powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.]]> 523 Lauren Roberts Elynor 0 to-read 4.17 2023 Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)
author: Lauren Roberts
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/22
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]]> The Thirteenth Child 205181098 This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.

All gifts come with a price.

Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.

When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.

But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?

From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for� what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love?]]> 512 Erin A. Craig 0593482581 Elynor 0 to-read 4.08 2024 The Thirteenth Child
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1)]]> 123334051
ASSISTANT WANTED : Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage's employment status isn't just important, it's vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie .

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.]]> 425 Hannah Nicole Maehrer 1649375522 Elynor 3 4.19 2023 Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1)
author: Hannah Nicole Maehrer
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/19
date added: 2024/12/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Monday the Rabbi Took Off (The Rabbi Small Mysteries Book 4)]]> 25950738
David Small has spent 6 years as the rabbi of Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, and every year his job has been in crisis. In desperate need of time away, he embarks on a 3-month trip to Israel. He expects a relaxing, soul-nourishing stay, but wherever Rabbi Small goes, murder follows.

A bombing disrupts his vacation and the rabbi finds himself thrust into a world of terrorism and political discord in the divided city of Jerusalem. He teams up with an Orthodox Israeli cop to hunt down the terrorists before they can attack again. Dispensing Jewish wisdom as he employs his astute detective skills, Rabbi Small might be the only one who can crack this explosive case.
ձ> 316 Harry Kemelman 1504016076 Elynor 3 4.19 1972 Monday the Rabbi Took Off (The Rabbi Small Mysteries Book 4)
author: Harry Kemelman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
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]]> The Paradise Problem 199797582
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents � his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.]]> 352 Christina Lauren 1668017725 Elynor 4 4.07 2024 The Paradise Problem
author: Christina Lauren
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home (The Rabbi Small Mysteries Book 3)]]> 25949153
As Rabbi David Small’s 5-year contract winds down at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, some members of the congregation are plotting to remove him; others are whispering about starting a new temple of their own across the street. When the rabbi gets an invitation to perform Passover services at a local university, he’s eager to get away from the bickering and spend a few days on campus. But instead of peace and enlightenment, he finds a murder wrapped up in drug deals and racial tensions.

From tuned-out hippies to political zealots, the college is full of potential suspects. Once again it’s up to the rabbi to draw on his deductive skills to solve the case—and avoid getting sucked into the bitter culture war—before the killer strikes again.]]> 304 Harry Kemelman 1504016068 Elynor 3 4.11 1969 Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home (The Rabbi Small Mysteries Book 3)
author: Harry Kemelman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
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]]> Rachel (Rashi’s Daughters #3) 6368197
Rachel is the youngest and most beautiful daughter of medieval Jewish scholar Salomon ben Isaac, or "Rashi." Her father's favorite and adored by her new husband, Eliezer, Rachel's life looks to be one of peaceful scholarship, laughter, and love. But events beyond her control will soon threaten everything she holds dear. Marauders of the First Crusade massacre nearly the entire Jewish population of Germany, and her beloved father suffers a stroke. Eliezer wants their family to move to the safety of Spain, but Rachel is determined to stay in France and help her family save the Troyes yeshiva, the only remnant of the great centers of Jewish learning in Europe.

As she did so effectively in Joheved and Miriam , Maggie Anton vividly brings to life the world of eleventh-century France and a remarkable Jewish woman of dignity, passion, and strength.]]> 420 Maggie Anton 0452295688 Elynor 3 3.99 2009 Rachel (Rashi’s Daughters #3)
author: Maggie Anton
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
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]]> <![CDATA[How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness]]> 133804


From the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People comes an inspiring new bestseller that puts human feelings of guilt and inadequacy in perspective -- and teaches us how we can learn to accept ourselves and others even when we and they are less than perfect. How Good Do We Have to Be? is for everyone who experiences that sense of guilt and disappointment.



Harold Kushner, writing with his customary generosity and wisdom, shows us how human life is too complex for anyone to live it without making mistakes, and why we need not fear the loss of God's love when we are less than perfect. Harold Kushner begins by offering a radically new interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve, which he sees as a tale of Paradise Outgrown rather than Paradise eating from the Tree of Knowledge was not an act of disobedience, but a brave step forward toward becoming human, complete with the richness of work, sexuality and child-rearing, and a sense of our mortality.




Drawing on modern literature, psychology, theology,,and his own thirty years of experience as a congregational rabbi, Harold Kushner reveals how acceptance and forgiveness can change our relationships with the most important people in our lives and help us meet the bold and rewarding challenge of being human.]]> 192 Harold S. Kushner 0316519332 Elynor 3 4.05 1996 How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness
author: Harold S. Kushner
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History]]> 99007 688 Joseph Telushkin 0688085067 Elynor 0 4.29 1991 Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History
author: Joseph Telushkin
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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]]> Weyward 57823095 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 408 Emilia Hart Elynor 0 to-read 4.21 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/11/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)]]> 198954263 Orphans. Changelings. Princesses. Queens.
We are all and nothing now, our fate weighed on the scales of the stars and counterbalanced by the forces that oppose us. The shadow of the false king spreads as thick as oil across the kingdom we were born to rule, and none remain untouched by its darkness. Our crowns lay within reach if only we can claim them. All souls are at risk now and when the final battle dawns, a new regime will rise. The time for the true reckoning is upon us and we have proven ourselves as savage as our father, as brutal as our mother, and as wild as the Elements which roar through our veins. We can only hope it is enough. When the last sword strikes the final death in this game of fate and fortune, only one side will be victorious. The Starfall Legion charges at first light. And our destiny rides upon our shoulders as we rush into the end. All hail the True Queens. May our rule last longer than this night.

***This is a dark fantasy romance � don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride***]]> 1153 Caroline Peckham Elynor 0 to-read 4.28 2024 Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)
author: Caroline Peckham
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #3)]]> 59830943
The zombies are coming back.

And all Nona wants is a birthday party.

In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.

The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.

And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...]]> 502 Tamsyn Muir 1250854121 Elynor 0 4.30 2022 Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #3)
author: Tamsyn Muir
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2024/11/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism]]> 1562630 496 Stephen M. Wylen 080913960X Elynor 0 4.00 1989 Settings of Silver: An Introduction to Judaism
author: Stephen M. Wylen
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
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]]> On Division 43565375 Through one woman's life at a moment of surprising change, the award-winning author Goldie Goldbloom tells a deeply affecting, morally insightful story and offers a rare look inside Brooklyn's Chasidic community

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, just a block or two up from the East River on Division Avenue, Surie Eckstein is soon to be a great-grandmother. Her ten children range in age from thirteen to thirty-nine. Her in-laws, postwar immigrants from Romania, live on the first floor of their house. Her daughter Tzila Ruchel lives on the second. She and Yidel, a scribe in such demand that he makes only a few Torah scrolls a year, live on the third. Wed when Surie was sixteen, they have a happy marriage and a full life, and, at the ages of fifty-seven and sixty-two, they are looking forward to some quiet time together.

Into this life of counted blessings comes a surprise. Surie is pregnant. Pregnant at fifty-seven. It is a shock. And at her age, at this stage, it is an aberration, a shift in the proper order of things, and a public display of private life. She feels exposed, ashamed. She is unable to share the news, even with her husband. And so for the first time in her life, she has a secret--a secret that slowly separates her from the community.

Goldie Goldbloom's On Division is an excavation of one woman's life, a story of awakening at middle age, and a thoughtful examination of the dynamics of self and collective identity. It is a steady-eyed look inside insular communities that also celebrates their comforts. It is a rare portrait of a long, happy marriage. And it is an unforgettable new novel from a writer whose imagination is matched only by the depth of her humanity.]]> 288 Goldie Goldbloom 0374175314 Elynor 4 3.88 2019 On Division
author: Goldie Goldbloom
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
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]]> <![CDATA[North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail]]> 34219858
Scott Jurek is one of the world's best known and most beloved ultrarunners. Renowned for his remarkable endurance and speed, accomplished on a vegan diet, he's finished first in nearly all of ultrarunning's elite events over the course of his career. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. He embarked on a wholly unique challenge, one that would force him to grow as a person and as an breaking the speed record for the Appalachian Trail.

North is the story of the 2,189-mile journey that nearly shattered him. When he set out in the spring of 2015, Jurek anticipated punishing terrain, forbidding weather, and inevitable injuries. He would have to run nearly 50 miles a day, every day, for almost seven weeks. He knew he would be pushing himself to the limit, that comfort and rest would be in short supply -- but he couldn't have imagined the physical and emotional toll the trip would exact, nor the rewards it would offer.

With his wife, Jenny, friends, and the kindness of strangers supporting him, Jurek ran, hiked, and stumbled his way north, one white blaze at a time. A stunning narrative of perseverance and personal transformation, North is a portrait of a man stripped bare on the most demanding and transcendent effort of his life. It will inspire runners and non-runners alike to keep striving for their personal best.]]> 292 Scott Jurek 0316433799 Elynor 0 4.19 2018 North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail
author: Scott Jurek
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/22
date added: 2024/11/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice]]> 181879 288 Zalman Schachter-Shalomi 1594481806 Elynor 3 4.18 2004 Jewish With Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
author: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
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]]> PS: I Hate You 209455843
Sure, Dom was Josh’s life-long best friend. He’s also the infuriating man who broke Maddie’s heart back when she was naïve enough to give it to him. But since Dom insists on following the rules and Josh didn’t leave much room for Maddie to argue the matter, they embark together on a farewell trip that spans thousands of miles, exploring new places and revisiting their complicated history along the way.

After a snowstorm leads to a shared bed, Maddie starts to wonder if her brother might be matchmaking from the grave. But when grief also reopens old wounds between them, Maddie will need more than Josh’s ghostly guidance to trust Dom again.]]> 432 Lauren Connolly Elynor 4 4.07 2024 PS: I Hate You
author: Lauren Connolly
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad's Fake Diving Resort]]> 49004589
Providing a front for covert night-time activities, the holiday village allowed the agents to carry out an operation unlike any seen before. What began with one cryptic message pleading for help, turned into the secret evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews who had been languishing in refugee camps, and the spiriting of them to Israel.

Written in collaboration with operatives involved in the mission, endorsed as the definitive account and including an afterword from the commander who went on to become the head of the Mossad, this is the complete, never-before-heard, gripping tale of a top-secret and often hazardous operation.]]> 373 Raffi Berg 1785786016 Elynor 0 4.52 2020 Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad's Fake Diving Resort
author: Raffi Berg
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/13
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]]> The Dovekeepers 10950924
In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman's novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael's mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker's wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior's daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and an expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets - about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.]]> 504 Alice Hoffman 145161747X Elynor 4 4.05 2011 The Dovekeepers
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
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]]> Miriam (Rashi’s Daughters #2) 462284 Rashi?s Daughters, author Maggie Anton brings the Talmud and eleventh-century France to vivid life and poignantly captures the struggles and triumphs of strong Jewish women.]]> 496 Maggie Anton 0452288630 Elynor 3 4.03 2007 Miriam (Rashi’s Daughters #2)
author: Maggie Anton
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
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]]> Kantika 60741848 A dazzling Sephardic multigenerational saga that moves from Istanbul to Barcelona, Havana, and New York, exploring displacement, endurance, and family as home.

A kaleidoscopic portrait of one family’s displacement across four countries, Kantika —“song� in Ladino—follows the joys and losses of Rebecca Cohen, feisty daughter of the Sephardic elite of early 20th-century Istanbul. When the Cohens lose their wealth and are forced to move to Barcelona and start anew, Rebecca fashions a life and self from what comes her way—a failed marriage, the need to earn a living, but also passion, pleasure and motherhood. Moving from Spain to Cuba to New York for an arranged second marriage, she faces her greatest challenge—her disabled stepdaughter, Luna, whose feistiness equals her own and whose challenges pit new family against old.

Exploring identity, place and exile, Kantika also reveals how the female body—in work, art and love—serves as a site of both suffering and joy. A haunting, inspiring meditation on the tenacity of women, this lush, lyrical novel from Elizabeth Graver celebrates the insistence on seizing beauty and grabbing hold of one’s one and only life.]]> 293 Elizabeth Graver 1250869854 Elynor 0 4.24 2023 Kantika
author: Elizabeth Graver
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern]]> 203579107 It's never too late for new beginnings.

On the cusp of turning eighty, newly retired pharmacist Augusta Stern is adrift. When she relocates to Rallentando Springs—an active senior community in southern Florida—she unexpectedly crosses paths with Irving Rivkin, the delivery boy from her father’s old pharmacy—and the man who broke her heart sixty years earlier.

As a teenager growing up in 1920’s Brooklyn, Augusta’s role model was her father, Solomon Stern, the trusted owner of the local pharmacy and the neighborhood expert on every ailment. But when Augusta’s mother dies and Great Aunt Esther moves in, Augusta can’t help but be drawn to Esther’s curious methods. As a healer herself, Esther offers Solomon’s customers her own advice—unconventional remedies ranging from homemade chicken soup to a mysterious array of powders and potions.

As Augusta prepares for pharmacy college, she is torn between loyalty to her father and fascination with her great aunt, all while navigating a budding but complicated relationship with Irving. Desperate for clarity, she impulsively uses Esther’s most potent elixir with disastrous consequences. Disillusioned and alone, Augusta vows to reject Esther’s enchantments forever.

Sixty years later, confronted with Irving, Augusta is still haunted by the mistakes of her past. What happened all those years ago and how did her plan go so spectacularly wrong? Did Irving ever truly love her or was he simply playing a part? And can Augusta reclaim the magic of her youth before it’s too late?]]> 320 Lynda Cohen Loigman 1250278104 Elynor 3 4.07 2024 The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 57312022 A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 393 T.J. Klune Elynor 0 4.46 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
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]]> The Teller of Small Fortunes 207611551 A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.

Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences�

Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.

Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.]]> 336 Julie Leong 0593815912 Elynor 0 to-read 3.82 2024 The Teller of Small Fortunes
author: Julie Leong
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Road of Bones (The Ashen, #1)]]> 205044632 A woman on the run. A crew of Viking mercenaries. A forbidden romance. And the secret which threatens them all.

Silla Nordvig is running for her life.

The queen of Íseldur has sent warriors to bring Silla to Sunnavík, where death awaits her. When her father is killed, his last words set Silla on a perilous quest: travel the treacherous Road of Bones–a thousand-mile stretch haunted by warbands, creatures of darkness, and a mysterious murderer–and go to Kopa, where a shield-house awaits her.

After barely surviving the first stretch of road, a desperate Silla sneaks into a supply wagon belonging to the notorious Bloodaxe Crew. To make it to Kopa, she must win over Axe Eyes, the brooding leader of the Crew, while avoiding the Wolf, his distractingly handsome right-hand man. But the queen’s ruthless assassin has other plans and hunts Silla obsessively.

Will Silla make it safely to Kopa? Or will she fall prey to the perils of the Road of Bones?

Featuring an immersive world blending fairy tale with Vikings, The Road of Bones leads you on an adrenaline-fueled chase with fun banter and a slow-building enemies to lovers romance. The first book in the Ashen Series, you are one click away from reading it!]]> 500 Demi Winters 173899600X Elynor 0 to-read 4.21 2023 The Road of Bones (The Ashen, #1)
author: Demi Winters
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times]]> 50623466
With liberal democracy embattled, public discourse grown toxic, family life breaking down, and drug abuse and depression on the rise, many fear what the future holds.

In Morality , respected faith leader and public intellectual Jonathan Sacks traces today's crisis to our loss of a strong, shared moral code and our elevation of self-interest over the common good. We have outsourced morality to the market and the state, but neither is capable of showing us how to live. Sacks leads readers from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment to the present day to show that there is no liberty without morality and no freedom without responsibility, arguing that we all must play our part in rebuilding a common moral foundation.

A major work of moral philosophy, Morality is an inspiring vision of a world in which we can all find our place and face the future without fear.]]> 384 Jonathan Sacks 1541675312 Elynor 0 to-read 4.32 2019 Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times
author: Jonathan Sacks
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)]]> 59808792 All stars must fall.

Bloody, lost, broken. We live to fight another day. But with so much stolen from us, can the fates ever twist in our favour again?

My sister and I have been torn apart by shadows and despair, and now we each stand alone.

Our sorrow is spun like a web, trapping us tight, and I fear our enemies will soon come to feast upon our souls.

But if I have my way, the merciless sky will have dealt us its final fortune. It’s time for us to take back the power that’s been ripped from our grasp and turn the tide of this war.

All stars must fall, and all Phoenixes must rise.

Long live the Savage Queens.

*This will now be book 8 of 9 in the series*

***This is a dark, bully romance � don’t go expecting a sweet school for magic with friends around every corner. Fae fight for everything they own and Zodiac Academy is a cutthroat school for students aged 18+ where only the strongest prevail. There’s no Dumbledore here to save anyone’s ass and Lionel Acrux will give Voldemort a run for his money in the evil dictator category. So hold onto your stardust (broomsticks not required) and get ready for a bumpy ride***]]> 1242 Caroline Peckham Elynor 0 4.03 2022 Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8)
author: Caroline Peckham
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
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]]> <![CDATA[In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (incl. “The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard�)]]> 209350771 National Jewish Book Award A “sophisticated and engaging� novel of three innocents drawn into a criminal scheme in modern-day Jerusalem (The Wall Street Journal).

Brokenhearted haberdasher Isaac Markowitz has fled the Lower East Side for Israel, where he now assists a renowned elderly rabbi who tends to the hungry and hopeless in his courtyard. Tamar is an American hipster-turned-observant Jew who has come to Jerusalem to find a devout man to spend her life with. And Mustafa, a devoted Muslim, works as a janitor at the Temple Mount, also known as al-Aqsa, a site holy to both faiths.

After Mustafa finds a shard of pottery that may date back to the ancient era of the First Temple, he brings it to Isaac. But this simple act of friendship will lead Isaac into Israel’s criminal underworld, put Mustafa in lethal danger, and send Tamar on a quest to save them both...

This edition also includes “The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard,� a short-story sequel to In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist.

“How do people get along when they have been taught they can’t?... [A] lively, witty, and entertaining novel... hard to put down.� —Alice Elliott Dark, author of Fellowship Point and In The Gloaming

“Beautifully detailed and vivid... a delicate balance of courtship tale and thriller.� �Dallas Morning News

“Confused about the background of the Gaza conflict? This vibrant evocation of modern Jerusalem may shed some light.� �Daily Mail

“A story that is spiritually generous and astutely realistic about an Arab-Israeli and an Israeli-Jew, who may be the most unlikely pair of friends we’ve seen in current fiction.� �The Brooklyn Rail

“The best novel I’ve read all year.� �The Wall Street Journal]]> 350 Ruchama King Feuerman 150409414X Elynor 0 to-read 4.67 2013 In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (incl. “The Rebbetzin’s Courtyard”)
author: Ruchama King Feuerman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Living a Life That Matters: Resolving the Conflict between Conscience and Success]]> 51688
For decades now, from the pulpit and through his writing, Harold Kushner has been helping people navigate the rough patches of life: loss, guilt, crises of faith. Now, in this compelling new work, he ad-dresses an equally important issue: our craving for significance, the need to know that our lives and our choices mean something.
We sometimes do great things, and sometimes terrible things, to reassure ourselves that we matter to the world. We sometimes confuse fame, power, and wealth with true achievement. But finally we need to think of ourselves as good people, and we are troubled when we compromise our integrity in the pursuit of what we think of as success.

Harold Kushner tells us that the path to a truly successful and significant life is through friendship, through family, and through acts of generosity and self-sacrifice. He describes how, in affecting the life
of even one person in a positive way, we make a difference in the world, and prove that we do in fact matter.
Persuasive and sympathetic, anecdotal and commonsensical, Living a Life That Matters inspires and uplifts.]]> 176 Harold S. Kushner 0375410635 Elynor 0 4.07 2001 Living a Life That Matters: Resolving the Conflict between Conscience and Success
author: Harold S. Kushner
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Heartless Sky (Zodiac Academy, #7)]]> 56474282
On the run and cast out from society, we’ve been forced to hide from the mad man who stole our throne. But as more secrets come to light and my sister and I work harder than ever before to reach our potential and claim our birth right, the end is finally drawing closer.

There is no turning from this path now. The curse chases on our heels as time rushes by and the blood drenched destiny of the man I love looms ever closer just like the monster who stole our throne.

We must prepare for the final battle, but three things are clear now.

The cards have already been dealt.

Blood will spill for a new future to rise.

And the stars themselves can’t help us.

The fight for the throne is upon us. All hail the heartless sky.]]> 991 Caroline Peckham Elynor 0 4.20 2021 Heartless Sky (Zodiac Academy, #7)
author: Caroline Peckham
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2)]]> 8330281 Winner of the Nero Wolfe Award

It is 1921 and Mary Russell--Sherlock Holmes's brilliant apprentice, now an Oxford graduate with a degree in theology--is on the verge of acquiring a sizable inheritance. Independent at last, with a passion for divinity and detective work, her most baffling mystery may now involve Holmes and the burgeoning of a deeper affection between herself and the retired detective.
Russell's attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, Margery Childe, a charismatic suffragette and a mystic, whose draw on the young theology scholar is irresistible. But when four bluestockings from the Temple turn up dead shortly after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot? Holmes and Russell investigate, as their partnership takes a surprising turn in A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King.

]]> 303 Laurie R. King Elynor 0 to-read 4.26 1995 A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2)
author: Laurie R. King
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2)]]> 53086262 Harrow the Ninth, the sequel to the sensational, USA today best-selling novel Gideon the Ninth, turns a galaxy inside out as one necromancer struggles to survive the wreckage of herself aboard the Emperor's haunted space station.

She answered the Emperor's call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman's shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath � but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her.

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor's Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 512 Tamsyn Muir Elynor 0 4.28 2020 Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2)
author: Tamsyn Muir
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
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]]> The Perfect Fit 125310117
One wannabe writer from Brooklyn.
Three insanely hot billionaires.
One very indecent proposal.

West Archer, Ezekiel Cavanagh, and Xander King. AKA The Unholy Trinity. Ruthless. Ambitious. Intimidating.
With dark tastes and even darker desires, they’ve been searching for the perfect woman to fit into their unique lifestyle for over a decade. But despite their best efforts, none have made it past three months. Believing they’re destined to never find the one, they swear to stop looking.

Until they meet Lily.

There’s something about Lily Sloane, something that captivates all three of them. For the first time ever, it seems like they may have truly found the perfect fit. But as we all know, there is such a thing as too good to be true.

Lily Sloane isn’t the penniless girl from Brooklyn they think she is. And with a past full of secrets and lies that she’s trying to escape, the unholy trinity might have bitten off more than they can chew. When trust is broken, is there any way back?

The Perfect Fit is a dark why-choose MMFM romance with lots of angst, emotion, betrayal, and enough heat to melt your kindle. This book contains grumpy/sunshine, sword crossing, an epic grovel, and a HEA.
Content warnings include: CNC, knife play, blood play, primal play.]]> 420 Sadie Kincaid 1915663334 Elynor 0 4.09 2023 The Perfect Fit
author: Sadie Kincaid
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

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

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

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Elynor 4 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Letter of Mary (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #3)]]> 19734793 354 Laurie R. King Elynor 0 to-read 4.23 1996 A Letter of Mary (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #3)
author: Laurie R. King
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)]]> 55710230
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.]]> 479 Tamsyn Muir Elynor 0 4.26 2019 Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)
author: Tamsyn Muir
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1) 209813409 Welcome to Phantasma.

There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.

When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize�a single wish.

Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Every day the house creates new monsters. But just as Ophelia’s fears threaten to overwhelm her, a mysterious stranger offers her a bargain.

Charming, arrogant and infuriatingly attractive, Blackwell claims he can guide her through the lethal trials ahead. All he asks in return is ten years of her life.

Ophelia knows she shouldn’t trust him. Blackwell doesn’t seem dangerous, but appearances can be deceptive. Worse still, she feels a dark and irresistible attraction drawing them closer and closer.

Her life is on the line. But in Phantasma, the only thing deadlier than losing the game is losing your heart�

A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Caraval in this seductive fantasy adventure. With steamy romance, a sexy morally gray love interest, OCD rep and jaw-dropping twists, Phantasma is perfect for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Nisha J. Tuli and Carissa Broadbent.]]> 428 Kaylie Smith 1835251412 Elynor 0 4.15 2024 Phantasma (Wicked Games, #1)
author: Kaylie Smith
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/13
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[At Home: A Short History of Private Life]]> 7507825
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.� The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.
(front flap)]]> 497 Bill Bryson 0767919386 Elynor 4 3.98 2010 At Home: A Short History of Private Life
author: Bill Bryson
name: Elynor
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China]]> 48890489 384 Jonathan Kaufman 0735224412 Elynor 3 4.21 2020 The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China
author: Jonathan Kaufman
name: Elynor
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/15
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves:
review:

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