jess's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 09 May 2020 00:55:00 -0700 60 jess's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Catch-22 4610 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

With a new preface by the author

Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel's strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller's classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage.

Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller's bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it.]]> 570 Joseph Heller 0099477319 jess 2 3.97 1961 Catch-22
author: Joseph Heller
name: jess
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1961
rating: 2
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date added: 2020/05/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 72193
]]> 223 J.K. Rowling jess 4 4.45 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/09/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)]]> 5552635
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life—sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition—its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.]]> 286 Elizabeth Strout 0812971833 jess 4 3.75 2008 Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: jess
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2009/11/13
date added: 2016/02/20
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling jess 4 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/04/28
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)]]> 13496
Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.]]> 835 George R.R. Martin 0553588486 jess 0 4.44 1996 A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: jess
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/01/06
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]]> <![CDATA[This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage]]> 17349222 State of Wonder, Run,Ěý˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚýBel Canto, examines her deepest commitments â€� to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband â€� creating a resonant portrait of a life in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage takes us into the very real world of Ann Patchett’s life. Stretching from her childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one, it covers a multitude of topics, including relationships with family and friends, and charts the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore.

As she shares stories of the people, places, ideals, and art to which she has remained indelibly committed, Ann Patchett brings into focus the large experiences and small moments that have shaped her as a daughter, wife, and writer.]]> 308 Ann Patchett 0062236679 jess 0 currently-reading 4.00 2013 This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
author: Ann Patchett
name: jess
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/01/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)]]> 11129 Librarian Note: An alternate cover for this edition can be found here: 2005.

Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battle between good and evil - what more could any reader ask for in one book? The book that has it all is THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, written in 1919 by C.S. Lewis. But Lewis did not stop there. Six more books followed and together they became known as The Chronicles of Narnia.

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

This edition presents all seven books - unabridged - in one impressive volume. The books are presented here according to Lewis's preferred order, each chapter graced with an illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes. This edition also contains C. S. Lewis's essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," in which he explains precisely how the magic of Narnia and the realm of fantasy appeal not only to children but to discerning readers of all ages. Deceptively simple and direct, The Chronicles of Narnia continue to captivate fans with adventures, characters, and truths that speak to all readers, even fifty years after the books were first published.]]> 778 C.S. Lewis 0060598247 jess 5 4.32 1956 The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: jess
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1956
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/12/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War]]> 865936
A raucous mix of storytelling and political commentary, Deer Hunting with Jesus is Bageant's report on what he learned by coming home. He writes of his childhood friends who work at factory jobs that are constantly on the verge of being outsourced; the mortgage and credit card rackets that saddle the working poor with debt, i.e., white trashonomics; the ubiquitous gun culture”and why the left doesn't get it; Scots Irish culture and how it played out in the young life of Lynddie England; and the blinkered magical thinking of the Christian right. (Bageant's brother is a Baptist pastor who casts out demons.) What it adds up to, he asserts, is an unacknowledged class war. By turns brutal, tender, incendiary, and seriously funny, this book is a call to arms for fellow progressives with little real understanding of the great beery, NASCAR-loving, church-going, gun-owning America that has never set foot in a Starbucks.

Deer Hunting with Jesus is a potent antidote to what Bageant dubs the "American hologram" the televised, corporatized virtual reality that distracts us from the insidious realities of American life.]]> 288 Joe Bageant 030733936X jess 2 to-read 3.83 2007 Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War
author: Joe Bageant
name: jess
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2012/11/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously]]> 13746
Nearing 30 and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell reclaims her life by cooking every single recipe in Julia Child's legendary Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the span of one year. It's a hysterical, inconceivable redemptive journey -- life rediscovered through aspics, calves' brains and cré me brûlée.]]> 307 Julie Powell 0316013269 jess 1 3.32 2005 Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously
author: Julie Powell
name: jess
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2011/10/26
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]]> An Edible History of Humanity 6306969 An Edible History of Humanity is a pithy, entertaining account of how a series of changes—caused, enabled, or influenced by food—has helped to shape and transform societies around the world.

The first civilizations were built on barley and wheat in the Near East, millet and rice in Asia, and corn and potatoes in the Americas. Why farming created a strictly ordered social hierarchy in contrast to the loose egalitarianism of hunter-gatherers is, as Tom Standage reveals, as interesting as the details of the complex cultures that emerged, eventually interconnected by commerce. Trade in exotic spices in particular spawned the age of exploration and the colonization of the New World.

Food's influence over the course of history has been just as prevalent in modern times. In the late eighteenth century, Britain's solution to food shortages was to industrialize and import food rather than grow it. Food helped to determine the outcome of wars: Napoleon's rise and fall was intimately connected with his ability to feed his vast armies. In the twentieth century, Communist leaders employed food as an ideological weapon, resulting in the death by starvation of millions in the Soviet Union and China. And today the foods we choose in the supermarket connect us to global debates about trade, development, the environment, and the adoption of new technologies.

Encompassing many fields, from genetics and archaeology to anthropology and economics—and invoking food as a special form of technology�An Edible History of Humanity is a fully satisfying discourse on the sweep of human history.]]> 269 Tom Standage 0802715885 jess 0 to-read 3.74 2010 An Edible History of Humanity
author: Tom Standage
name: jess
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2010/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling jess 4 4.61 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 213 Stephen Chbosky jess 5 4.24 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: jess
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children]]> 6496815
NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  They argue that when it comes to children, we've mistaken good intentions for good ideas.  With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring--because key twists in the science have been overlooked.

Nothing like a parenting manual, the authors' work is an insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children's (and adults') lives.]]> 336 Po Bronson 0446504122 jess 5 4.01 2008 NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
author: Po Bronson
name: jess
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year]]> 12540 Crooked Little Heart) is a single mother and ex-alcoholic with a pleasingly warped social circle and a remarkably tolerant religion to lean on. She responds to the changes, exhaustion, and love Sam brings with aplomb or outright insanity. The book rocks from hilarious to unbearably poignant when Sam's burgeoning life is played out against a very close friend's illness. No saccharine paean to becoming a parent, this touches on the rage and befuddlement that dog sweeter emotions during this sea change in one's life.]]> 251 Anne Lamott 1400079098 jess 3 4.18 1993 Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
author: Anne Lamott
name: jess
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1993
rating: 3
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date added: 2010/01/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America]]> 1869
Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.

Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.]]> 240 Barbara Ehrenreich 0805063897 jess 4 3.65 2001 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
author: Barbara Ehrenreich
name: jess
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita]]> 4222360 An irreverent and captivating memoir about the unexpected joys and glaring indignities of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood - from the beloved creator of the most popular personal blog on the web, dooce.com
Heather Armstrong gave up a lot of things when she and her husband, Jon, decided to have a baby: beer, small boobs, free time -- and antidepressants. The eighteen months that followed were filled with anxiety, constipation, nacho cheese Doritos, and an unconditional love that threatened to make her heart explode. Still, as baby Leta grew and her husband, Jon, returned to work, Heather faced lonely days, sleepless nights, and endless screaming that sometimes made her wish she'd never become a mother. Just as she was poised to throw another gallon of milk at her husband's head, she committed herself for a short stay in a mental hospital -- the best decision she ever made for her family.
To the dedicated millions who can't get enough of Heather's unforgettably unique style and hilarious stories on her hugely popular blog, there's little she won't share about her daily life as a recovering Mormon, liberal daughter of Republicans, wife of a charming geek, lover of television that exceeds at being really awful, and stay-at-home mom to five-year-old Leta and two willful dogs.
In It Sucked and Then I Cried, Heather tells, with trademark wit, the heartfelt, unrelentingly honest story of her battle with postpartum depression and all the other minor details of pregnancy and motherhood that no one cares to mention. Like how boring it can be to care for someone whose primary means of communication is through her bowels. And how long it can possibly take to reconvene the procedure that got you into this whole parenthood mess in the first place. And how you sometimes think you can't possibly go five more minutes without breathing in that utterly irresistible and totally redeemable fresh baby smell.
It Sucked and Then I Cried is a brave cautionary tale about crossing over that invisible line to the other side (the parenting side), where everything changes and it only gets worse. But most of all, it's a celebration of a love so big it can break your heart into a million pieces.]]> 272 Heather B. Armstrong 1416936017 jess 3 3.48 2009 It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita
author: Heather B. Armstrong
name: jess
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2009/11/06
date added: 2009/11/16
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]]> Ina May's Guide to Childbirth 32127
Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

� Reducing the pain of labor without drugs—and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
� What really happens during labor
� Orgasmic birth—making birth pleasurable
� Episiotomy—is it really necessary?
� Common methods of inducing labor—and which to avoid at all costs
� Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
� How to avoid postpartum bleeding—and depression
� The risks of anesthesia and cesareans—what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
� The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
� How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
� And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention.]]> 348 Ina May Gaskin 0553381156 jess 4 4.36 2003 Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
author: Ina May Gaskin
name: jess
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2009/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself]]> 2695150
With Opting In, Amy Richards addresses the anxiety over parenting that women face today in a book that mixes memoir, interviews, historical analysis, and feminist insight. In her refreshingly direct and thoughtful approach, Richards covers everything from the truth about our biological clocks and the trends toward extending fertility, to parenting with nature and nurturing in mind, to our relationship with our own mothers, to what feminism's relationship to motherhood is and always has been. Speaking from the vantage point of someone who is both a parent and one of our leading feminist activists, Richards cuts through the cacophony of voices intent on telling women the "appropriate" way to be a mother and reveals instead how to confidently forge your own path while staying true to yourself and your ideals.]]> 316 Amy Richards 0374226725 jess 3 3.06 2008 Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself
author: Amy Richards
name: jess
average rating: 3.06
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2009/10/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It]]> 2547969
-Girls don't choose boys; boys choose girls--but only sexy girls.
-There's only one kind of sexy: slender, curvy, white beauty.
-Girls should work to be that type of sexy.
-The younger a girl is, the sexier she is.
-Sexual violence can be hot.

Together, these five myths make up the Lolita Effect, the mass media trends that work to undermine girls' self-confidence, that condone female objectification, and that tacitly foster sex crimes. But identifying these myths and breaking them down can help girls learn to recognize progressive and healthy sexuality and protect themselves from degrading media ideas and sexual vulnerability. In The Lolita Effect, Dr. M. Gigi Durham offers breakthrough strategies for empowering girls to make healthy decisions about their own sexuality.]]> 286 Meenakshi Gigi Durham 1590200632 jess 3 3.65 2008 The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It
author: Meenakshi Gigi Durham
name: jess
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2009/10/24
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]]> Not So Big House 10420 208 Sarah Susanka 1561583766 jess 4 4.05 1998 Not So Big House
author: Sarah Susanka
name: jess
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2007/11/08
date added: 2007/09/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure]]> 139964
Week by week, Apartment Therapy will guide you to treat common problems, eliminate clutter, and revamp even the tiniest space. Here is an eight-step process that

� A therapeutic questionnaire to help you get in touch with your personal taste and diagnose your home’s physical, emotional, and energy flow issues
� A prescription with recommendations for each room based on your needs and lifestyle–including tips on how to use color, lighting, and accessories
� A treatment plan, including regular maintenance schedules to ensure the ongoing health of your space
� Illustrations of floor plans and decorative examples that allow you to visualize concepts before you begin

With surprising ease and without elaborate professional help, Apartment Therapy will help you clear a path through disorder and indecision–to reveal a home you’ll love.]]> 288 Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan 0553383124 jess 5 3.78 2006 Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure
author: Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
name: jess
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2007/11/08
date added: 2007/09/20
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]]> Emma 6969 The newest edition is here. Another alternate cover can be found here.

Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.]]> 474 Jane Austen 0141439580 jess 4 4.05 1815 Emma
author: Jane Austen
name: jess
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1815
rating: 4
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date added: 2007/09/18
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]]> Middlesex 2187 Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.]]> 529 Jeffrey Eugenides 0312422156 jess 2 4.03 2002 Middlesex
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: jess
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2007/09/18
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Population, Evolution and Birth Control: A College of Controversial Ideas]]> 760874 402 Garrett Hardin 0716706709 jess 2 4.00 1969 Population, Evolution and Birth Control: A College of Controversial Ideas
author: Garrett Hardin
name: jess
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1969
rating: 2
read at: 2007/11/08
date added: 2007/09/18
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time]]> 49436 349 Greg Mortenson 0143038257 jess 2 3.66 2006 Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time
author: Greg Mortenson
name: jess
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2007/11/08
date added: 2007/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3)]]> 4256 320 J.K. Rowling 074757362X jess 4 4.39 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 15881
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects� Harry Potter himself!]]> 352 J.K. Rowling jess 4 4.42 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
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review:

]]> Breakfast of Champions 4980 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.]]> 303 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334206 jess 4 4.08 1973 Breakfast of Champions
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: jess
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)]]> 901
Once Again, Earth is under attack. An alien species is poised for a front assault. The survival of humanity depends on a military genius who can defeat the aliens.

But who?

Ender Wiggin. Brilliant. Ruthless. Cunning. A tactical and strategic master. And a child.

Recruited for military training by the world government, Ender's childhood ends the moment he enters his new home: Battle School. Among the elite recruits Ender proves himself to be a genius among geniuses. In simulated war games he excels. But is the pressure and loneliness taking its toll on Ender? Simulations are one thing. How will Ender perform in real combat conditions? After all, Battle School is just a game.

Right? (back cover)

]]> 324 Orson Scott Card jess 4 4.21 1985 Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: jess
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 jess 3 3.89 2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
author: Mark Haddon
name: jess
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 4
And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone, or something, starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects: Harry Potter himself?]]> 352 J.K. Rowling 0439554896 jess 4 4.05 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Memoirs of a Geisha 930
In "Memoirs of a Geisha," we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.]]> 434 Arthur Golden 0739326228 jess 4 4.07 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha
author: Arthur Golden
name: jess
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 5 435 J.K. Rowling 043965548X jess 4 4.57 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Animal Farm 7613
The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals � inspired by his philosophy of Animalism � plot a rebellion against Jones.

Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall...]]> 129 George Orwell jess 1 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: jess
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 1
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 jess 4 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 4
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]]> The Pilots Wife 22177 293 Anita Shreve 0316163201 jess 2 3.36 1998 The Pilots Wife
author: Anita Shreve
name: jess
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1998
rating: 2
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]]> <![CDATA[A Prayer for Owen Meany (Modern Library)]]> 4472
A Prayer for Owen Meany was first published in 1989. This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.]]> 641 John Irving 0679642595 jess 1 4.21 1989 A Prayer for Owen Meany (Modern Library)
author: John Irving
name: jess
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1989
rating: 1
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]]> Life of Pi 4214 460 Yann Martel 0770430074 jess 3 3.94 2001 Life of Pi
author: Yann Martel
name: jess
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 jess 3 4.01 2005 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
author: Steven D. Levitt
name: jess
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 3
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]]> Everything Is Illuminated 4584 276 Jonathan Safran Foer 0141008253 jess 1 3.79 2002 Everything Is Illuminated
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: jess
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2002
rating: 1
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]]> A Confederacy of Dunces 4422
Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.

Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo; the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted; gay blade Dorian Greene; sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub; and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life. --Alix Wilber--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Library Journal

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with the sad history turns 20 (LJ 4/15/80). This story about a young man's isolation still rings true at a time when millions interact more with computers than with other people. This anniversary edition contains a new introduction by Andrei Codrescu.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.]]> 338 John Kennedy Toole jess 1 3.83 1980 A Confederacy of Dunces
author: John Kennedy Toole
name: jess
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1980
rating: 1
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)]]> 2
Harry has had enough. He is beginning to think he must do something, anything, to change his situation, when the summer holidays come to an end in a very dramatic fashion. What Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down...]]> 912 J.K. Rowling jess 4 4.50 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell jess 3 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: jess
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 3
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]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 jess 4 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: jess
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
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]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. jess 4 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: jess
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 4
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]]> Middlesex 27500 Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.]]> 529 Jeffrey Eugenides 0965045641 jess 1 3.98 2002 Middlesex
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: jess
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2002
rating: 1
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]]> <![CDATA[Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close]]> 4588
The key belonged to his father, he's sure of that. But which of New York's 162 million locks does it open?

So begins a quest that takes Oskar - inventor, letter-writer and amateur detective - across New York's five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives, and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or further from, his lost father?]]> 326 Jonathan Safran Foer 0618711651 jess 3 3.98 2005 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: jess
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2005
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal]]> 1097
Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from California's subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many fast food's flavors are concocted. Along the way, he unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate.
(back cover)]]> 383 Eric Schlosser 0060838582 jess 3 3.75 2001 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
author: Eric Schlosser
name: jess
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2001
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 6 734 J.K. Rowling 0439139597 jess 4 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: jess
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 jess 2 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: jess
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 2
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]]> <![CDATA[Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes]]> 54961
Hoboes fascinated Conover, but he had only encountered them in literature and folksongs. So, he decided to take a year off and ride the rails. Equipped with rummage-store clothing, a bedroll, and a few other belongings, he hops a freight train in St. Louis, becoming a tramp in order to discover their peculiar culture. The men and women he meets along the way are by turns generous and mistrusting, resourceful and desperate, philosophical and profoundly cynical. And the narrative he creates of his travels with them is unforgettable and moving.]]> 304 Ted Conover 0375727868 jess 3 4.06 1984 Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes
author: Ted Conover
name: jess
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1984
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag]]> 69951
Amid escalating nuclear tensions, Kim Jong-un and North Korea's other leaders have kept a tight grasp on their one-party state, quashing any nascent opposition movements and sending all suspected dissidents to its brutal concentration camps for "re-education."

Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of one of these camps to escape and tell his story to the world, documenting the extreme conditions in these gulags and providing a personal insight into life in North Korea. Sent to the notorious labor camp Yodok when he was nine years old, Kang observed frequent public executions and endured forced labor and near-starvation rations for ten years. In 1992, he escaped to South Korea, where he found God and now advocates for human rights in North Korea.

Part horror story, part historical document, part memoir, part political tract, this book brings together unassailable firsthand experience, setting one young man's personal suffering in the wider context of modern history, giving eyewitness proof to the abuses perpetrated by the North Korean regime.]]> 238 Kang Chol-Hwan 0465011047 jess 4 4.10 2000 The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
author: Kang Chol-Hwan
name: jess
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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date added: 2007/02/11
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]]>