Brittany's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 14 Apr 2025 20:34:04 -0700 60 Brittany's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Every Summer After 58014893
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.]]> 320 Carley Fortune 0593438531 Brittany 0 to-read 4.17 2022 Every Summer After
author: Carley Fortune
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett]]> 50358079 It's never too late to start living.

Infused with the emotional power ofMe Before Youand the irresistible charm ofEleanor Oliphant Is Completely FineԻBe Frank with Me, a moving and joyous novel about an elderly woman ready to embrace death and the little girl who reminds her what it means to live.

Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world—all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At eighty-five, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion.

Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of color and sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order. Instead, she finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with the irrepressible Rose and their affable neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley—afternoon tea, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, birthday celebrations, pizza parties.

While the trio of unlikely BFFs grow closer and anxiously await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is reminded of her own childhood—of losing her father during World War II and the devastating impact it had on her entire family. In reflecting on her past, Eudora realizes she must come to terms with what lies ahead.

But now that her joy for life has been rekindled, how can she possibly say goodbye?]]> 372 Annie Lyons 0063026066 Brittany 0 to-read 4.26 2020 The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett
author: Annie Lyons
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 36337550
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.

Understood? Then let's begin . . .

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .

The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.]]> 432 Stuart Turton Brittany 0 to-read 3.78 2018 The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Love, Theoretically 61326735
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?]]> 389 Ali Hazelwood 1408725797 Brittany 0 to-read 4.07 2023 Love, Theoretically
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Heard It in a Love Song 56347594 From the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances.

Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there's Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he's still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?]]> 296 Tracey Garvis Graves 1250235707 Brittany 0 to-read 3.72 2021 Heard It in a Love Song
author: Tracey Garvis Graves
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Stitch an American Dream: A Story of Family, Faith and the Power of Giving]]> 57468125 240 Jenny Louise Doan 0785253033 Brittany 0 to-read 4.41 How to Stitch an American Dream: A Story of Family, Faith and the Power of Giving
author: Jenny Louise Doan
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.41
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]]> <![CDATA[Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth]]> 43822067 *Finalist for the Kirkus Prize*
*Instant New York Times Bestseller*
* Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, New York Post , BuzzFeed , Shelf Awareness , Bustle , and Publishers Weekly *

An essential read for our an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country and “a deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight�.*

Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm thirty miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland.

During Sarah’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her; untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgement, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country.

Beautifully written, in a distinctive voice, Heartland combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, challenging the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less.

� Heartland is one of a growing number of important works—including Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Amy Goldstein’s Janesville —that together merit their own section in nonfiction aisles across the America’s postindustrial decline...Smarsh shows how the false promise of the ‘American dream� was used to subjugate the poor. It’s a powerful mantra� *( The New York Times Book Review) .]]> 290 Sarah Smarsh 1501133101 Brittany 0 to-read 3.73 2018 Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
author: Sarah Smarsh
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Tom Lake 63241104 In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> 309 Ann Patchett 006332752X Brittany 0 to-read 3.92 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> The Hotel Nantucket 59227941
Filled with the emotional tension and multiple points of view that characterize Elin's books (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages.]]> 416 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258679 Brittany 0 currently-reading 4.01 2022 The Hotel Nantucket
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
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]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 Brittany 0 currently-reading 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Brittany 0 to-read 4.17 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Real Moms...Real Jesus: Meet the Friend Who Understands]]> 6177625
What does Jesus know about the everyday life of a mom? Plenty! Jill Savage, founder and director of Hearts at Home, introduces the real Jesus to real moms. Through chapters that examine key behaviors and decisions Jesus made during His life on earth, Jill brings those lessons right down to the tiring, laundry-filled, sticky-fingered days every mother knows.

Between the chapters are interactive vignettes that provide brief, refreshing glimpses into real, messy, busy lives. In Real Moms . . . Real Jesus , Jill continually reminds the reader that Jesus is not an unattainable deity, but a Friend who truly understands. A Leader's Guide is available for mom's or small group study.]]> 240 Jill Savage 0802483615 Brittany 0 motherhood, to-read 4.17 2009 Real Moms...Real Jesus: Meet the Friend Who Understands
author: Jill Savage
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: motherhood, to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[In the Middle of the Mess: Strength for This Beautiful, Broken Life]]> 34460590 How do you turn your struggles into strengths? Beloved Bible teacher Sheila Walsh teaches readers how the daily spiritual practices of confession, meditation on God’s Word, and prayer result in fresh freedom in Christ.

In her long-awaited new book, Sheila Walsh equips women with a practical method for connecting with God’s strength in the midst of struggle. From daily frustrations that can feel like overwhelming obstacles to hard challenges that turn into rock-bottom crises, women will find the means to equip themselves for standing strong with God. Using the spiritual applications of confession, prayer, and meditation on Scripture to form a daily connection to Jesus, women will learn how to experience new joy as a child of God who is fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted.

In In the Middle of the Mess, Walsh reveals the hardened defenses that kept her from allowing God into her deepest hurts and shares how entering into a safe place with God and practicing this daily connection with him have saved her from the devil’s prowling attacks. Though we will never be completely “fixed� on earth, we are continually held by Jesus, whatever our circumstances.]]> 169 Sheila Walsh 1400204917 Brittany 0 motherhood, to-read 4.37 In the Middle of the Mess: Strength for This Beautiful, Broken Life
author: Sheila Walsh
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: motherhood, to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[We Saved You a Seat - Leader Kit: Finding and Keeping Lasting Friendships]]> 37640469
But we do want a seat at the table. We yearn for authentic relationships and the opportunity to be the opposite of “fine� with people who cheer for us. But comparison, envy, and entitlement often stop us from pulling out a chair at the table. Friendship can be hard, making new friends even harder, and maintaining genuine friendship the hardest of all.

In this 7-session Bible study, Lisa-Jo Baker and friends from (in)courage explore our relationship with Jesus as the ultimate model for authentic friendship. Nothing shapes us like the impact of a friend—it’s how Jesus radically and intimately connects with us. So instead of chasing perfection, overcome your fear of being known and find the courage to connect.

Leader Kit

Video ]]> 0 Lisa-Jo Baker 1430063181 Brittany 0 3.85 We Saved You a Seat - Leader Kit: Finding and Keeping Lasting Friendships
author: Lisa-Jo Baker
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: motherhood, christian-living, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds]]> 19353107 160 Jen Wilkin 1433541769 Brittany 0 4.50 2014 Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds
author: Jen Wilkin
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: christian-living, motherhood, to-read
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]]> Bright Side (Bright Side, #1) 22669832 Everyone has one.
Some are bigger than others.
And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you ...
And some will end you.

Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.

They both feel it.
But they each have a reason to fight it.
They each have a secret.

And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you �
And some will end you.
]]> 423 Kim Holden 0991140222 Brittany 2 4.27 2014 Bright Side (Bright Side, #1)
author: Kim Holden
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Brittany 0 to-read 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> Malibu Rising 55404546 Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them... and what they will leave behind.]]> 369 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798657 Brittany 0 to-read 4.02 2021 Malibu Rising
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> Sonny Boy 209499400 From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full. To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force. But Pacino was in his mid-thirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe. Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.]]> 384 Al Pacino 0593655117 Brittany 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Sonny Boy
author: Al Pacino
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> The Great Alone 34912895 Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents� passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights� lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.]]> 435 Kristin Hannah Brittany 0 to-read 4.44 2018 The Great Alone
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/10
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]]> A Little Life 22822858
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride.Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.]]> 720 Hanya Yanagihara 0385539258 Brittany 0 to-read 4.28 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> The People We Keep 55711726 The People We Keep is about a young songwriter longing to find a home in the world.

Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a motorless motorhome that her father won in a poker game. Failing out of school, picking up shifts at Margo’s diner, she’s left fending for herself in a town where she’s never quite felt at home. When she “borrows� her neighbor’s car to perform at an open mic night, she realizes her life could be much bigger than where she came from. After a fight with her dad, April packs her stuff and leaves for good, setting off on a journey to find a life that’s all hers.

As April moves through the world, meeting people who feel like home, she chronicles her life in the songs she writes and discovers that where she came from doesn’t dictate who she has to be.

This lyrical, unflinching tale is for anyone who has ever yearned for the fierce power of found family or to grasp the profound beauty of choosing to belong.]]> 368 Allison Larkin 1982171294 Brittany 3 4.07 2021 The People We Keep
author: Allison Larkin
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander, #9)]]> 57699848
Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same.

It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible.

Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s teakettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep.

Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the twentieth century might catch up to them. Sometimes they question whether risking the perils of the 1700s—among them disease, starvation, and an impending war—was indeed the safer choice for their family.

Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity—and thus his own—and Lord John Grey has reconciliations to make, and dangers to meet . . . on his son’s behalf, and his own.

Meanwhile, the Revolutionary War creeps ever closer to Fraser’s Ridge. And with the family finally together, Jamie and Claire have more at stake than ever before.]]> 902 Diana Gabaldon 0385685548 Brittany 0 currently-reading 4.31 2021 Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander, #9)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/09
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]]> Love and Other Words 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 Brittany 4 4.23 2018 Love and Other Words
author: Christina Lauren
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> Verity 59344312
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.]]> 336 Colleen Hoover 153872474X Brittany 0 to-read 4.29 2018 Verity
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)]]> 58684524
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]> 389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 Brittany 0 to-read 4.26 2022 Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> You Are Here 201465867
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future . . . if they can survive the journey.]]> 368 David Nicholls 0063394057 Brittany 0 currently-reading 3.97 2024 You Are Here
author: David Nicholls
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)]]> 65213381
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in this lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race.]]> 416 Isabel Ibañez 1250803373 Brittany 0 to-read 3.83 2023 What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)
author: Isabel Ibañez
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living]]> 8109713 Simplicity isn't about what you give up. It's about what you gain. When you remove the things that don't matter to you, you are free to focus on only the things that are meaningful to you. Imagine your home, your time, your finances, and your belongings all filling you with positive energy and helping you achieve your dreams. It can happen, and Organized Simplicity can show you how.

Inside you'll find:

A simple, ten-day plan that shows you step-by-step how to organize every room in your home Ideas for creating a family purpose statement to help you identify what to keep and what to remove from your life Templates for a home management notebook to help you effectively and efficiently take care of daily, weekly and monthly tasks Recipes for non-toxic household cleaners and natural toiletry items including toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo Start living a more organized, intentional life today.]]> 256 Tsh Oxenreider 1440302634 Brittany 4 3.79 2010 Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living
author: Tsh Oxenreider
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Little Women (Little Women, #1)]]> 1934 This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451529305.

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,� including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book� her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

]]> 449 Louisa May Alcott Brittany 5 4.16 1868 Little Women (Little Women, #1)
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1868
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]> 2956 327 Mark Twain 0142437174 Brittany 4 3.82 1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
author: Mark Twain
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1884
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/01/12
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]]> Table for Two 195474144 From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood� describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.]]> 451 Amor Towles 0593296370 Brittany 0 to-read 4.15 2024 Table for Two
author: Amor Towles
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/07
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]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

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

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

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

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Brittany 4 4.58 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2025/01/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World Study Guide: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life (A 10-Session Series for Personal Or Group Study)]]> 19820879 Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, this study guide helps participants discover the "better part" Jesus offered Mary and Martha - the intimate friendship that is found when we take time to sit at His feet.

Featuring an expanded and revised version of the book's original study, this beautiful guide provides space to capture what's been learned from reading the assigned book chapters and the study of God's Word. Practical sidebars, memory verses, video pages and "Make a Plan" prompts make this a resource women will turn to long after the study is done.

Designed for individuals and groups. To get the most out of the study, each participant will need a copy of the book and the study guide. ]]> 128 Joanna Weaver Brittany 0 to-read 4.24 2013 Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World Study Guide: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life (A 10-Session Series for Personal Or Group Study)
author: Joanna Weaver
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[She Believes: Embracing the Life You Were Created to Live]]> 28637699
With over seven billion people in the world, it can be difficult for women to believe they were designed for a purpose. That they individually have value, and their life has meaning that goes beyond what they see or have been told to believe. But that's just the life-changing message Debbie Lindell passionately shares and champions. Every woman, no matter her history, social status, or position in society, was beautifully and magnificently designed by her Creator to live an amazing life.

In She Believes , Lindell shares with women the beautiful truth of God's love for them, empowering them to live out their own unique purpose and bring change to their homes, their workplaces, their communities, and the world. With personal stories and biblical truth, Debbie invites women to trust God's Word--and discover the incredible, abundant life that he created them to live.]]> 272 Debbie Lindell 0800724429 Brittany 5 4.32 She Believes: Embracing the Life You Were Created to Live
author: Debbie Lindell
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent]]> 1518133 175 Beth Moore 1415857431 Brittany 0 christian-living 4.41 2007 Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent
author: Beth Moore
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/15
shelves: christian-living
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Better Mom Devotional: Shaping Our Hearts as We Shape Our Homes � 100 Daily Devotions to Encourage Your Soul and Overcome Mom Guilt � The Perfect Gift for Women]]> 38915700 224 Ruth Schwenk 031009545X Brittany 0 motherhood 4.43 The Better Mom Devotional: Shaping Our Hearts as We Shape Our Homes – 100 Daily Devotions to Encourage Your Soul and Overcome Mom Guilt – The Perfect Gift for Women
author: Ruth Schwenk
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/15
shelves: motherhood
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Better Mom: Growing in Grace between Perfection and the Mess]]> 35553339 208 Ruth Schwenk 0310349451 Brittany 0 motherhood 4.00 The Better Mom: Growing in Grace between Perfection and the Mess
author: Ruth Schwenk
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/15
shelves: motherhood
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life]]> 21816682 Living Well, Spending Less is Ruth Soukup's first book, following her wildly successful blog of the same name. She gives her readers even more of what they love about the blog: lots of creative, helpful ideas and advice for moms on a budget along with stories from her own journey to discovering what the Good Life is really all about.]]> 237 Ruth Soukup 0310337674 Brittany 0 to-read 3.63 2014 Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life
author: Ruth Soukup
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming]]> 26459921 Does your home sometimes feel like just a place to eat, sleep, and change clothes on the way to the next activity? Do you long for “home� to mean more than a place where you stash your stuff? Wouldn’t you love it to become a haven of warmth, rest, and joy . . . the one place where you and your family can’t wait to be?

There is good news waiting for you in the pages of The Lifegiving Home. Every day of your family’s life can be as special and important to you as it already is to God. In this unique book designed to help your family enjoy and celebrate every month of the year together, you’ll discover the secrets of a life-giving home from a mother who created one and her daughter who was raised in popular authors Sally and Sarah Clarkson. Together they offer a rich treasure of wise advice, spiritual principles, and practical suggestions. You’ll embark on a new path to creating special memories for your children; establishing home-building and God-centered traditions; and cultivating an environment in which your family will flourish. (Don’t miss the companion piece, The Lifegiving Home Experience. )]]> 248 Sally Clarkson 1496403371 Brittany 0 to-read 4.23 2016 The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming
author: Sally Clarkson
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone]]> 115313 272 Joyce Meyer 0446577723 Brittany 0 to-read 4.37 2002 Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone
author: Joyce Meyer
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God]]> 126066 228 Brent Curtis 0785267239 Brittany 0 to-read 3.98 1997 The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God
author: Brent Curtis
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Hear from God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions]]> 13366 304 Joyce Meyer 0446532568 Brittany 0 to-read 4.24 2003 How to Hear from God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions
author: Joyce Meyer
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> The Great Divorce 17267 160 C.S. Lewis 0006280560 Brittany 4 christian-living 4.27 1946 The Great Divorce
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1946
rating: 4
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: christian-living
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie]]> 50039 320 Pamela Des Barres 1556525893 Brittany 4 non-fiction 3.71 1987 I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie
author: Pamela Des Barres
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nurture: Give and Get What You Need to Flourish]]> 1027701 This beautifully describes what God's daughters so desperately need. In this heartfelt work, Lisa explains how women of all ages must awaken and restore their capacity to give and receive nurture.
The need for this indelible force is far more urgent than we know. Is it possible we are too busy surviving to assure that the vulnerable among us thrive? Are we too guarded, wounded, and afraid to open our lives to the nurture of others? What can be done to reestablish this language of the feminine heart? It is time women are healed and empowered.
If you have never experienced nurture, this is your season. Lisa's stirring message shows you how to make these vital heart connections. We need each other's comfort and assurance as we define ourselves, find our voice, and begin to fulfill God's purpose on Earth.
In Lisa's own "There is such a resonance in my spirit . . . this is in fact our season to grow, develop, and thrive. Heaven is passionately and purposefully reconnecting with our wounded, war-torn earth and the people who inhabit her. In this season I believe the daughters of God will prove integral agents. Nurture is not expensive-it is expansive. The life of everyone enlarges when it is added. As this happens, we will cease to merely function-we will indeed flourish."]]> 256 Lisa Bevere 0446577596 Brittany 0 to-read 4.09 2008 Nurture: Give and Get What You Need to Flourish
author: Lisa Bevere
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
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]]> <![CDATA[Love Walked In (Love Walked In, #1)]]> 115076
When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs—eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother—goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.]]> 307 Marisa de los Santos 0452287898 Brittany 0 to-read 3.71 2005 Love Walked In (Love Walked In, #1)
author: Marisa de los Santos
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food—Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal]]> 5070865
Award-winning New York Times -bestselling author Mark Kurlansky takes us back to the food and eating habits of a younger Before the national highway system brought the country closer together; before chain restaurants imposed uniformity and low quality; and before the Frigidaire meant frozen food in mass quantities, the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional. It helped form the distinct character, attitudes, and customs of those who ate it.

In the 1930s, with the country gripped by the Great Depression and millions of Americans struggling to get by, FDR created the Federal Writers' Project under the New Deal as a make-work program for artists and authors. A number of writers, including Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Nelson Algren, were dispatched all across America to chronicle the eating habits, traditions, and struggles of local people. The project, called "America Eats," was abandoned in the early 1940s because of the World War and never completed.

The Food of a Younger Land unearths this forgotten literary and historical treasure and brings it to exuberant life. Mark Kurlansky's brilliant book captures these remarkable stories, and combined with authentic recipes, anecdotes, photos, and his own musings and analysis, evokes a bygone era when Americans had never heard of fast food and the grocery superstore was a thing of the future. Kurlansky serves as a guide to this hearty and poignant look at the country's roots.

From New York automats to Georgia Coca-Cola parties, from Arkansas possum-eating clubs to Puget Sound salmon feasts, from Choctaw funerals to South Carolina barbecues, the WPA writers found Americans in their regional niches and eating an enormous diversity of meals. From Mississippi chittlins to Indiana persimmon puddings, Maine lobsters, and Montana beavertails, they recorded the curiosities, commonalities, and communities of American food.]]> 398 Mark Kurlansky 1594488657 Brittany 0 to-read 3.48 2009 The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food—Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation's Food Was Seasonal
author: Mark Kurlansky
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #JointheRide]]> 23493360
This book is designed for those new (or early stage) to entrepreneurship or those who have watched from afar and have wanted/wished to join in, but the fear of the unknown has kept them stupefied and in paralysis.

This book will detail the worst (which is not so scary after all) and the best (which is absolutely thrilling) of being in business for yourself and give you the essential skills to be successful (preventing the 66% death rate).

The focus of the book is on the emotional journey one takes when they step onto the wild ride of entrepreneurship. It’s meant to warn (forthcoming fears, doubts and self-defeating conditioning of past/upbringing), inoculate (from the naysayers, dream stealers and pains of rejection and failure) and guide them (building those undeveloped skills of independence, self-motivation and self-accountability) safely past the landmines that blow up (cause failure) of 66% of all new businesses.]]> 271 Darren Hardy 0990798623 Brittany 4 personal-development 4.31 2015 The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #JointheRide
author: Darren Hardy
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: personal-development
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The 50s: The Story of a Decade (New Yorker: The Story of a Decade)]]> 24388341
The New Yorker was there in real time, chronicling the tensions and innovations that lay beneath the era’s placid surface. In this thrilling volume, classic works of reportage, criticism, and fiction are complemented by new contributions from the magazine’s present all-star lineup of writers. The magazine’s commitment to overseas reporting flourished in the 1950s, leading to important dispatches from East Berlin, the Gaza Strip, and Cuba during the rise of Castro. Closer to home, the fight to break barriers and establish a new American identity led to both illuminating coverage, as in a portrait of Thurgood Marshall at an NAACP meeting in Atlanta, and trenchant commentary, as in E. B. White’s blistering critique of Senator Joe McCarthy. The arts scene is recalled in critical writing rarely reprinted, including Wolcott Gibbs on My Fair Lady, Anthony West on Invisible Man, and Philip Hamburger on Candid Camera. Also featured are great early works from Philip Roth and Nadine Gordimer, as well as startling poems by Theodore Roethke and Anne Sexton, among others. Completing the panoply are insightful and entertaining new pieces by present-day New Yorker contributors examining the 1950s through contemporary eyes. The result is a vital portrait of American culture as only one magazine in the world could do it.

Including contributions by Elizabeth Bishop � Truman Capote � John Cheever � Roald Dahl � Janet Flanner � Nadine Gordimer � A. J. Liebling � Dwight Macdonald � Joseph Mitchell � Marianne Moore � Vladimir Nabokov � Sylvia Plath � V. S. Pritchett � Adrienne Rich � Lillian Ross � Philip Roth � Anne Sexton � James Thurber � John Updike � Eudora Welty � E. B. White � Edmund Wilson

And featuring new perspectives by Jonathan Franzen � Malcolm Gladwell � Adam Gopnik � Elizabeth Kolbert � Jill Lepore � Rebecca Mead � Paul Muldoon � Evan Osnos � David Remnick

Praise for The 50s

� a gift that keeps on giving.� � Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[A] magnificent anthology.� � Literary Review]]> 784 The New Yorker 0679644814 Brittany 0 to-read 4.10 2015 The 50s: The Story of a Decade (New Yorker: The Story of a Decade)
author: The New Yorker
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others]]> 935029
In A Life That Says Welcome, she offers a practical, painless (no crafting or cooking aptitude required) course on hospitality. It helps busy women open up their hearts in order to open up their homes. Full of tips, ideas, recipes, to-dos, and how-tos, A Life That Says Welcome shows readers that opening up their homes is less scary and less work than they might think.]]> 235 Karen Ehman 0800731395 Brittany 0 to-read 3.85 2006 A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others
author: Karen Ehman
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Love My Computer Because My Friends Live in It: Stories from an Online Life]]> 31423303 I Love My Computer Because My Friends Live in It is tech analyst Jess Kimball Leslie's hilarious, frank homage to the technology that contributed so significantly to the person she is today. From accounts of the lawless chat rooms of early AOL to the perpetual high school reunions that are modern-day Facebook and Instagram, her essays paint a clear picture: That all of us have a much more twisted, meaningful, emotional relationship with the online world than we realize or let on.

Coming of age in suburban Connecticut in the late '80s and early '90s, Jess looked to the nascent Internet to find the tribes she couldn't find IRL: fellow Bette Midler fans; women who seemed impossibly sure of their sexuality; people who worked with computers every day as part of their actual jobs without being ridiculed as nerds. It's in large part because of her embrace of an online life that Jess is where she is now, happily married, with a wife, son, and dog, and making a living of analyzing Internet trends and forecasting the future of tech. She bets most people would credit technology for many of their successes, too, if they could only shed the notion that it's as a mind-numbing drug on which we're all overdosing.
]]> 240 Jess Kimball Leslie 0762461713 Brittany 0 to-read 3.21 2017 I Love My Computer Because My Friends Live in It: Stories from an Online Life
author: Jess Kimball Leslie
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/06/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Taming the To-Do List 25710435
No matter how much we accomplish in a day, we nearly always feel a little guilt over what we didn’t do. But do we really have more to do than the women who came before us? Maybe not.

In Taming the To-Do List, Glynnis Whitwer exposes a seismic shift in society: from one in which most of us were proactive to one in which we carry the burden of having to respond—to every email, text, tweet, and message we receive. This creates a cycle where everyone else sets the priorities for our days rather than us directing our own lives. The result? We procrastinate, putting off the important stuff for later while we tend to the “urgent� stuff right now.

It’s time to take back your schedule! Ready to tame that to-do list? This book shows you how.]]> 208 Glynnis Whitwer 0800726723 Brittany 0 to-read 4.03 2015 Taming the To-Do List
author: Glynnis Whitwer
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine]]> 13664840 Are you ready to move from insecure to God secure? From regret riddled to better-because-of-it? From afraid to die to ready to fly? Today, find freedom in God’s grace.

We often talk about grace, but do we really understand it? Grace politely occupies a phrase in a hymn and fits nicely on a church sign. It never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?� who could say no? Bestselling author and pastor Max Lucado helps us dive deeper into what it means to be changed by grace. God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you.

In this book, you will learn:


Grace is everything Jesus
You belong to Jesus
Jesus lives in you
You will increasingly grow more like Jesus
There is nothing you can do to get grace—grace gets you
Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off. Have you been shaped, emboldened, and softened by grace? Let’s make certain grace gets you.]]> 240 Max Lucado 0849920701 Brittany 0 to-read 4.15 2012 Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine
author: Max Lucado
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
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]]> <![CDATA[Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear]]> 56636 220 Max Lucado 0849913454 Brittany 5 christian-living 4.23 2001 Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear
author: Max Lucado
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World]]> 3257136
Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next working by library director Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of hem in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with this enthusiasm, warmth, humility (for a cat), and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most.

As his fame grew from town to town, then state to state, and finally, amazingly, worldwide, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for an extraordinary Heartland farming town pulling its way slowly back from the greatest crisis in its long history.]]> 277 Vicki Myron 0446407410 Brittany 5 non-fiction 3.86 2008 Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
author: Vicki Myron
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)]]> 77392 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780553213171

New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs her bags, waves good-bye to childhood, and heads for Redmond College. With her old friend Prissy Grantwaiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and herfrivolous new friend Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucksher memories of rural Avonlea away and discoverslife on her own terms, filled withsurprises . . . including a marriage proposal from the worst fellowimaginable, the sale of her very first story, and atragedy that teaches her a painful lesson. Buttears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends moveinto an old cottage and an ornery black cat stealsher heart. Little does Anne know that handsomeGilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. SuddenlyAnne must decide whether she's ready for love.]]> 243 L.M. Montgomery Brittany 5 favorites 4.25 1915 Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1915
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)]]> 77390 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

When twelve-year-old Anne Shirley came to Avonlea, she quickly won everyone’s heart. Now, she’s five years older, almost a woman, and about to embark on a new adventure: becoming the teacher in her old Avonlea school. It’s an exciting year as Anne struggles to win over all her students, welcomes two new members to her family, and feels the first stirrings of love.]]> 276 L.M. Montgomery 0553213148 Brittany 5 favorites 4.23 1909 Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables, #2)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1909
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)]]> 8127 Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family� and, most of all, love.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]> 320 L.M. Montgomery 0451528824 Brittany 5 favorites 4.30 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1908
rating: 5
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]]> #Girlboss 18667945 In the New York Times bestseller that the Washington Post called "Lean In for misfits," Sophia Amoruso shares how she went from dumpster diving to founding one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world.

Sophia Amoruso spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and scrounging in dumpsters for leftover bagels. By age twenty-two she had dropped out of school, and was broke, directionless, and checking IDs in the lobby of an art school�
a job she’d taken for the health insurance. It was in that lobby that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay.

Flash forward ten years to today, and she’s the founder and executive chairman of Nasty Gal, a $250-million-plus fashion retailer with more than four hundred employees. Sophia was never a typical CEO, or a typical anything, and she’s written #GIRLBOSS for other girls like her: outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success, even when that path is windy as all hell and lined with naysayers.

#GIRLBOSS proves that being successful isn’t about where you went to college
or how popular you were in high school. It’s about trusting your instincts and following your gut; knowing which rules to follow and which to break; when to button up and when to let your freak flag fly.' to 'In the New York Times bestseller that the Washington Post called "Lean In for misfits," Sophia Amoruso shares how she went from dumpster diving to founding one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world Sophia Amoruso spent her teens hitchhiking, committing petty theft, and scrounging in dumpsters for leftover bagels. By age twenty-two she had dropped out of school, and was broke, directionless, and checking IDs in the lobby of an art school—a job she’d taken for the health insurance. It was in that lobby that Sophia decided to start selling vintage clothes on eBay. Flash forward ten years to today, and she’s the founder and executive chairman of Nasty Gal, a $250-million-plus fashion retailer with more than four hundred employees. Sophia was never a typical CEO, or a typical anything, and she’s written #GIRLBOSS for other girls like her: outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success, even when that path is windy as all hell and lined with naysayers. #GIRLBOSS proves that being successful isn’t about where you went to college or how popular you were in high school. It’s about trusting your instincts and following your gut; knowing which rules to follow and which to break; when to button up and when to let your freak flag fly.']]> 256 Sophia Amoruso 039916927X Brittany 5 personal-development 3.63 2014 #Girlboss
author: Sophia Amoruso
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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shelves: personal-development
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]]> <![CDATA[You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth]]> 30900534 “A cheerful manifesto on removing obstacles between yourself and the income of your dreams.� �New York Magazine

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of You Are a Badass, a life-changing guide to making the kind of money you’ve only ever dreamed of

You Are a Badass at Making Money will launch you past the fears and stumbling blocks that have kept financial success beyond your reach. Drawing on her own transformation—over just a few years—from a woman living in a converted garage with tumbleweeds blowing through her bank account to a woman who travels the world in style, Jen Sincero channels the inimitable sass and practicality that made You Are a Badass an indomitable bestseller. She combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, aha concepts that unlock earning potential and get real results.

Learn to:

� Uncover what's holding you back from making money
� Give your doubts, fears, and excuses the heave-ho
� Relate to money in a new (and lucrative) way
� Shake up the cocktail of creation
� Tap into your natural ability to grow rich
� Shape your reality—stop playing victim to circumstance
� Get as wealthy as you wanna be

“This book truly crystallizes the concept that financial abundance is an inside job—in that it all begins with your mindset—and Sincero gets serious (in the funniest ways possible) about helping you identify your particular limiting beliefs surrounding money.� �PopSugar]]> 267 Jen Sincero 0735222975 Brittany 0 to-read 3.87 2017 You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth
author: Jen Sincero
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life]]> 15843166 The #1 New York Times Bestseller You Are A Badass is the self-help book for people who desperately want to improve their lives but don't want to get busted doing it.

In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. If you're ready to make some serious changes around here, You Are a Badass will help you: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, blast past your fears so you can take big exciting risks, figure out how to make some damn money already, learn to love yourself and others, set big goals and reach them - it will basically show you how to create a life you totally love, and how to create it now.

By the end of You Are a Badass, you'll understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can't change, how to change what you don't love, and how to use The Force to kick some serious ass.]]> 254 Jen Sincero 0762447699 Brittany 5 3.95 2013 You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
author: Jen Sincero
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Confessions of a Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #1)]]> 9416
Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from the bank –letters with large red sums she can't bear to read–and they're getting ever harder to ignore.

She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something....

Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life–and the lives of those around her–forever.]]> 368 Sophie Kinsella 0440241413 Brittany 0 to-read 3.71 2000 Confessions of a Shopaholic (Shopaholic, #1)
author: Sophie Kinsella
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> 1984 5470 328 George Orwell Brittany 0 to-read 4.15 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 0
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]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Brittany 0 to-read 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 0
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]]> Sense and Sensibility 14935 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141439662

'The more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!'

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.

This edition includes explanatory notes, textual variants between the first and second editions, and Tony Tanner's introduction to the original Penguin Classic edition.]]> 409 Jane Austen 0141439661 Brittany 0 to-read 4.10 1811 Sense and Sensibility
author: Jane Austen
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1811
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Brittany 5 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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]]> In Cold Blood 168642
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.]]> 343 Truman Capote 0679745580 Brittany 3 4.08 1966 In Cold Blood
author: Truman Capote
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1966
rating: 3
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]]> The Diary of a Young Girl 48855
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe� of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
--back cover]]> 283 Anne Frank Brittany 4 4.19 1947 The Diary of a Young Girl
author: Anne Frank
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1947
rating: 4
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]]> The Poisonwood Bible 7244 The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.]]> 546 Barbara Kingsolver 0060786507 Brittany 0 to-read 4.10 1998 The Poisonwood Bible
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> Eat, Pray, Love 19501
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want—a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world—all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way—unexpectedly.

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.]]> 368 Elizabeth Gilbert 0143038419 Brittany 5 3.64 2006 Eat, Pray, Love
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> Frankenstein 18490 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780141439471

'Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart ...'

Obsessed with creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life with electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that he holds dear. Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley near Byron's villa on Lake Geneva. It would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity.

Based on the third edition of 1831, this volume contains all the revisions Mary Shelley made to her story, as well as her 1831 introduction and Percy Bysshe Shelley's preface to the first edition. This revised edition includes as appendices a select collation of the texts of 1818 and 1831 together with 'A Fragment' by Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori's 'The Vampyre: A Tale'.]]> 288 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Brittany 2 3.77 1818 Frankenstein
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1818
rating: 2
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]]> A Tale of Two Cities 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 Brittany 0 to-read 3.86 1859 A Tale of Two Cities
author: Charles Dickens
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1859
rating: 0
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]]> The Odyssey 1381 Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.

So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey.

If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, then the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance.

In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery.

Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' translation.

This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.

--

Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation.]]> 541 Homer 0143039954 Brittany 0 to-read 3.79 -700 The Odyssey
author: Homer
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.79
book published: -700
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]]> Romeo and Juliet 18135 Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.

In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers� final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers.]]> 281 William Shakespeare 0743477111 Brittany 2 3.74 1597 Romeo and Juliet
author: William Shakespeare
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1597
rating: 2
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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. Brittany 0 to-read 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> Of Mice and Men 890 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.�

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 107 John Steinbeck 0142000671 Brittany 0 to-read 3.88 1937 Of Mice and Men
author: John Steinbeck
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 0
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]]> 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 Brittany 0 to-read 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 0
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]]> Where the Sidewalk Ends 30119 Come in... for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins.

Shel Silverstein, theNew York Times bestselling author of The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and Every Thing On It, has created a poetry collection that is outrageously funny and deeply profound.

You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings stretches the bounds of imagination and will be cherished by readers of all ages.]]> 176 Shel Silverstein 0060513039 Brittany 4 4.34 1974 Where the Sidewalk Ends
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1974
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 Brittany 0 to-read 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 0
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date added: 2010/06/01
shelves: to-read
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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 Brittany 4 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Brittany
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/06/01
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]]> To Kill a Mockingbird 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Brittany 0 to-read 4.25 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird
author: Harper Lee
name: Brittany
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 0
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date added: 2010/06/01
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