Aayla's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 04 Jan 2025 22:29:17 -0800 60 Aayla's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear]]> 24487482 From the worldwide bestselling author of Eat Pray Love: the path to the vibrant, fulfilling life you’ve dreamed of.
Ěý
Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewelsâ€� that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, Ěýembark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 240 Elizabeth Gilbert 0698408314 Aayla 0 4.18 2015 Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
author: Elizabeth Gilbert
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme 257213 Le Bourgeois gentilhomme est une comédie-ballet, en cinq actes en prose.

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme nous raconte l'histoire comique d'un riche bourgeois qui essaye d'imiter la façon de vivre et le comportement des nobles.]]> 240 ˛Ń´Ç±ôľ±Ă¨°ů±đ 2038716617 Aayla 0 french 3.72 1670 Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
author: ˛Ń´Ç±ôľ±Ă¨°ů±đ
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1670
rating: 0
read at: 2011/09/01
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: french
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business]]> 2938486 336 Danny Meyer 0060742763 Aayla 0 to-read 4.19 2006 Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
author: Danny Meyer
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories]]> 721012 Sketch Book first appeared in 1819, readers in America and abroad greeted it with enthusiasm, and Irving emerged as America's first successful professional author. The pieces about life in England are gently ironic, reflecting the author's interest in the traditions of the Old World and his longings for his home in the New. But it is in "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" that Irving exhibits his true strength—the ability to depict American landscapes and culture so vividly that readers feel themselves a part of them. And it is on the basis of these two classic tales that Irving is generally credited with inventing the short story as a distinct literary genre.

Originally published as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.]]> 368 Washington Irving 014043769X Aayla 4 classics 3.96 1820 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories
author: Washington Irving
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1820
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics
review:

]]> The Call of Cthulhu 6092613 54 H.P. Lovecraft Aayla 4 fantasy, classics 3.97 1928 The Call of Cthulhu
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1928
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: fantasy, classics
review:
This was a surprise. from what I had expected, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is short and to the point, and yet the narration and language are both rich and formidable. I'll definitely be looking into more Lovecraft soon.
]]> Evna (Ravneringene, #3) 25793186
Hirka forbereder seg på å møte det rådende huset i en kald, hierarkisk verden der forakten for svakhet regjerer. Motvillig aksepterer hun sin skjebne, i håp om å holde Rime i live og Ymslanda trygt. Men de likfødtes tørst etter Evna er altoppslukende, og Hirka innser at krigen hun ville stanse, er uunngåelig. En innsikt som snart vil utfordre alt hun har trodd på og kjempet for. Evna er den tredje og siste boka i den kritikerroste fantasyserien Ravneringene. En spektakulær finale som utforsker røtter, makt og hovmod.]]> 500 Siri Pettersen 8205458685 Aayla 0 4.39 2015 Evna (Ravneringene, #3)
author: Siri Pettersen
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/29
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Onyx and Ivory (Rime Chronicles, #1)]]> 36039613
The high king’s second son, Corwin Tormane, never asked to lead. Even as he waits for the uror—the once-in-a-generation ritual to decide which of the king’s children will succeed him—he knows it’s always been his brother who will assume the throne. And that’s fine by him. He’d rather spend his days away from the palace, away from the sight of his father, broken with sickness from the attempt on his life. But the peacekeeping tour Corwin is on has given him too much time to reflect upon the night he saved his father’s life—the night he condemned the would-be killer to death and lost the girl he loved. Which is why he takes it on himself to investigate rumors of unrest in one of the remote city-states, only for his caravan to be attacked—and for him to be saved by Kate.

With their paths once more entangled, Kate and Corwin have to put the past behind them. The threat of drakes who attack in the daylight is only the beginning of a darker menace stirring in the kingdom—one whose origins have dire implications for Kate’s father’s attack upon the king and will thrust them into the middle of a brewing civil war in the kingdom of Rime.]]> 497 Mindee Arnett 0062652664 Aayla 3 2020 3.86 2018 Onyx and Ivory (Rime Chronicles, #1)
author: Mindee Arnett
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/11/19
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: 2020
review:

]]> The Omnivore's Dilemma 25310666
“What’s for dinner?â€� seemed like a simple question—until journalist and supermarket detective Michael Pollan delved behind the scenes. From fast food and big organic to small farms and old-fashioned hunting and gathering, this young readersâ€� adaptation of Pollan’s famous food-chain exploration encourages kids to consider the personal and global implications of their food choices.Ěý

With plenty of photos, graphs, and visuals, The Omnivore’s Dilemma serves up a bold message to the generation most impacted by climate It’s time to take charge of our national eating habits—and it starts with you.]]> 377 Richie Chevat 1101993839 Aayla 0 to-read 3.92 2015 The Omnivore's Dilemma
author: Richie Chevat
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth]]> 187016352 259 Natalie Haynes 0063377098 Aayla 0 to-read 3.93 2023 Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

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

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

Featuring new and original stories from Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Natasha Pulley, Elizabeth Macneal, Laura Purcell, Susan Stokes Chapman, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Stuart Turton, and Catriona Ward.]]> 464 Bridget Collins Aayla 0 to-read 3.97 2023 The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights
author: Bridget Collins
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 57823095 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

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

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

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

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 408 Emilia Hart Aayla 0 4.21 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/10
date added: 2023/12/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture]]> 61204629 In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing.

In this revolutionary book, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal� when it comes to health?

Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal� as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Co-written with his son Daniel, The Myth of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.]]> 576 Gabor Maté Aayla 0 dnf 4.37 2022 The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
author: Gabor Maté
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas]]> 40198393 464 Roger Crowley Aayla 0 dnf 4.21 2011 City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas
author: Roger Crowley
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall]]> 144185 364 Christopher Hibbert 0688053394 Aayla 0 dnf 3.89 1975 The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall
author: Christopher Hibbert
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/24
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Leonardo da Vinci 35054000 The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life� (The New Yorker).Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson “deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo� (San Francisco Chronicle) in a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history’s most creative genius. In the “luminous� (Daily Beast) Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson describes how Leonardo’s delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance to be imaginative and, like talented rebels in any era, to think different. Here, da Vinci “comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson’s ambitious new biography…a vigorous, insightful portrait� (The Washington Post).]]> 808 Walter Isaacson 1501139177 Aayla 0 dnf 4.27 2017 Leonardo da Vinci
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope]]> 40577265 New York Times bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck now does for love what he did for happiness in this raw and candid guide to relationships.

We live in a love-crazed culture where amour is celebrated and idealized as life’s ultimate goal. Not so, contends Mark Manson. In the no-nonsense voice his fans love, he argues that love is not all we need to have a successful relationship, and offers us the tools to hone the values and skills necessary for not screwing things up with the most important people in our lives.

Hard-hitting, funny, and bluntly honest,ĚýF*ck Yes or NoĚýtakes readers for a ride of hard punches and unpleasant truths. "Just because you love somebody, doesn’t mean they’re good for you." "Love may make you feel better about your relationship problems, but it won’t solve your relationship problems." "Sometimes the best way to love someone is to let them go."

From dating and popping the question, to breaking up and getting over your ex, to creating a long-lasting and happy marriage, Manson provides the raw advice that forces us to be honest with ourselves and accept reality as it is, not as we’d like it to be.]]> 283 Mark Manson 0062888471 Aayla 0 3.87 2019 Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope
author: Mark Manson
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection]]> 24904634 The Surrender Experiment is now a New York Times bestseller!

From the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The Untethered Soul comes the astonishing true-life story about what happens when you just let go.

A thriving spiritual community on over six hundred acres of pristine forest and meadows in Florida, a cutting-edge software package that transformed the medical practice management industry, a billion-dollar public company whose achievements are archived in the Smithsonian Institution, a book that became a New York Times bestseller and an Oprah favorite, and a massive raid by the FBI that would lead to unfounded accusations by the U.S. government—how could all of this spring from a man who had decided to live alone in the middle of the woods, let go of himself, and embrace a life of solitude? But this man had made a radical decision—one that would unwittingly lead him to both the pinnacle of success and the brink of disaster.

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life’s perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 272 Mickey A. Singer 0804141118 Aayla 0 4.37 2015 The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection
author: Mickey A. Singer
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth]]> 19169064 2008 PSP Prose Award for Excellence in Psychology, Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers]]> 304 Ed Diener 1444321536 Aayla 0 4.12 2008 Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth
author: Ed Diener
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> A Seed in the Sun 59900671 A farm working girl with big dreams meets activist Dolores Huerta and joins the 1965 protest for migrant workers' rights in this tender-hearted middle grade novel in verse, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Pam Mu�oz Ryan.

Lula Viramontes dreams of one day becoming someone whom no one can ignore: a daring ringleader in a Mexican traveling carpa, despite her father's traditional views of what girls should be. When her family arrives for the grape harvest in Delano, California, Lula meets activist Dolores Huerta and el Teatro Campesino (the official theater company of the United Farm Workers). She discovers an even more pressing reason to raise her voice: the upcoming farm workers' strike, an event that will determine her family's future--for better or worse.
]]> 272 Aida Salazar 0593406605 Aayla 0 4.18 2022 A Seed in the Sun
author: Aida Salazar
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Guardian Test (Legends of Lotus Island #1)]]> 60758271 From two-time Newbery honor recipient Christina Soontornvat comes a compelling new young middle grade fantasy series for readers who love stories about animals, magic, and kids like them embracing their power to change the world.

Young Plum is shocked to discover that she’s been accepted to the Guardian Academy on Lotus Island, an elite school where kids learn how to transform into Guardians, magical creatures who are sworn to protect the natural world. The Guardian masters teach Plum and her friends how to communicate with animals and how to use meditation to strengthen their minds and bodies. All the kids also learn to fight, so they can protect the defenseless if needed.



To her dismay, Plum struggles at school. While her classmates begin to transform into amazing creatures, Plum can’t even seem to magic up a single feather! If she can’t embrace her inner animal form soon, she’ll have to leave school � and lose the first group of real friends she’s ever known.]]> 151 Christina Soontornvat 1338759159 Aayla 0 4.14 2023 The Guardian Test (Legends of Lotus Island #1)
author: Christina Soontornvat
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
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]]> Odder 59251239
Nobody has her moves.
She doesn't just swim to the bottom,
she dive-bombs.
She doesn't just somersault,
she triple-doughnuts.
She doesn't just ride the waves,
she makes them.

Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she's known. She's a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself—and about the humans who hope to save her.

Inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers.]]> 274 Katherine Applegate 1250147425 Aayla 0 4.21 2022 Odder
author: Katherine Applegate
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Starling House 65213595 A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.]]> 320 Alix E. Harrow 1250799058 Aayla 0 to-read 3.77 2023 Starling House
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Goodbye Cat 157487250
Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever.

Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.]]> 285 Hiro Arikawa 0593815718 Aayla 0 to-read 3.91 2021 The Goodbye Cat
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future]]> 35356384
Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die--and how ours can be saved.]]> 320 Steven Levitsky 1524762938 Aayla 0 to-read 4.16 2018 How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
author: Steven Levitsky
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point]]> 122769171
America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. But the prospect of change has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the very foundations of our political system. Why is this happening here, and not in other diversifying nations? And what can we do to save our democracy?

With the clarity and brilliance that made their first book, How Democracies Die, a global bestseller, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt offer a coherent framework for understanding these volatile times. They draw on a wealth of examples—from 1930s France to present-day Thailand—to explain why and how political parties turn against democracy: When political leaders realize they can no longer win at the ballot box, they begin to attack the system from within, condoning violent extremists and using the law as a weapon. Unfortunately, our Constitution makes us uniquely vulnerable. It is a pernicious enabler of minority rule, allowing partisan minorities to consistently thwart and even rule over popular majorities. Most modern democracies—from Germany and Sweden to Argentina and New Zealand—have eliminated outdated institutions like elite upper chambers, indirect elections, and lifetime tenure for judges. The United States lags dangerously behind.

In this revelatory book, Levitsky and Ziblatt issue an urgent call to perfect our national experiment. It’s a daunting task, but we have remade our country before—most notably, after the Civil War and during the Progressive Era. And now we are at a crossroads: America will either become a multiracial democracy or it will cease to be a democracy at all.]]> 368 Steven Levitsky 0593443071 Aayla 0 to-read 4.37 2023 Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
author: Steven Levitsky
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hanging City 63127235 For a young woman who wields the power of fear, humanity’s greatest enemy is her only hope in a new fairy-tale adventure by Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

Seven years on the run from her abusive father, and with no hope of sanctuary among the dwindling pockets of human civilization, Lark is out of options. Her only leverage is a cursed power: she can thrust fear onto others, leaving all threats fleeing in terror. It’s a means of survival as she searches for a place to call home. If the campfire myths of her childhood are true, Lark’s sole chance for refuge could lie in Cagmar, the city of trolls—a brutal species and the sworn enemies of humanity.

Valuing combat prowess, the troll high council is intrigued. Lark could be much more useful than the low-caste humans who merely labor in Cagmar. Her gift makes her invaluable as a monster slayer to fight off the unspeakable creatures that torment the trolls� hanging city, suspended from a bridge over an endless dark canyon.

Lark will do anything to make Cagmar her home, but her new role comes with a caveat: use her power against a troll, and she’ll be killed. Her loyalty is quickly put to the test when she draws the hatred of a powerful troll who loathes humankind. Still, she finds unexpected friendship in the city and, even more surprisingly, love. But if everything else doesn’t undo her, being caught in the arms of a troll surely will. Now in the fight of her life, Lark has a lot to learn—about her past, about trust and hope when all seems lost, and above all, about the extraordinary power of fear itself.]]> 344 Charlie N. Holmberg 1662508719 Aayla 0 currently-reading 3.96 2023 The Hanging City
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Library of the Dead (Edinburgh Nights, #1)]]> 53205876
When ghosts talk, she will listen...

Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghostalker. Now she speaks to Edinburgh's dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl's gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone's bewitching children--leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It's on Ropa's patch, so she feels honor-bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.

She'll dice with death (not part of her life plan...), discovering an occult library and a taste for hidden magic. She'll also experience dark times. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets, and Ropa's gonna hunt them all down.]]> 330 T.L. Huchu 1250767768 Aayla 0 3.43 2021 The Library of the Dead (Edinburgh Nights, #1)
author: T.L. Huchu
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/26
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wolf of Oren-Yaro (Chronicles of the Bitch Queen, #1)]]> 46207682 A queen of a divided land must unite her people, even if they hate her, even if it means stopping a ruin that she helped create. A debut epic fantasy from an exciting new voice.

"I murdered a man and made my husband leave the night before they crowned me."

Born under the crumbling towers of Oren-yaro, Queen Talyien was the shining jewel and legacy of the bloody War of the Wolves that nearly tore her nation apart. Her upcoming marriage to the son of her father's rival heralds peaceful days to come.

But his sudden departure before their reign begins fractures the kingdom beyond repair.

Years later, Talyien receives a message, urging her to attend a meeting across the sea. It's meant to be an effort at reconciliation, but an assassination attempt leaves the queen stranded and desperate to survive in a dangerous land. With no idea who she can trust, she's on her own as she struggles to fight her way home.]]> 496 K.S. Villoso 0316532665 Aayla 0 tiktok 3.63 2018 The Wolf of Oren-Yaro (Chronicles of the Bitch Queen, #1)
author: K.S. Villoso
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/13
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: tiktok
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Symphony for a Deadly Throne (Mousai, #3)]]> 59448425 From award-winning author E. J. Mellow comes the third and final installment in the Mousai series, following a young woman torn between the man she loves and the kingdom she calls home.

Within the world of Aadilor sits the hidden Thief Kingdom, a land overflowing with magic and mayhem. There the Mousai, a trio of deadly sorceresses, serve the reclusive Thief King, delivering punishment and pleasure to the masses.

Arabessa Bassette is the leader of the Mousai, conducting their powerful gifts with unyielding precision. But behind her mask of control burns a desire to forge her own path—along with a tumultuous relationship with Zimri D’Enieu, her father’s right hand and the man who’s held her heart since they were children. When an unexpected invitation to vie for the Thief King’s throne pulls her into a deadly competition, Arabessa’s composure cracks as she finds herself with an impossible choice—give up her greatest love or her greatest ambition.

But sacrifices loom large in the Thief Kingdom, for the quest for power always comes at a price. With her and Zimri’s future hanging in the balance, Arabessa must decide if she’s willing to pay it.

Welcome to the world of Aadilor, where love is found between cracks and the most mesmerizing symphonies carry lethal notes. Dare to play?]]> 405 E.J. Mellow 1662500998 Aayla 0 4.09 2023 Symphony for a Deadly Throne (Mousai, #3)
author: E.J. Mellow
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/31
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
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]]> Uprooted 22544764 “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.�

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows�everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.]]> 438 Naomi Novik 0804179034 Aayla 0 4.02 2015 Uprooted
author: Naomi Novik
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/29
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Spinning Silver 36896898 Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into a glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

Channeling the vibrant heart of myth and fairy tale, Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again.]]> 465 Naomi Novik Aayla 0 4.20 2018 Spinning Silver
author: Naomi Novik
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/25
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 6]]> 7544946 Reads R to L (Japanese Style). Final Volume--Contains Volumes 11 and 12 of Death Note! Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he's bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light's noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?
]]> 419 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196761 Aayla 0 4.42 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 6
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/30
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 5]]> 10321650
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?

Contains Volumes 9 and 10 of Death Note !

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light’s noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?]]> 376 Tsugumi Ohba 1421539683 Aayla 0 4.21 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 5
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/30
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 4]]> 7544943 416 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196745 Aayla 0 4.32 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 4
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 3]]> 7544944
Reads R to L (Japanese Style) for audiences T+. Contains Volumes 5 and 6 of Death Note!

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects--and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light's noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?

]]> 412 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196737 Aayla 0 4.34 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 3
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/24
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 2]]> 7544945 385 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196729 Aayla 0 4.51 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 2
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/23
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 1]]> 6345999 385 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196710 Aayla 0 4.50 2003 Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 1
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/23
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Vengeful (Villains, #2) 26856502 A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions�#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella's rise, new enmities create opportunity--and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.]]> 462 Victoria E. Schwab Aayla 0 4.13 2018 Vengeful (Villains, #2)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Vicious (Villains, #1) 40874032 A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers.

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.]]> 402 Victoria E. Schwab Aayla 0 4.17 2013 Vicious (Villains, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/06
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Near Witch (The Near Witch, #1)]]> 6931344 The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.]]> 284 Victoria E. Schwab 1423137876 Aayla 0 3.65 2011 The Near Witch (The Near Witch, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/02
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Responsive Design: Patterns & Principles]]> 27858998 169 Ethan Marcotte 1937557340 Aayla 0 4.09 Responsive Design: Patterns & Principles
author: Ethan Marcotte
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/30
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Responsible Responsive Design 23588216 188 Scott Jehl Aayla 0 4.11 2014 Responsible Responsive Design
author: Scott Jehl
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/29
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Tyranny of Metrics 36644895 How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens our schools, medical care, businesses, and government

Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself. The result is a tyranny of metrics that threatens the quality of our lives and most important institutions. In this timely and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage our obsession with metrics is causing--and shows how we can begin to fix the problem.

Filled with examples from education, medicine, business and finance, government, the police and military, and philanthropy and foreign aid, this brief and accessible book explains why the seemingly irresistible pressure to quantify performance distorts and distracts, whether by encouraging "gaming the stats" or "teaching to the test." That's because what can and does get measured is not always worth measuring, may not be what we really want to know, and may draw effort away from the things we care about. Along the way, we learn why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But metrics can be good when used as a complement to--rather than a replacement for--judgment based on personal experience, and Muller also gives examples of when metrics have been beneficial.

Complete with a checklist of when and how to use metrics, The Tyranny of Metrics is an essential corrective to a rarely questioned trend that increasingly affects us all.]]> 240 Jerry Z. Muller 0691174954 Aayla 0 3.63 2017 The Tyranny of Metrics
author: Jerry Z. Muller
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/27
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Speak Machine: Laws of Design for a Computational Age]]> 44029589 240 John Maeda 0241976634 Aayla 0 3.72 How to Speak Machine: Laws of Design for a Computational Age
author: John Maeda
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves:
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]]> Yellowface 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Aayla 0 to-read 3.69 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Flowers for Algernon 56029093 311 Daniel Keyes Aayla 2 2021 4.44 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1966
rating: 2
read at: 2021/11/15
date added: 2023/10/21
shelves: 2021
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)]]> 50998058
He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her twin sister, Taryn, whose life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity . . .]]> 336 Holly Black 0316310379 Aayla 3 4.37 2019 The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)
author: Holly Black
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/06
date added: 2023/09/30
shelves: 2021, fantasy, young-adult, tiktok
review:

]]> The Laws of Simplicity 225111 Ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.

Maeda—a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer—explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on.

Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products—how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."]]> 128 John Maeda 0262134721 Aayla 0 2023, design, nonfiction 3.91 2006 The Laws of Simplicity
author: John Maeda
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/23
date added: 2023/09/07
shelves: 2023, design, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Aayla 4 2019, graphic-novel 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/02/10
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: 2019, graphic-novel
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 30333227
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6]]> 208 Marjorie M. Liu Aayla 4 3.92 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Psyche and Eros 62292422
Who said true love is a myth?

A prophecy claims that Psyche, princess of Mycenae, will defeat a monster feared even by the gods. Rebelling against her society’s expectations for women, Psyche spends her youth mastering blade and bow, preparing to meet her destiny.

When Psyche angers the love goddess Aphrodite, she sends Eros, god of desire, to deliver a cruel curse. After eons watching humanity twist his gifts, the last thing Eros wants is to become involved in the chaos of the mortal world. But when he pricks himself with the arrow intended for Psyche, Eros finds himself doomed to yearn for a woman who will be torn from him the moment their eyes meet.

Thrown together by fate, headstrong Psyche and world-weary Eros will face challenges greater than they could have ever imagined. And as the Trojan War begins and divine powers try to keep them apart, the pair must determine if the curse could become something more . . . before it’s too late.

A joyous and subversive tale of gods, monsters, and the human heart and soul, Psyche and Eros dazzles the senses while exploring notions of trust, sacrifice, and what it truly means to be a hero. With unforgettably vivid characters, spellbinding prose, and delicious tension, Luna McNamara has crafted a shimmering and propulsive debut novel about a love so strong it defies the will of Olympus.]]> 352 Luna McNamara 0063295075 Aayla 0 to-read 3.75 2023 Psyche and Eros
author: Luna McNamara
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dragonfall (Dragon Scales, #1)]]> 61985453
Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the gods remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely--body, mind, and soul--and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.]]> 336 L.R. Lam Aayla 0 to-read 3.36 2023 Dragonfall (Dragon Scales, #1)
author: L.R. Lam
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I’m Glad My Mom Died 59366244
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died , Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!�), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 304 Jennette McCurdy 1982185821 Aayla 0 to-read 4.42 2022 I’m Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ways of Seeing 2784 John Berger’s Classic Text on Art

Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the (London) Sunday Times a critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures." By now he has.

"Berger has the ability to cut right through the mystification of the professional art critics . . . He is a liberator of images: and once we have allowed the paintings to work on us directly, we are in a much better position to make a meaningful evaluation" —Peter Fuller, Arts Review

"The influence of the series and the book . . . was enormous . . . It opened up for general attention to areas of cultural study that are now commonplace" —Geoff Dyer in Ways of Telling.]]> 176 John Berger 0140135154 Aayla 0 2023, art, nonfiction 3.93 1972 Ways of Seeing
author: John Berger
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/22
date added: 2023/05/22
shelves: 2023, art, nonfiction
review:

]]> The Rot (The Raven Rings) 56980643
Ěý
Ěý

To protect her homeland of Ym, Hirka left it behind. She traveled through the raven rings, a stone circle that can be used as a portal, to an unfamiliar world. A world without the Might, a world where none of the people have tails, a world that seems rotten at its very core. That world is modern-day Europe.

Hirka was supposed to fit in with humans here. And her departure was supposed to be save Ym from the invasion of the blind. Yet none of that has happened. Instead, Hirka finds herself just as much of an outsider among the humans as she was among ymlings—even more so when she discovers that she has blood of the blind running through her veins. Meanwhile back in Ym, Rime—now the Ravenbearer—is fighting an ongoing battle against the blind, not to mention against his fellow Councilors, as well as with his own despair over losing Hirka.

Separated by worlds, unsure who to trust, and hunted for reasons they cannot understand, both Hirka and Rime must find a way to stop a thousand-year-old evil from destroying not only Ym, but every world in existence.

Ěý]]> 512 Siri Pettersen 1646900014 Aayla 4 2023, mythology, young-adult 4.17 2014 The Rot (The Raven Rings)
author: Siri Pettersen
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/09
date added: 2023/05/09
shelves: 2023, mythology, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates, #1)]]> 45046552
Csorwe does. She will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. On the day of her foretold death, however, a powerful mage offers her a new fate.

Csorwe leaves her home, her destiny, and her god to become the wizard's loyal sword-hand -- stealing, spying, and killing to help him reclaim his seat of power in the homeland from which he was exiled.

But Csorwe and the wizard will soon learn � gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.]]> 464 A.K. Larkwood 1250238900 Aayla 0 to-read 3.70 2020 The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates, #1)
author: A.K. Larkwood
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths]]> 51135393
Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Virgil to from Aeschylus to Sophocles and Euripides. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women’s stories.

Now, in Pandora’s Jar, Natalie Haynes � broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist � redresses this imbalance. Taking Greek creation myths as her starting point and then retelling the four great mythic sagas: the Trojan War, the Royal House of Thebes, Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles, she puts the female characters on equal footing with their menfolk. The result is a vivid and powerful account of the deeds � and misdeeds - of Hera, Aphrodite, Athene and Circe. And away from the goddesses of Mount Olympus it is Helen, Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Antigone and Medea who sing from these pages, not Paris, Agamemnon, Orestes or Jason.]]> 320 Natalie Haynes 1509873112 Aayla 0 2023, feminism, nonfiction 4.23 2020 Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/23
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: 2023, feminism, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Odin's Child (The Raven Rings, #1)]]> 54303436 An epic fantasy trilogy from Norway about thousand-year-old secrets, forbidden romance, and what happens to those who make a deal with the devil comes at lastĚýto the United States!

15-year-old Hirka has always been an outsider in the world of Ym: she’s the only person without a tail, and the only one unable to access the Might, a current of power that runs through the earth.

Her differences become more and more of a concern as the date approaches for the Rite—the ceremony where everyone is to be blessed by the all-knowing Seer and the Council of powerful families who rule in His name. With only a few weeks until the Rite, Hirka discovers the shocking secret behind why she is tailless and Mightless: she is not from this world. As an infant, she was brought through an ancient stone circle known as a Raven Ring, and as long as she’s in Ym, the passageway between worlds remains open inviting terrifying creatures called the blind to follow.

No one can know the truth of Hirka’s identity, especially
not Rime, her childhood friend who just might become something more. But is Rime is hiding secrets of his own?

The first in a trilogy, Odin's Child is a thrilling modern fantasy epic. Ěý]]> 604 Siri Pettersen 1646900006 Aayla 4 2023, mythology 4.04 2013 Odin's Child (The Raven Rings, #1)
author: Siri Pettersen
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/30
date added: 2023/04/30
shelves: 2023, mythology
review:

]]> Ariadne 58127601 A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe.

Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind?

Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne forges a new epic, one that puts the forgotten women of Greek mythology back at the heart of the story, as they strive for a better world.]]> 320 Jennifer Saint 1250773598 Aayla 3 2023, mythology 3.81 2021 Ariadne
author: Jennifer Saint
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/13
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves: 2023, mythology
review:
I wanted to love Ariadne and Phaedra for being fiesty women who were viciously angry at men and gods for always punishing women for their own failings, for being willing to take action and risk despite the danger... But I can't shake the annoyance that they never really went much farther than their own thoughts. While I didn't expect the author to stray from the original outcomes, it felt empty to not see them have any kind of victory, even just within their own framing of their lives.
]]> Vicious Spirits (Gumiho, #2) 48929807 Vicious Spirits begins, Miyoung and Jihoon are picking up the pieces of their broken lives following the deaths of Miyoung's mother, Yena, and Jihoon's grandmother. With the support of their friend Somin, and their frenemy, Junu, they might just have a shot at normalcy. But Miyoung is getting sicker and sicker by the day and her friends don't know how to save her. With few options remaining, Junu has an idea but it might require the ultimate sacrifice and, let's be honest, Junu isn't known for his "generosity." Meanwhile, the events at the end of Wicked Fox have upended the forces that govern life and death and there are supernatural entities lurking in the background that will stop at nothing to right their world.]]> 429 Kat Cho 1984812378 Aayla 0 paranormal, young-adult, dnf 4.05 2020 Vicious Spirits (Gumiho, #2)
author: Kat Cho
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/09
shelves: paranormal, young-adult, dnf
review:

]]> Wicked Fox (Gumiho, #1) 42133479 A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.]]> 429 Kat Cho 1984812343 Aayla 0 2023, paranormal 3.75 2019 Wicked Fox (Gumiho, #1)
author: Kat Cho
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: 2023, paranormal
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vow of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #2)]]> 34196663
But an ominous warning mars their journey back, and they soon find themselves captured in a tangled web of deceit woven by their greatest enemies and unlikeliest allies, a place where betrayals run deeper and more deadly than either had thought possible and where timeless ambitions threaten to destroy them both.]]> 480 Mary E. Pearson 1250162653 Aayla 0 2023 4.30 2019 Vow of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #2)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/05
date added: 2023/04/05
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Into the Riverlands (The Singing Hills Cycle, #3)]]> 59807976
Accompanied by Almost Brilliant, a talking bird with an indelible memory, Chih confronts old legends and new dangers alike as they learn that every story—beautiful, ugly, kind, or cruel—bears more than one face.]]> 100 Nghi Vo 1250851424 Aayla 0 to-read 4.01 2022 Into the Riverlands (The Singing Hills Cycle, #3)
author: Nghi Vo
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, #4)]]> 58007996 The Hugo and Crawford Award-Winning Series!

The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.

Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass--and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.

But as Chih and their neixin Almost Brilliant navigate the looming crisis, Myriad Virtues, Cleric Thien’s own beloved hoopoe companion, grieves her loss as only a being with perfect memory can, and her sorrow may be more powerful than anyone could anticipate. . .

The novellas of The Singing Hills Cycle are linked by the cleric Chih, but may be read in any order, with each story serving as an entrypoint.]]> 123 Nghi Vo 1250838002 Aayla 0 to-read 4.22 2023 Mammoths at the Gates (The Singing Hills Cycle, #4)
author: Nghi Vo
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents]]> 51152447 The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.�

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.]]> 544 Isabel Wilkerson 0593230256 Aayla 0 2023 4.52 2020 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/03
date added: 2023/04/03
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1)]]> 40864720 Mary E. Pearson's Dance of Thieves is a new YA novel in the New York Times bestselling Remnant Chronicles universe, in which a reformed thief and the young leader of an outlaw dynasty lock wits in a battle that may cost them their lives—and their hearts.

When the patriarch of the Ballenger empire dies, his son, Jase, becomes its new leader. Even nearby kingdoms bow to the strength of this outlaw family, who have always governed by their own rules. But a new era looms on the horizon, set in motion by a young queen, which makes her the target of the dynasty's resentment and anger.

At the same time, Kazi, a legendary former street thief, is sent by the queen to investigate transgressions against the new settlements. When Kazi arrives in the forbidding land of the Ballengers, she learns that there is more to Jase than she thought. As unexpected events spiral out of their control, bringing them intimately together, they continue to play a cat and mouse game of false moves and motives in order to fulfill their own secret missions.]]> 508 Mary E. Pearson 1250308976 Aayla 0 2023 4.13 2018 Dance of Thieves (Dance of Thieves, #1)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/31
date added: 2023/03/31
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles, #3)]]> 25944798
With war on the horizon, Lia has no choice but to assume her role as First Daughter, as soldier—as leader. While she struggles to reach Morrighan and warn them, she finds herself at cross-purposes with Rafe and suspicious of Kaden, who has hunted her down.

In this conclusion to the Remnant Chronicles trilogy, traitors must be rooted out, sacrifices must be made, and impossible odds must be overcome as the future of every kingdom hangs in the balance.]]> 684 Mary E. Pearson 0805099255 Aayla 0 4.14 2016 The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles, #3)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/28
date added: 2023/03/28
shelves: 2023, action-adventure, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings]]> 36297174 304 Linda RodrĂ­guez McRobbie 1683690257 Aayla 2 2023, nonfiction 3.81 2013 Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings
author: Linda RodrĂ­guez McRobbie
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/27
date added: 2023/03/27
shelves: 2023, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)]]> 21569527
Desperate to save her life, Lia's erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komisar that she has a magical gift, and the Komisar's interest in Lia is greater than either Kaden or Lia foresaw.

Meanwhile, the foundations of Lia's deeply-held beliefs are crumbling beneath her. Nothing is straightforward: there's Rafe, who lied to her, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom she always believed to be barbarians but whom she now realizes are people who have been terribly brutalized by the kingdoms of Dalbreck and Morrighan. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her very sense of self, Lia will have to make powerful choices that affect her country, her people . . . and her own destiny.]]> 473 Mary E. Pearson 0805099247 Aayla 4 4.17 2015 The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/26
date added: 2023/03/26
shelves: 2023, action-adventure, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1)]]> 16429619
On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her.ĚýDeception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

The Kiss of DeceptionĚýis the first audiobook inĚýMary E. Pearson's Remnant Chronicles]]> 492 Mary E. Pearson Aayla 4 2023 3.92 2014 The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1)
author: Mary E. Pearson
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/24
date added: 2023/03/24
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)]]> 76713323 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.]]> 693 Sarah J. Maas 1639731024 Aayla 0 2023 4.65 2016 Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/16
date added: 2023/03/22
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)]]> 76707900 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past�

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1639731008 Aayla 0 2023 4.64 2015 Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/15
date added: 2023/03/22
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)]]> 76706470 576 Sarah J. Maas Aayla 0 2023 4.44 2014 Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/14
date added: 2023/03/22
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)]]> 49016653 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Kingdoms will collide.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.]]> 693 Sarah J. Maas 1619636077 Aayla 4 4.61 2016 Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass, #5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/09
date added: 2023/03/16
shelves: 2019, action-adventure, magic, young-adult, fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)]]> 18006496
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1619636042 Aayla 4 4.56 2015 Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/07
date added: 2023/03/16
shelves: 2019, action-adventure, fantasy, magic, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)]]> 20658349 Celaena Sardothien, heroine of theNew York Times bestselling series, rises from the ashes to burn even brighter than before.

Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak—but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth…a truth about her heritage that could change her life—and her future—forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

The bestselling series that has captured readers and listeners all over the world reaches new heights in this sequel to the New York Times bestselling Crown of Midnight. Packed with heart-pounding action, fierce new characters, and swoon-worthy romance, this third audiobook will enthrall listeners from start to finish.]]> 17 Sarah J. Maas 1491586583 Aayla 2 4.41 2014 Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2019/11/30
date added: 2023/03/16
shelves: 2019, action-adventure, magic, young-adult, fantasy
review:

]]> Vespertine 56980403 Artemisia se está preparando para unirse a las hermanas grises, encargadas de purificar a los fallecidos para que sus almas sigan adelante; de ​​lo contrario, sus espíritus despiertan con un hambre voraz por los vivos. Ella prefiere tratar con los muertos, que a diferencia de los vivos nunca hacen comentarios sobre su turbio pasado.
Cuando su convento sufre un ataque, Artemisia lo defiende despertando a un antiguo espíritu vinculado a una reliquia. Es un renacido, un ser malévolo que amenaza con poseerla en cuanto baje la guardia. La muerte ha llegado a Loraille, y solo una vespertina (una sacerdotisa entrenada para controlar una gran reliquia) puede aspirar a detenerla. Pero los conocimientos de las vespertinas hace mucho que se perdieron, por lo que a Artemisia no le queda más opción que recurrir al único que puede saber algo: el mismísimo renacido.
Mientras su vĂ­nculo con el renacido se fortalece entre secretos y magia, un mal oculto comienza a surgir. Y enfrentarse a Ă©l puede requerir que traicione todo en lo que cree... si es que el renacido no la traiciona primero.]]> 400 Margaret Rogerson 153447711X Aayla 5 2023, fantasy, magic 4.09 2021 Vespertine
author: Margaret Rogerson
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/12
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves: 2023, fantasy, magic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot]]> 56621644
â€� The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.â€� —Ibram X. Kendi,Ěý#1 New York Times- bestselling author ofĚý How to Be an Antiracist , in The Atlantic

“One of the most important books of the current moment.”� Time
Ěý
“A rousing call to action...ĚýIt should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine


A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism

Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?

In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.]]> 288 Mikki Kendall 0525560564 Aayla 0 2023, feminism, nonfiction 4.35 2020 Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot
author: Mikki Kendall
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/07
date added: 2023/03/07
shelves: 2023, feminism, nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X Aayla 0 to-read 4.04 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience]]> 25520974 259 Tom Greever 1491921560 Aayla 0 design, nonfiction, 2023 4.12 2015 Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience
author: Tom Greever
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/07
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: design, nonfiction, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Parable of the Talents (Earthseed, #2)]]> 60932 Parable of the Sower continues the story of Lauren Olamina in socially and economically depressed California in the 2030s. Convinced that her community should colonize the stars, Lauren and her followers make preparations. But the collapse of society and rise of fanatics result in Lauren's followers being enslaved, and her daughter stolen from her. Now, Lauren must fight back to save the new world order.]]> 448 Octavia E. Butler 0446610380 Aayla 2 2023, futuristic 4.31 1998 Parable of the Talents (Earthseed, #2)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1998
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/28
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: 2023, futuristic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)]]> 41161349
Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others' pain.

Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith...and a startling vision of human destiny.

This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler “pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale� (John Green, New York Times)—now with a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin.]]> 329 Octavia E. Butler 1538732181 Aayla 4 4.17 1993 Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/21
date added: 2023/02/21
shelves: 2023, contemporary-fiction, futuristic
review:

]]> Binti: The Complete Trilogy 40382407 Includes a brand-new Binti story!

Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, the Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning Binti trilogy, the story of one extraordinary girl's journey from her home to distant Oomza University.

In her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella, Nnedi Okorafor introduced us to Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. Despite her family's concerns, Binti's talent for mathematics and her aptitude with astrolabes make her a prime candidate to undertake this interstellar journey.

But everything changes when the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti's spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination.

There is more to the history of the Medusae--and their war with the Khoush--than first meets the eye. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace.

Collected now for the first time in omnibus form, follow Binti's story in this groundbreaking sci-fi trilogy.]]> 368 Nnedi Okorafor 0756415195 Aayla 3 2023, science-fiction 4.05 2019 Binti: The Complete Trilogy
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/18
date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: 2023, science-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wings of Ebony (Wings of Ebony, #1)]]> 54304072
Rue is the only half-god, half-human there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life.

Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves. Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her ancestors� power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the ground.]]> 354 J. Elle 1534470670 Aayla 0 dnf 3.84 2021 Wings of Ebony (Wings of Ebony, #1)
author: J. Elle
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Task-Centered User Interface Design]]> 22129413 190 Clayton Lewis Aayla 0 3.50 1994 Task-Centered User Interface Design
author: Clayton Lewis
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: design, nonfiction, textbooks, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times]]> 642245
We always have a choice in how we react to the circumstances of our lives. We can let them harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and allow our inherent human kindness to shine through. Here Pema Chödrön provides essential tools for dealing with the many difficulties that life throws our way, teaching us how to awaken our basic human goodness and connect deeply with others—to accept ourselves and everything around us complete with faults and imperfections. She shows the strength that comes from staying in touch with what’s happening in our lives right now and helps us unmask the ways in which our egos cause us to resist life as it is. If we go to the places that scare us, Pema suggests, we just might find the boundless life we’ve always dreamed of.

This book is printed on deckled edge paper.]]> 139 Pema Chödrön 1570629218 Aayla 0 2014, dnf 4.43 2001 The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
author: Pema Chödrön
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: 2014, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle, #2)]]> 45978
Darkness falls…despair abounds…evil reigns�

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesmera, land of the elves, for further training in the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. Soon he is on the journey of a lifetime, his eyes open to awe-inspring new places and people, his days filled with fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and nothing is what it seems. Before long, Eragon doesn't know whom he can trust.

Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle–one that might put Eragon in even graver danger.

Will the king's dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life. . . .]]> 704 Christopher Paolini 0375840400 Aayla 0 fantasy, young-adult, dnf 4.04 2005 Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle, #2)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: fantasy, young-adult, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers]]> 3152641
In The Age of Anxiety, Andrea Tone draws on a broad array of original sources—manufacturers� files, FDA reports, letters, government investigations, and interviews with inventors, physicians, patients, and activists—to provide the first comprehensive account of the rise of America’s tranquilizer culture. She transports readers from the bomb shelters of the Cold War to the scientific optimism of the Baby Boomers, to the “just say no� Puritanism of the late 1970s and 1980s.

A vibrant history of America’s long and turbulent affair with tranquilizers, The Age of Anxiety casts new light on what it has meant to seek synthetic solutions to everyday angst.]]> 320 Andrea Tone 0465086586 Aayla 0 3.89 2008 The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers
author: Andrea Tone
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: 2015, psychology, nonfiction, dnf
review:

]]> Tinkers 3381339 Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature.]]> 191 Paul Harding 193413712X Aayla 0 dnf 3.40 2009 Tinkers
author: Paul Harding
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Everything is Illuminated 256566 276 Jonathan Safran Foer 0060529709 Aayla 1 dnf
The parts by Alex are incredibly humorous without trying to be humorous because of the way he butchers the English language and speaks so candidly. However, the narrative about the author is so confusing and non-linear and convoluted that I couldn't follow it, let alone enjoy it. The references to all of the Jewish customs were like an inside joke that the reader wasn't supposed to be let in on, malign it all the more foreign and unenjoyable for me.

I forced myself through half of tthe book, so now I don't feel guilty for not having tried. I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't understand Judaism and its culture because you will just be lost and annoyed otherwise.]]> 3.91 2002 Everything is Illuminated
author: Jonathan Safran Foer
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2002
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:
I really wanted to like this book, but the truth is that it is awful. There are presumably two narrators: the author of the book (Jonathan) and a young adult male named Alex.

The parts by Alex are incredibly humorous without trying to be humorous because of the way he butchers the English language and speaks so candidly. However, the narrative about the author is so confusing and non-linear and convoluted that I couldn't follow it, let alone enjoy it. The references to all of the Jewish customs were like an inside joke that the reader wasn't supposed to be let in on, malign it all the more foreign and unenjoyable for me.

I forced myself through half of tthe book, so now I don't feel guilty for not having tried. I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't understand Judaism and its culture because you will just be lost and annoyed otherwise.
]]> <![CDATA[How the Body Works: A Comprehensive Illustrated Encychlopeida of Anatomy]]> 5279373 Arranged according to the body’s different structures and systems, How The Body Works comes with over 1250 fully annotated color photographs, medical imaging and artworks. From the brain to the heart to the elbow, from the left ventricle to the cranial nerves, from how we hear to how we age, How The Body Works is a highly detailed but simply written, comprehensive guide that will appeal to general readers and students alike.]]> 512 Peter H. Abrahams 1905704577 Aayla 0 dnf 4.45 How the Body Works: A Comprehensive Illustrated Encychlopeida of Anatomy
author: Peter H. Abrahams
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> Brave New World Revisited 5481 Brave New World first appeared in 1932, its shocking analysis of a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future. Here, in one of the most important and fascinating books of his career, Aldous Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy. He scrutinizes threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. Brave New World Revisited is a trenchant plea that humankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late. Brave New World Revisted (first published in 1958) is not a reissue or revision Brave New World. Brave New World is a novel, whereas Brave New World Revisted is a nonfiction exploration of the themes in Brave New World.]]> 123 Aldous Huxley 0060898526 Aayla 0 dnf 3.94 1958 Brave New World Revisited
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1958
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> The Casual Vacancy 13497818 A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN�

When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford appears to be an English idyll—with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey—but behind its charming façade lies a town at war. The rich clash with the poor, teenagers battle their parents, wives contend with their husbands, and teachers struggle with their pupils. Pagford is far from what it seems.

The empty seat Barry leaves on the town council becomes the catalyst for the fiercest conflict the town has ever seen. The election to fill his seat is fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations. Who will triumph in this battle of wills?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.]]> 503 J.K. Rowling 0316228532 Aayla 1 dnf 3.28 2012 The Casual Vacancy
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2012
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children #4)]]> 226748 Librarian note: See an alternate cover edition here.

Jean M. Auel’s enthralling Earth’s Children® series has become a literary phenomenon, beloved by readers around the world. In a brilliant novel as vividly authentic and entertaining as those that came before, Jean M. Auel returns us to the earliest days of humankind and to the captivating adventures of the courageous woman called Ayla.

With her companion, Jondalar, Ayla sets out on her most dangerous and daring journey--away from the welcoming hearths of the Mammoth Hunters and into the unknown. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but sparsely populated and treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the pair among strangers. Some will be intrigued by Ayla and Jondalar, with their many innovative skills, including the taming of wild horses and a wolf; others will avoid them, threatened by what they cannot understand; and some will threaten them. But Ayla, with no memory of her own people, and Jondalar, with a hunger to return to his, are impelled by their own deep drives to continue their trek across the spectacular heart of an unmapped world to find that place they can both call home.]]> 865 Jean M. Auel 0553289411 Aayla 0 historical-fiction, dnf 3.67 1990 The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children #4)
author: Jean M. Auel
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: historical-fiction, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The New Meditation Handbook: Meditations to Make Our Life Happy and Meaningful]]> 6416828 239 Kelsang Gyatso 0981727719 Aayla 4 spirituality, dnf 3.93 1990 The New Meditation Handbook: Meditations to Make Our Life Happy and Meaningful
author: Kelsang Gyatso
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: spirituality, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Savor: A Buddhist Guide to Mindful Eating and Achieving a Healthier Weight, Combining Nutritional Science and Mindfulness Techniques for Lasting Change]]> 6945539
Too many of us are in a cycle of shame and guilt. We spend countless hours worrying about what we ate or if we exercised enough, blaming ourselves for actions that we can't undo. We are stuck in the past and unable to live in the present--that moment in which we do have the power to make changes in our lives.

With Savor, world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and Harvard nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung show us how to end our struggles with weight once and for all.

Offering practical tools, including personalized goal setting, a detailed nutrition guide, and a mindful living plan, the authors help us to uncover the roots of our habits and then guide us as we transform our actions. Savor teaches us how to easily adopt the practice of mindfulness and integrate it into eating, exercise, and all facets of our daily life, so that being conscious and present becomes a core part of our being.

It is the awareness of the present moment, the realization of why we do what we do, that enables us to stop feeling bad and start changing our behavior. Savor not only helps us achieve the healthy weight and well-being we seek, but it also brings to the surface the rich abundance of life available to us in every moment.]]> 304 Thich Nhat Hanh 0061697699 Aayla 0 spirituality, dnf 3.55 2010 Savor: A Buddhist Guide to Mindful Eating and Achieving a Healthier Weight, Combining Nutritional Science and Mindfulness Techniques for Lasting Change
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Aayla
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: spirituality, dnf
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)]]> 55659534 “No series since George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire has quite captured both palace intrigue and the way that tribal infighting and war hurt the vulnerable the most.â€� â€�PasteĚýMagazine

The final chapter in the bestselling, critically acclaimed Daevabad Trilogy, in which a con-woman and an idealistic djinn prince join forces to save a magical kingdom from a devastating civil war.

Daevabad has fallen.

After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.

But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.

Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.

As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.]]> 766 S.A. Chakraborty 0062678175 Aayla 4 2023, fantasy, magic 4.61 2020 The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy, #3)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/06
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: 2023, fantasy, magic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy, #2)]]> 39988431 Return to Daevabad in the spellbinding sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS.

Nahri’s life changed forever the moment she accidentally summoned Dara, a formidable, mysterious djinn, during one of her schemes. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.

Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of the battle that saw Dara slain at Prince Ali’s hand, Nahri must forge a new path for herself, without the protection of the guardian who stole her heart or the counsel of the prince she considered a friend. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her familyand one misstep will doom her tribe.

Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid, the unpredictable water spirits, have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.]]> 625 S.A. Chakraborty 0008239444 Aayla 0 2023, fantasy, magic 4.37 2019 The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy, #2)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/29
date added: 2023/01/29
shelves: 2023, fantasy, magic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)]]> 32718027
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...]]> 532 S.A. Chakraborty 0062678108 Aayla 5 2023, fantasy, magic 4.12 2017 The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1)
author: S.A. Chakraborty
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/27
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves: 2023, fantasy, magic
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action]]> 7108725 Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. It was their natural ability to start with why that enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don't do so because they have to; they follow because they want to.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.]]> 256 Simon Sinek 1591842808 Aayla 0 2023, nonfiction 4.10 2009 Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
author: Simon Sinek
name: Aayla
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/27
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves: 2023, nonfiction
review:
Very illuminating and will probably fundamentally change the way I think about work and mission, but also super repetitive. He could have used more diverse examples instead of rehashing the same ones over and over.
]]>