John's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 10:25:57 -0700 60 John's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[God's War: A New History of the Crusades]]> 64535 God's War offers a sweeping new vision of one of history's most astounding the Crusades.

From 1096 to 1500, European Christians fought to recreate the Middle East, Muslim Spain, and the pagan Baltic in the image of their God. The Crusades are perhaps both the most familiar and most misunderstood phenomena of the medieval world, and here Christopher Tyerman seeks to recreate, from the ground up, the centuries of violence committed as an act of religious devotion.

The result is a stunning reinterpretation of the Crusades, revealed as both bloody political acts and a manifestation of a growing Christian communal identity. Tyerman uncovers a system of belief bound by aggression, paranoia, and wishful thinking, and a culture founded on war as an expression of worship, social discipline, and Christian charity.

This astonishing historical narrative is imbued with figures that have become legends--Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus. But Tyerman also delves beyond these leaders to examine the thousands and thousands of Christian men--from Knights Templars to mercenaries to peasants--who, in the name of their Savior, abandoned their homes to conquer distant and alien lands, as well as the countless people who defended their soil and eventually turned these invaders back. With bold analysis, Tyerman explicates the contradictory mix of genuine piety, military ferocity, and plain greed that motivated generations of Crusaders. He also offers unique insight into the maturation of a militant Christianity that defined Europe's identity and that has forever influenced the cyclical antagonisms between the Christian and Muslim worlds.

Drawing on all of the most recent scholarship, and told with great verve and authority, God's War is the definitive account of a fascinating and horrifying story that continues to haunt our contemporary world.

(20060724)]]> 1040 Christopher Tyerman John 0 currently-reading 3.99 2006 God's War: A New History of the Crusades
author: Christopher Tyerman
name: John
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen]]> 157056
During World War II, American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte, Nebraska, on troop trains en route to their ultimate destinations in Europe and the Pacific. The tiny town, wanting to offer the servicemen warmth and support, transformed its modest railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen.

Every day of the year, every day of the war, the Canteen—staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers—was open from five a.m. until the last troop train of the day pulled away after midnight. Astonishingly, this remote plains community of only 12,000 people provided welcoming words, friendship, and baskets of food and treats to more than six million GIs by the time the war ended.

In this poignant and heartwarming eyewitness history, based on interviews with North Platte residents and the soldiers who once passed through, Bob Greene tells a classic, lost-in-the-mists-of-time American story of a grateful country honoring its brave and dedicated sons.]]> 264 Bob Greene 006008197X John 0 to-read 3.85 2002 Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen
author: Bob Greene
name: John
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Under His Wings: How Faith on the Front Lines Has Protected American Troops]]> 209444280 In this celebration of faith and freedom, Fox News Co-Host Emily CompagnoĚýshares first person accountsĚýthat show theĚýprofound role belief inĚýGod has played in the lives of U.S. military servicemembers as they served in combatĚýfrom World War I to today—commemorating the courage, camaraderie, spirit, and sacrifice of America’s heroes.

In this moving and evocative collection, Emily Compagno explores the enduring role faith has played in the lives of American soldiers during wartime. Descending from a long line of respected Navy and US Army veterans, Compagno offers unique insight into the importance of faith during times of hardship. She shares stories from generations of servicemen along with her own experience visiting American troops in Iraq and Kuwait when she was a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders.

From World War I to current conflicts in the Middle East, Under His Wings blends the historical with the personal, featuring first-hand accounts from veterans whose religious beliefs emboldened them to persevere as they faced their own mortality on the fields of battle.

Each chapter is highlighted by a range of fascinating stories, including celebrity visits to the frontlines with the USO—from Marilyn Monroe to President Ronald Reagan�, as well as heartfelt letters between soldiers and their loved ones and treasured family photographs.

Following the massive success of Modern Warriors, Faith Still Moves Mountains, and All American Christmas, this moving Fox News book is both an homage to the spirit of prayer and a heartfelt thank-you to our troops. Sure to become a treasured keepsake, Under His Wings is an inspiring reminder of the power of faith that will uplift the spirit through the holidays and beyond, for years to come.Ěý]]> 272 Emily Compagno 0063417650 John 0 to-read 4.50 2024 Under His Wings: How Faith on the Front Lines Has Protected American Troops
author: Emily Compagno
name: John
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune]]> 112975117
The story of the Astors is a quintessentially American story—of ambition, invention, destruction, and reinvention.

From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society.

The family fortune, first made by a beaver trapping business that grew into an empire, was then amplified by holdings in Manhattan real estate. Over the ensuing generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic, one of many shocking and unexpected twists in the family’s story.

In this unconventional, page-turning historical biography, featuring black-and-white and color photographs, #1 New York Times bestselling authors Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe chronicle the lives of the Astors and explore what the Astor name has come to mean in America—offering a window onto the making of America itself.]]> 322 Anderson Cooper 0062964704 John 0 currently-reading 3.71 2023 Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune
author: Anderson Cooper
name: John
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)]]> 214175243 NYPD Detective Michael Bennett will stop at nothing to protect family: his wife, his kids—and his fellow officers—in the latest psychological thriller from bestselling author James Patterson.

At every death scene, Bennett says a prayer over the victim.
But recently, too many of the departed have been fellow cops.
“I want you to look at these deaths on special assignment,� NYPD Inspector Celeste Cantor says. “Report only to me.�
Bennett excels as a solo investigator. But he’s chasing a killer who feeds on isolation� and paranoia.]]> 384 James Patterson 0316403687 John 3 4.14 2025 Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)
author: James Patterson
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
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]]> <![CDATA[The House of Cross (Alex Cross #33)]]> 209456063 The thirty-second instalment in James Patterson's globally bestselling Alex Cross series. It’s time to put the guns down, Detective Cross. Even if you knew the way out of this place, we would catch you.

A serial killer is taking out America’s finest legal minds, and Alex Cross is called to investigate their brutal murders. But during a dangerous mission to track down the killer, his wife, Bree, and best friend, John Sampson, go missing. To save the people he loves most, Cross has only three goals:
Number one: Find Bree and John.
Number two: Escape.
Number three: Survive.

If he fails, there will be no one left in the House of Cross.]]> 416 James Patterson 0316402680 John 3 4.14 2024 The House of Cross (Alex Cross #33)
author: James Patterson
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
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]]> My Dear Hamilton 41014257 New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. Haunting, moving, and beautifully written, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza’s story as it’s never been told before—not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal—but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

A general’s daughter�

Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she’s captivated by the young officer’s charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton’s bastard birth and the uncertainties of war.

A founding father’s wife...

But the union they create—in their marriage and the new nation—is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all—including the political treachery of America’s first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness.

The last surviving light of the Revolution�

When a duel destroys Eliza’s hard-won peace, the grieving widow fights her husband’s enemies to preserve Alexander’s legacy. But long-buried secrets threaten everything Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy. Questioning her tireless devotion to the man and country that have broken her heart, she’s left with one last battle—to understand the flawed man she married and the imperfect union he could never have created without her…]]> 652 Stephanie Dray John 0 4.32 2018 My Dear Hamilton
author: Stephanie Dray
name: John
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America]]> 397483
Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.

The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.

Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe]]> 464 Erik Larson 0609608444 John 4 4.02 2003 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
author: Erik Larson
name: John
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross, #2)]]> 13148
In Los Angeles, a reporter investigating a series of murders is killed.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a beautiful medical intern suddenly disappears.

And in Washington D.C., Cross needs to find the solution to the most baffling and terrifying murder case ever. Two clever pattern killers are collaborating, cooperating, competing - and they are working coast to coast. Is Alex Cross up to the challenge?]]> 481 James Patterson 0446677388 John 3 3.99 1995 Kiss the Girls (Alex Cross, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: John
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1995
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914]]> 17345257
Beginning in the early nineteenth century and ending with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, award-winning historian Margaret Macmillan uncovers the huge political and technological changes, national decisions, and just as important, the small moments of human muddle and weakness that led Europe from peace to disaster. This masterful exploration of how Europe chose its path towards war will change and enrich how we see this defining moment in history.]]> 739 Margaret MacMillan 140006855X John 5 4.21 2013 The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914
author: Margaret MacMillan
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster]]> 1898
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.]]> 368 Jon Krakauer John 5 4.24 1997 Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
author: Jon Krakauer
name: John
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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date added: 2025/01/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania]]> 22551730
On May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone, and for months, its U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds" and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. He knew, moreover, that his ship - the fastest then in service - could outrun any threat.

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger's U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small - hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more--all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.

It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour, mystery, and real-life suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope Riddle to President Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.]]> 430 Erik Larson 0307408868 John 5 4.10 2015 Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
author: Erik Larson
name: John
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
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review:
Excellent history of the last voyage of the Lucitania.
]]> Don Quixote 130842808 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra John 5 4.30 1615 Don Quixote
author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
name: John
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1615
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/12
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review:
This 920 pages book was first published in 1605! It is entertaining and well written.
]]> <![CDATA[The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation]]> 55959562 The story of the fascinating, fraught alliance among Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Maria Weston Chapman—and of how its break-up led to theĚýsuccess of America's most important social movement Ěý
Ěý
In the crucial early years of the Abolition movement, the Boston branch of the cause seized upon the star power of the eloquent ex-slave Frederick Douglass to make its case for slaves' freedom. Journalist ĚýWilliam Lloyd GarrisonĚýpromoted emancipation while Garrison loyalist Maria Weston Chapman, known as the “Contessa,â€� raised money and managed Douglassâ€� speaking tour from her Boston townhouse.Ěý
Ěý
Conventional histories have seen Douglassâ€� departure for the New York wing of the Abolition party as a result of a rift between Douglass and Garrison. ĚýBut, as acclaimed historian Linda Hirshman reveals,Ěýthis completely misses the woman in power. ĚýWeston Chapman wrote cutting letters to Douglass, doubting his loyalty; the Bostonian abolitionists were shot through with racist prejudice, even aiming the N-word at Douglass among themselves. Through incisive, original analysis, Hirshman convinces that the inevitableĚýbreak-up was in factĚýa successful failure. ĚýEventually, as the most sought-after Black activist in America, Douglass was able to dangle the prize of his endorsement over the Republican Party’s candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln. Two years later the abolition of slavery—if not the abolition of racism—became immutable law. Ěý
Ěý]]> 352 Linda R. Hirshman 132890024X John 0 to-read 3.79 2022 The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation
author: Linda R. Hirshman
name: John
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World]]> 53138220 The remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule.

Brunhild was a Spanish princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet—in the 6th-century Merovingian Empire, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport—these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe.

The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them, mothered children and lost them. They fought a years-long civil war—against each other. With ingenuity and skill, they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft, and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne’s empire. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegund’s deaths—one gentle, the other horrific—their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend.

In The Dark Queens, award-winning writer Shelley Puhak sets the record straight. She resurrects two very real women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of an unfamiliar time and striking at the roots of some of our culture’s stubbornest myths about female power. The Dark Queens offers proof that the relationships between women can transform the world.]]> 384 Shelley Puhak 1635574919 John 0 to-read 4.09 2022 The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World
author: Shelley Puhak
name: John
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[History of the Netherlands: Complete 5 Novels - Prince and Heretic, William by the Grace of God, William of Orange Trilogy (I Will Maintain, Defender of ... King) (Timeless Wisdom Collection #4110)]]> 25723274

PRINCE AND HERETIC (1914)
WILLIAM BY THE GRACE OF GOD (1916)
WILLIAM OF ORANGE TRILOGY
I WILL MAINTAIN (1910)
DEFENDER OF THE FAITH (1911
GOD AND THE KING (1911)]]> 1726 Marjorie Bowen John 0 to-read 0.0 2015 History of the Netherlands: Complete 5 Novels - Prince and Heretic, William by the Grace of God, William of Orange Trilogy (I Will Maintain, Defender of ... King) (Timeless Wisdom Collection #4110)
author: Marjorie Bowen
name: John
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West]]> 42201377
As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River.

McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them.]]> 330 David McCullough 1501168681 John 0 to-read 3.75 2019 The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
author: David McCullough
name: John
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War]]> 35224674 The Field of Blood, the historian Joanne B. Freeman offers a new and dramatically rendered portrait of American politics in its rowdiest years. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that today's hyperpolarized environment cannot compare with the turbulent atmosphere of the decades before the Civil War, when the U.S. Congress itself was rife with conflict. Legislative sessions were routinely punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slug-fests. Congressmen drew pistols and waved bowie knives at rivals. One representative even killed another in a duel. Many were bullied in an attempt to intimidate them into compliance or silence, particularly on the issue of slavery.

These fights didn't happen in a vacuum. Freeman's accounts of fistfights and threats tell a larger story of how bullying, brawling, and the press - and the powerful emotions they elicited - raised tensions between North and South and fueled the coming of the war. In the process, she brings the antebellum Congress to life, revealing its rough realities - the feel, sense, and sound of it - as well as its nation-shaping import. Funny, tragic, and rivetingly told, The Field of Blood offers a front-row view of congressional mayhem and sheds new light on the careers of luminaries such as John Quincy Adams and Thomas Hart Benton, as well as introducing a host of lesser-known but no less fascinating characters. We see slaveholders silence Northerners with threats and violence. We learn how newspapers promoted conspiracy theories that helped polarize the nation. And we witness an entire legislative chamber erupt into a massive fist-throwing, spittoon-tossing battle royal. By 1860, armed congressmen, some carrying pistols sent by their constituents, fully expected bloody combat in the House. In effect, the first battles of the Civil War were fought in Congress itself.

The Field of Blood demonstrates how a country can come apart as conflicts over personal honor, party loyalty, and moral principle combine and escalate. The result is a fresh understanding of the workings of American democracy and the bonds of Union on the eve of their greatest peril.]]> 450 Joanne B. Freeman 0374154775 John 0 to-read 4.08 2018 The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
author: Joanne B. Freeman
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Little Women (Little Women, #1)]]> 1934 This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780451529305.

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

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

]]> 449 Louisa May Alcott John 4 4.16 1868 Little Women (Little Women, #1)
author: Louisa May Alcott
name: John
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1868
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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]]> Alaska 42953 Alaska traces a bold and majestic saga of the enduring spirit of a land and its people.]]> 868 James A. Michener 037576142X John 4 Michener's books are beginning to fall into a similar pattern.]]> 4.13 1988 Alaska
author: James A. Michener
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:
This book has 1124 pages. Not the 800 or so listed on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.
Michener's books are beginning to fall into a similar pattern.
]]> The Story Collector 205899692 In a quiet village in Ireland, a mysterious local myth is about to change everything�

One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life.

In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets � secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.

With a taste for the magical in everyday life, Evie Woods's latest novel is full of ordinary characters with extraordinary tales to tell.]]> 358 Evie Gaughan 0008706662 John 0 4.02 2018 The Story Collector
author: Evie Gaughan
name: John
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
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]]> A Prayer for Owen Meany 4473 637 John Irving 0552135399 John 5 4.24 1989 A Prayer for Owen Meany
author: John Irving
name: John
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:
Great story with unusual characters.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike, #8)]]> 210081845 32 Robert Galbraith John 0 to-read 4.50 2025 The Hallmarked Man (Cormoran Strike, #8)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: John
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Deceivers (Greystone Secrets #2)]]> 44594892 The second book in the Greystone Secrets series from the master of plot twists, Margaret Peterson Haddix—perfect for fans of A Wrinkle in Time and The City of Ember!

Until their mother vanished, the Greystone kids—Chess, Emma, and Finn—knew nothing about the other world.

Everything is different there. It’s a mirror image, except things are wrong. Evil. Their mother tried to fix it, but she and an ally got trapped there along with Ms. Morales, their friend Natalie’s mom.

Now the four kids—brave Chess, smart Emma, kind Finn, and savvy Natalie—are determined to rescue everyone.

To do so, they have to go into the other world, where even telling the truth can be illegal.

But in such a terrifying place, Chess doubts he can ever be brave enough. Despite all her brains, Emma can’t seem to break the code. With everything spiraling out of control, Finn has to pretend he’s okay.

And for Natalie, the lies of the other world include some she wishes were actually true. What if she’s gotten so used to lying she no longer knows what to believe?

The second book in the Greystone Secrets series, The Deceivers, by bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix, continues the twisty and suspenseful story of the Greystone kids and examines the power of the truth—or a lie—to alter lives, society, and even an entire reality.

]]> 447 Margaret Peterson Haddix 0062838423 John 5 4.06 2020 The Deceivers (Greystone Secrets #2)
author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
name: John
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/28
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Jane Eyre 10210 Alternate editions can be found here and here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis in Penguin Classics.

Charlotte Brontë tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 532 Charlotte Brontë 0142437204 John 5 4.14 1847 Jane Eyre
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1847
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/13
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Help 4667024
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women, mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends, view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.


Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here]]> 464 Kathryn Stockett 0399155341 John 5 4.46 2009 The Help
author: Kathryn Stockett
name: John
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Lost Bookshop 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

â€The thing about books,â€� she said â€is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.â€�

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found�

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 John 5 Great story! 4.04 2023 The Lost Bookshop
author: Evie Woods
name: John
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/31
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves:
review:
Great story!
]]> <![CDATA[The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War]]> 195608683 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Ěý
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.�
Ěý
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Ěý
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.]]> 565 Erik Larson 0385348746 John 5 4.13 2024 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
author: Erik Larson
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Swan Song (Nantucket, #4) 200484931 In the grand finale of "queen of the beach read" Elin Hilderbrand's beloved Nantucket novels, there's a new couple in town... and they instantly shake things up. Amid the extravagant parties on land and sea, there's trouble on the island, forcing Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh to postpone his retirement and changing the fabric of life on the picturesque island forever...

After thirty-five years serving as the Chief of Police on the island of Nantucket, Ed Kapenash's heart can no longer take the stress. But his plans to retire are thwarted when, with only three days left to serve, he receives a phone call. A 22-million-dollar summer home, recently purchased by the flashy new couple in town, the Richardsons, has burned to the ground. The Richardsons are far from hurt—in fact, they're out on the water, throwing a lavish party on their yacht—but when news of the fire reaches them, they discover that their personal assistant has vanished. The Chief is well-acquainted with the Richardsons, and his daughter is best friends with the now-missing girl, leaving him no choice but to postpone his retirement and take on the double case.

On a small island like Nantucket, the Richardsons shook things up from the second they stepped on to the scene, throwing luxurious parties and doing whatever they could to gain admittance to the coveted lunches at the Field & Oar Club (with increasing desperation). They instantly captured the attention of local real estate agent Fast Eddie, and the town gossip Blond Sharon, both dealing with their own personal dramas. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce, and in order to avoid becoming a cliché, she's enrolled in a creative writing class, putting her natural affinity for scandal towards a more noble purpose. To solve the case of the fire and track down his daughter's best friend, the Chief will have to string together the pieces of the lives of all of these characters and more, rallying his strength for his final act of service to the tight-knit community he knows and loves.

The last of Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling Nantucket novels, Swan Song is a propulsive medley of glittering gatherings, sun-soaked drama, wisdom and heart, featuring the return of some of her most beloved characters, including, most importantly, the beautiful and timeless island of Nantucket itself.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258873 John 5 3.98 2024 Swan Song (Nantucket, #4)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
shelves:
review:
I love her books. Have read every one.
]]> <![CDATA[Crosshairs (Michael Bennett, #16)]]> 195834283
A sniper dubbed “The Long Shot Killer� is taking out impossible targets in New York City.

As the unknown shooter’s hit list mounts, Detective Michael Bennett calls for reinforcements.

Officer Rob Trilling doesn’t like to talk about himself.ĚýBut he has an impressive resume as a former Army Ranger who’s won a Bronze Star and recognition as a sniper with NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit.Ěý

​Bennett struggles to connect with the soldier, barely older than his own ten kids, especiallyĚýwhen Trilling begins to log unexplained absences from duty.Ěý

Trilling may be more comfortable with rifles than he is with people, but only Bennett can prove whether his partner is a lonely hunter or a hardened assassin.Ěý]]> 400 James Patterson 031640358X John 3 4.47 2024 Crosshairs (Michael Bennett, #16)
author: James Patterson
name: John
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/28
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Act of Defiance (Jack Ryan Universe, #38)]]> 197536561
US intelligence says there's something going on in Russia. While their land forces have been decimated by corruption and incompetence, the Navy seems to be pouring money into some secret project.Ěý

Analysts are stumped, until the knot is untangled by one particularly bright young woman at the Office of Naval Intelligence--Katie Ryan, the youngest daughter of President Jack Ryan. Like her father, she sees patterns where other don't, and she's determined that the Russians are about to launch a super missile submarine, the Belgorod.Ěý

Now the race is on to determine where the sub is and whether it poses a threat to the continental US.]]> 548 Brian Andrews 0593422872 John 4 4.49 2024 Act of Defiance (Jack Ryan Universe, #38)
author: Brian Andrews
name: John
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves:
review:
It is hard to follow such a great book as The Hunt for Red October with a sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire]]> 24212581
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
THE NEW YORK TIMES - ESQUIRE - THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

"Victoria the Queen, Julia Baird's exquisitely wrought and meticulously researched biography, brushes the dusty myth off this extraordinary monarch."--The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)

When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would threaten many of Europe's monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public's expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe. In a world where women were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand. Fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother's meddling and an adviser's bullying, forging an iron will of her own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished the freedom it brought her. At twenty, she fell passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping conventional boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of steadfastness and security--queen of a quarter of the world's population at the height of the British Empire's reach. Drawing on sources that include fresh revelations about Victoria's relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning.]]> 696 Julia Baird 1400069882 John 5 I wish she had favored women's right to vote. I never understood why she favored women NOT voting when she had struggled every day to be accepted as a woman leader.

There are 504 pages in the book with notes going to 696. The author wanted to be sure she documented everything!]]> 4.19 2016 Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire
author: Julia Baird
name: John
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/21
date added: 2024/05/21
shelves:
review:
I read this book after watching a movie about Victoria's young life. She definitely "endured." 8 assignation attempts, her carriage overturning, 9 children.
I wish she had favored women's right to vote. I never understood why she favored women NOT voting when she had struggled every day to be accepted as a woman leader.

There are 504 pages in the book with notes going to 696. The author wanted to be sure she documented everything!
]]> <![CDATA[The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz]]> 51187948
On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally-and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.

Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports-some released only recently-Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill's "Secret Circle," including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann.

The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when-in the face of unrelenting horror-Churchill's eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together."--]]> 546 Erik Larson 038534872X John 5 4.30 2020 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
author: Erik Larson
name: John
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Hawaii 12658 An alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener brings Hawaii’s epic history vividly to life in a classic saga that has captivated readers since its initial publication in 1959. As the volcanic Hawaiian Islands sprout from the ocean floor, the land remains untouched for centuries—until, little more than a thousand years ago, Polynesian seafarers make the perilous journey across the Pacific, flourishing in this tropical paradise according to their ancient traditions. Then, in the early nineteenth century, American missionaries arrive, bringing with them a new creed and a new way of life. Based on exhaustive research and told in Michener’s immersive prose, Hawaii is the story of disparate peoples struggling to keep their identity, live in harmony, and, ultimately, join together.]]> 937 James A. Michener 0375760377 John 5 Great story.]]> 4.21 1959 Hawaii
author: James A. Michener
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/27
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves:
review:
The author's use of first person in the latter part of the book comes to light on the last page.
Great story.
]]> The Firm 8151315 Ěý
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It’s a dream job for an up-and-comer—if he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue.ĚýWith no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets—if he hopes to stay alive…]]> 541 John Grisham John 5 4.40 1991 The Firm
author: John Grisham
name: John
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/28
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) 32307358 This an alternate cover for B01LY7FD0D

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement--the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 482 Dan Brown John 4 3.87 2017 Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)
author: Dan Brown
name: John
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/11/01
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Chesapeake 12661 1024 James A. Michener 0812970438 John 5 We need the Chesapeake to be clean and prosperous.]]> 4.19 1978 Chesapeake
author: James A. Michener
name: John
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/18
date added: 2024/04/18
shelves:
review:
This book covers every aspect of life on the East Coast and several world events.
We need the Chesapeake to be clean and prosperous.
]]> <![CDATA[The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression]]> 3419805 568 Amity Shlaes 0060936428 John 5 3.96 2007 The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
author: Amity Shlaes
name: John
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2013/07/27
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor]]> 123266603 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account." � Publishers Weekly

A U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor; a Japanese spy ordered to Hawaii to gather information on the American fleet. On December 7, 1941, their hidden stories are exposed by a morning of bloodshed that would change the world forever. Scrutinizing long-buried historical documents, NCIS star Mark Harmon and co-author Leon Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, have brought forth a true-life NCIS story of deception, discovery, and danger.

Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island's residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet.

Douglas Wada's experiences in his native Honolulu include posing undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate, and interrogating America's first captured POW of World War II, a submarine officer found on the beach. Takeo Yoshikawa is a Japanese spy operating as a junior diplomat with the consulate who is collecting vital information that goes straight to Admiral Yamamoto. Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu's gripping depiction of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of the second world war.

Also caught in the upheaval are Honolulu's innocent residents - including Douglas Wada's father - who endure the war's anti-Japanese fervor and a cadre of intelligence professionals who must prevent Hawaii from adopting the same destructive mass internments as California.

Ghosts of Honolulu depicts the incredible high stakes game of naval intelligence and the need to define what is real and what only appears to be real.]]> 272 Mark Harmon 1400337011 John 0 to-read 3.58 2023 Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
author: Mark Harmon
name: John
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The First Ladies 63024287
The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows she becomes a celebrity, revered by titans of business and recognized by U.S. Presidents. Eleanor Roosevelt herself is awestruck and eager to make her acquaintance. Initially drawn together because of their shared belief in women’s rights and the power of education, Mary and Eleanor become fast friends confiding their secrets, hopes and dreams—and holding each other’s hands through tragedy and triumph.
Ěý
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president, the two women begin to collaborate more closely, particularly as Eleanor moves toward her own agenda separate from FDR, a consequence of the devastating discovery of her husband’s secret love affair. Eleanor becomes a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly onĚýcivil rights. And when she receives threats because of her strong ties to Mary, it only fuels the women’s desire to fight together for justice and equality.
Ěý
ThisĚýis the story of two different, yet equally formidable, passionate, and committed women, and the way in whichĚýtheir singular friendshipĚýhelped form the foundation for the modern civil rights movement.]]> 389 Marie Benedict 0593440285 John 5 3.96 2023 The First Ladies
author: Marie Benedict
name: John
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ways of White Folks: Stories (Vintage Classics)]]> 12403860 A collection of vibrant and incisive short stories depicting the sometimes humorous, but more often tragic interactions between Black people and white people in America in the 1920s and �30s. One of the most important writers to emerge from the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes may be best known as a poet, but these stories showcase his talent as a lively storyteller. His work blends elements of blues and jazz, speech and song, into a triumphant and wholly original idiom. Stories included in this "Cora Unashamed" "Slave on the Block" "Home" "Passing" "A Good Job Gone" "Rejuvenation Through Joy" "The Blues I'm Playing" "Red-Headed Baby" "Poor Little Black Fellow" "Little Dog" "Berry" "Mother and Child" "One Christmas Eve" "Father and Son"]]> 273 Langston Hughes John 0 to-read 4.64 1934 The Ways of White Folks: Stories (Vintage Classics)
author: Langston Hughes
name: John
average rating: 4.64
book published: 1934
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]> 59679514 848 Edward Gibbon 1398817449 John 0 currently-reading 4.62 1776 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
author: Edward Gibbon
name: John
average rating: 4.62
book published: 1776
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams]]> 60468246 Ěý
Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd and eloquent man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution. A singular figure at a singular moment, Adams amplified the Boston Massacre. He helped to mastermind the Boston Tea Party. He employed every tool available to rally a town, a colony, and eventually a band of colonies behind him, creating the cause that created a country. For his efforts he became the most wanted man in America: When Paul Revere rode to Lexington in 1775, it was to warn Samuel Adams that he was about to be arrested for treason.

In The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Schiff brings her masterful skills to Adams’s improbable life, illuminating his transformation from aimless son of a well-off family to tireless, beguiling radical who mobilized the colonies. Arresting, original, and deliriously dramatic, this is a long-overdue chapter in the history of our nation.]]> 422 Stacy Schiff 0316441112 John 4 3.64 2022 The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
author: Stacy Schiff
name: John
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/08
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World]]> 34348320 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Eric Metaxas comes a brilliant and inspiring biography of the most influential man in modern history, Martin Luther, in time for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation

On All Hallow’s Eve in 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther posted a document he hoped would spark an academic debate, but that instead ignited a conflagration that would forever destroy the world he knew. Five hundred years after Luther’s now famous Ninety-five Theses appeared, Eric Metaxas, acclaimed biographer of the bestselling Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, paints a startling portrait of the wild figure whose adamantine faith cracked the edifice of Western Christendom and dragged medieval Europe into the future. Written in riveting prose and impeccably researched, Martin Luther tells the searing tale of a humble man who, by bringing ugly truths to the highest seats of power, caused the explosion whose sound is still ringing in our ears. Luther’s monumental faith and courage gave birth to the ideals of liberty, equality, and individualism that today lie at the heart of all modern life.]]> 480 Eric Metaxas 110198001X John 5 4.07 2017 Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World
author: Eric Metaxas
name: John
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Command and Control (Jack Ryan #23)]]> 122773687 A Russian plot to seize the Panama Canal plunges President Jack Ryan into a desperate fight for his life in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

For a century, the Panama Canal has served as the path between the seas. Control of this vital waterway is the difference between free trade and chaos in world markets.

So when Panamanian President Rafael Botero asks for a show of support against the socialist opposition, his old friend President Jack Ryan can’t turn down an invitation to visit the country, but what seems like an ordinary opportunity to preach the values of democracy quickly turns into a nightmare when a full-blown coup d’état erupts.

President Ryan and his Secret Service team are cut off and out of communication. In Washington, the Vice President is coordinating a military response, but there's still one more obstacle.

One of the main forces behind the coup is the ruthless criminal organization known as the Camarilla. They’ve had their tentacles deep inside the plot to overthrow the government. All of their hard work has just presented them with an unexpected opportunity they can’t resist—the chance to kill President Jack Ryan.]]> 462 Marc Cameron 0593422848 John 5 4.46 2023 Command and Control (Jack Ryan #23)
author: Marc Cameron
name: John
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom]]> 38530663
Initially mentored by William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass spoke widely, using his own story to condemn slavery. By the Civil War, Douglass had become the most famed and widely travelled orator in the nation. In his unique and eloquent voice, written and spoken, Douglass was a fierce critic of the United States as well as a radical patriot. After the war he sometimes argued politically with younger African Americans, but he never forsook either the Republican party or the cause of black civil and political rights.

In this biography, David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historian have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglass’s newspapers.]]> 888 David W. Blight 1416590315 John 0 currently-reading 4.14 2018 Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
author: David W. Blight
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Holly 65916344 Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.� � BILL HODGES

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

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

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

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.]]> 449 Stephen King 1668016133 John 1 King has written great books that I have enjoyed, but not this one.]]> 4.01 2023 Holly
author: Stephen King
name: John
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2023/11/25
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves:
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This is a gruesome book. It's a murder mystery and would be excellent to recommend to others except for the subject.
King has written great books that I have enjoyed, but not this one.
]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 John 5 4.18 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: John
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/04
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves:
review:
This is an excellent first book written by author Alex Michaelides. It engages the reader and goes quickly!
]]> <![CDATA[The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike, #7)]]> 139399948 In the seventh installment in the Strike series, Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

Utterly pulse-pounding, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.]]> 960 Robert Galbraith 0316572101 John 5 4.56 2023 The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike, #7)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: John
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/23
date added: 2023/11/23
shelves:
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This book is an excellent story. It kept me engaged the entire time I was reading it, unlike the previous book that took about 400 pages to get me hooked.
]]> <![CDATA[The Armour of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)]]> 78089088 The grand master of gripping fiction is back. International No.1 bestseller Ken Follett returns to Kingsbridge with an epic tale of revolution and a cast of unforgettable characters.

Revolution is in the air

1792. A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France’s neighbours are on high alert.

Kingsbridge is on the edge

Unprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingbridge’s prosperous cloth mills a misery. Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart.

Tyranny is on the horizon

Now, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people - including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal’s inventive and headstrong son - will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression. . .

Taking the reader straight into the heart of history with the fifth novel in the ground-breaking Kingsbridge series, The Armour of Light is master storyteller Ken Follett’s most ambitious novel to date.]]> 752 Ken Follett 1447278836 John 4 4.10 2023 The Armour of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)
author: Ken Follett
name: John
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/11
date added: 2023/11/11
shelves:
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The book started slow for me, but after 120 pages it captured my interest.
]]> A Tale of Two Cities 1953 A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens’s great historical novel, set against the violent upheaval of the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author’s novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores many of his enduring themes—imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal.]]> 489 Charles Dickens 0141439602 John 0 currently-reading 3.86 1859 A Tale of Two Cities
author: Charles Dickens
name: John
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1859
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Washington: A Life 8255917
Despite the reverence his name inspires Washington remains a waxwork to many readers, worthy but dull, a laconic man of remarkable self-control. But in this groundbreaking work Chernow revises forever the uninspiring stereotype. He portrays Washington as a strapping, celebrated horseman, elegant dancer and tireless hunter, who guarded his emotional life with intriguing ferocity. Not only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, he orchestrated their actions to help realise his vision for the new federal government, define the separation of powers, and establish the office of the presidency.

Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning journey through all the formative events of America's founding. This is a magisterial work from one of America's foremost writers and historians.]]> 904 Ron Chernow 1594202664 John 5 4.14 2010 Washington: A Life
author: Ron Chernow
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/03
date added: 2023/09/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions-A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord - 2nd edition: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord]]> 42280161 794 Concordia Publishing House 0758665377 John 5 4.81 Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions-A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord - 2nd edition: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord
author: Concordia Publishing House
name: John
average rating: 4.81
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/26
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Complete Novels]]> 29776633
- Poor Folk
- The Double
- Netochka Nezvanova
- The Village of Stepanchikovo
- Uncle's Dream
- The Insulted and the Injured
- The House of the Dead
- Notes from Underground
- Crime and Punishment
- The Gambler
- The Idiot
- The Eternal Husband
- Demons
- The Adolescent
- The Brothers Karamazov]]> 6534 Fyodor Dostoevsky 8892587129 John 0 currently-reading 4.65 2015 Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The Complete Novels
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: John
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Beautiful Day 18137964
While the couple-to-be are quite happy, their loved ones find their own lives crumbling. In the days leading up to the wedding, love will be questioned, scandals will arise, and hearts will be broken and healed. Elin Hilderbrand takes readers on a touching journey in BEAUTIFUL DAY--into the heart of marriage, what it means to be faithful, and how we choose to honor our commitments.]]> 327 Elin Hilderbrand 0316227188 John 4 4.08 2013 Beautiful Day
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/19
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves:
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]]> Crime and Punishment 28348 564 Fyodor Dostoevsky John 5 4.32 1866 Crime and Punishment
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: John
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1866
rating: 5
read at: 2018/08/10
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves:
review:
Second time reading this classic book.
]]> The Warsaw Orphan 55004514
Using Sara's credentials to smuggle children out of the ghetto brings Elzbieta face-to-face with the reality of the war behind its walls, and to the plight of the Gorka family, who must make the impossible decision to give up their newborn daughter or watch her starve. For Roman Gorka, this final injustice stirs him to rebellion with a zeal not even his newfound love for Elzbieta can suppress. But his recklessness brings unwanted attention to Sara's cause, unwittingly putting Elzbieta and her family in harm's way until one violent act threatens to destroy their chance at freedom forever.

From Nazi occupation to the threat of a communist regime, The Warsaw Orphan is the unforgettable story of Elzbieta and Roman's perilous attempt to reclaim the love and life they once knew.]]> 416 Kelly Rimmer 1525895990 John 5 4.34 2021 The Warsaw Orphan
author: Kelly Rimmer
name: John
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/15
date added: 2023/08/15
shelves:
review:
Exceptional story. We'll written, characters were well developed and believable.
]]> Emma by Jane Austen 21948790
For Emma, raised to think well of herself, has such a high opinion of her own worth that it blinds her to the opinions of others. The story revolves around a comedy of errors: Emma befriends Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown parentage, and attempts to remake her in her own image. Ignoring the gaping difference in their respective fortunes and stations in life, Emma convinces herself and her friend that Harriet should look as high as Emma herself might for a husband--and she zeroes in on an ambitious vicar as the perfect match. At the same time, she reads too much into a flirtation with Frank Churchill, the newly arrived son of family friends, and thoughtlessly starts a rumor about poor but beautiful Jane Fairfax, the beloved niece of two genteelly impoverished elderly ladies in the village. As Emma's fantastically misguided schemes threaten to surge out of control, the voice of reason is provided by Mr. Knightly, the Woodhouse's longtime friend and neighbor. Though Austen herself described Emma as "a heroine whom no one but myself will much like," she endowed her creation with enough charm to see her through her most egregious behavior, and the saving grace of being able to learn from her mistakes. By the end of the novel Harriet, Frank, and Jane are all properly accounted for, Emma is wiser (though certainly not sadder), and the reader has had the satisfaction of enjoying Jane Austen at the height of her powers. --Alix Wilber]]> 514 Jane Austen John 3 classics 4.03 1815 Emma by Jane Austen
author: Jane Austen
name: John
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1815
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/11
date added: 2023/08/11
shelves: classics
review:

]]> Anna Karenina 15823480 Anna Karenina provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in all of literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Levin is a reflection of Tolstoy himself, often expressing the author's own views and convictions.

Throughout, Tolstoy points no moral, merely inviting us not to judge but to watch. As Rosemary Edmonds comments, 'He leaves the shifting patterns of the kaleidoscope to bring home the meaning of the brooding words following the title, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.]]> 964 Leo Tolstoy 0345803922 John 0 4.11 1878 Anna Karenina
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: John
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1878
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves:
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]]> Great Expectations 40718994 298 Charles Dickens 9897786627 John 5 4.34 1861 Great Expectations
author: Charles Dickens
name: John
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1861
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/07
date added: 2023/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oliver Twist: The Original 1838 Unabridged and Complete Edition (Charles Dickens Classics)]]> 148011227
Oliver Twist unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals, and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century. The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.

In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labour, domestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own experiences as a youth contributed as well, considering he spent two years of his life in the workhouse at the age of 12 and subsequently, missed out on some of his education.

Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations, including a 1948 film of the same title, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin; a highly successful musical, Oliver! (itself adapted into a multiple Academy Award-winning 1968 motion picture), and Disney's animated film Oliver & Company in 1988.]]> 515 Charles Dickens John 5 4.40 1838 Oliver Twist: The Original 1838 Unabridged and Complete Edition (Charles Dickens Classics)
author: Charles Dickens
name: John
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1838
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/04
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves:
review:

]]> Pride and Prejudice 36494991 528 Jane Austen 9897780610 John 3 4.52 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: John
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1813
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/30
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves:
review:

]]> David Copperfield 58696 882 Charles Dickens John 5 4.02 1850 David Copperfield
author: Charles Dickens
name: John
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1850
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/28
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves:
review:
This would be a difficult book for someone in high school to fully appreciate. Great book, great characters, his scenery comes alive in his description. The pictures in the book were interesting. I saw most of them differently that displayed.
]]> <![CDATA[The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time]]> 324494 The Great Plague is one of the most compelling events in human history, even more so now, when the notion of plague—be it animal or human—has never loomed larger as a contemporary public concern

The plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the 14th century has been of never-ending interest to both scholarly and general readers. Many books on the plague rely on statistics to tell the story: how many people died; how farm output and trade declined. But statistics can’t convey what it was like to sit in Siena or Avignon and hear that a thousand people a day are dying two towns away. Or to have to chose between your own life and your duty to a mortally ill child or spouse. Or to live in a society where the bonds of blood and sentiment and law have lost all meaning, where anyone can murder or rape or plunder anyone else without fear of consequence.

In The Great Mortality, author John Kelly lends an air of immediacy and intimacy to his telling of the journey of the plague as it traveled from the steppes of Russia, across Europe, and into England, killing 75 million people—one third of the known population—before it vanished.]]> 364 John Kelly 0060006935 John 5 3.87 2005 The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
author: John Kelly
name: John
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves:
review:
After reading Ken Follette's book World Without End, I was interested in the devastating affect the plague had on the significant loss of population in 1347-1348. 20% of nobility, 42% of priests and clergy, and 40-60% of the peasant population died in Europe and England.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics]]> 34069558 Why has John Quincy Adams been largely written out of American history when he is, in fact, our lost Founding Father?
Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as hyper-intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from the malodorous 1828 presidential election to lead the nation as a lonely Massachusetts congressman in the fight against slavery. Now, award-winning historian William J. Cooper insightfully demonstrates that Adams should be considered our lost Founding Father, his moral and political vision the final link to the great visionaries who created our nation. With his heroic arguments in the Amistad trial forever memorialized, a fearless Adams stood strong against the Jacksonian tide, the Gag Rule, and the expansion of slavery that would send the nation hurtling into war. This game-changing biography reveals Adams to be one of the most battered but courageous and inspirational politicians in American history.]]> 544 William J. Cooper Jr. 0871404354 John 0 4.00 2017 The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
author: William J. Cooper Jr.
name: John
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Moby-Dick or, The Whale 153747 "It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it."

So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.

This edition of Moby-Dick, which reproduces the definitive text of the novel, includes invaluable explanatory notes, along with maps, illustrations, and a glossary of nautical terms.]]> 720 Herman Melville 0142437247 John 5 3.53 1851 Moby-Dick or, The Whale
author: Herman Melville
name: John
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1851
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/19
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
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You lean alot about whales and whaling.
]]> The Scarlet Letter 12296 279 Nathaniel Hawthorne 0142437263 John 5 3.43 1850 The Scarlet Letter
author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
name: John
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1850
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/19
date added: 2023/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)]]> 5064 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas—about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race—the Black Death.]]> 1237 Ken Follett John 5 4.30 2007 World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)
author: Ken Follett
name: John
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/14
date added: 2023/07/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Higher Law (Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez Mystery #1-4)]]> 48846205
Start at the beginning with SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES and read all of the Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez stories in order. You'll see why Sheldon Siegel's novels have sold millions of copies worldwide, and Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez have been called two of the most beloved characters in contemporary crime fiction.]]> Sheldon Siegel 0991391268 John 0 to-read 4.49 2014 Higher Law (Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez Mystery #1-4)
author: Sheldon Siegel
name: John
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin's House]]> 32148090 The dramatic story of a founding father, his illegitimate son, and the tragedy of their conflict during the American Revolution—from the acclaimed author of The Lincolns

Ben Franklin is the most lovable of America’s founding fathers. His wit, his charm, his inventiveness—even his grandfatherly appearance—are legendary. But this image obscures the scandals that dogged him throughout his life. In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the darker episodes in Franklin’s biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son William.

When he was twenty-four, Franklin fathered a child with a woman who was not his wife. He adopted the boy, raised him, and educated him to be his aide. Ben and William became inseparable. After the famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment, it was William who proved that the electrical charge in a lightning bolt travels from the ground up, not from the clouds down. On a diplomatic mission to London, it was William who charmed London society. He was invited to walk in the procession of the coronation of George III; Ben was not.

The outbreak of the American Revolution caused a devastating split between father and son. By then, William was Royal Governor of New Jersey, while Ben was one of the foremost champions of American independence. In 1776, the Continental Congress imprisoned William for treason. George Washington made efforts to win William’s release, while his father, to the world’s astonishment, appeared to have abandoned him to his fate.

A fresh take on the combustible politics of the age of independence, The Loyal Son is a gripping account of how the agony of the American Revolution devastated one of America’s most distinguished families. Like Nathaniel Philbrick and David McCullough, Epstein is a storyteller first and foremost, a historian who weaves together fascinating incidents discovered in long-neglected documents to draw us into the private world of the men and women who made America.]]> 464 Daniel Mark Epstein 0345544218 John 0 to-read 3.98 2017 The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin's House
author: Daniel Mark Epstein
name: John
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lutheran Study Bible - Thumb Indexed]]> 19927619 2485 Concordia Publishing House 0758617615 John 5 4.67 The Lutheran Study Bible - Thumb Indexed
author: Concordia Publishing House
name: John
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/08
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves:
review:
The OT is a salvation story that only God could have inspired to be written. It is consistent, pointing constantly to the coming of Jesus.
]]> Commentary on Romans 1635020 223 Martin Luther 0825431190 John 0 to-read 4.21 1963 Commentary on Romans
author: Martin Luther
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[John Quincy Adams: American Visionary]]> 18052916 Lincoln, returns with John Quincy Adams, an illuminating biography of one of the most overlooked presidents in American history—a leader of sweeping perspective whose progressive values helped shape the course of the nation.

In this fresh and lively biography rich in literary analysis and new historical detail, Fred Kaplan brings into focus the dramatic life of John Quincy Adams—the little known and much misunderstood sixth president of the United States and the first son of John and Abigail Adams—and persuasively demonstrates how Adams's inspiring, progressive vision guided his life and helped shape the course of America.

Kaplan draws on a trove of unpublished archival material to trace Adams's evolution from his childhood during the Revolutionary War to his brilliant years as Secretary of State to his time in the White House and beyond. He examines Adams's myriad sides: the public and private man, the statesman and writer, the wise thinker and passionate advocate, the leading abolitionist and fervent federalist who believed strongly in both individual liberty and the government's role as an engine of progress and prosperity. In these ways—and in his energy, empathy, sharp intellect, and powerful gift with words both spoken and written—he was a predecessor of Lincoln and, later, FDR and Obama. Indeed, this sweeping biography makes clear how Adams's forward-thinking values, his definition of leadership, and his vision for the nation's future is as much about twenty-first century America as it is about Adams's own time.

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, John Quincy Adams paints a rich portrait of this brilliant leader and his significance to the nation and our own lives.]]> 672 Fred Kaplan 0062199323 John 0 to-read 4.13 2014 John Quincy Adams: American Visionary
author: Fred Kaplan
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Love Season 8145193
It's a hot August Saturday on Nantucket Island. Over the course of the next 24 hours, two lives will be transformed forever.

Marguerite Beale, former chef of culinary hot spot Les Parapluies, has been out of the public eye for over a decade. This all changes with a phone call from Marguerite's goddaughter, Renata Knox.

Marguerite has not seen Renata since the death of Renata's mother, Candace Harris Knox, fourteen years earlier. And now that Renata is on Nantucket visiting the family of her new fiancé, she takes the opportunity, against her father's wishes, to contact Marguerite in hopes of learning the story of her mother's life--and death.

But the events of the day spiral hopelessly out of control for both women, and nothing ends up as planned.]]> 316 Elin Hilderbrand John 4 4.08 2006 The Love Season
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/09
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)]]> 62873996
Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258776 John 4 This was different! 3.95 2023 The Five-Star Weekend (Sommer in Nantucket, #1)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
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review:
This was different!
]]> <![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 5043 Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.

Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

For the TV tie-in edition with the same ISBN go to this Alternate Cover Edition
]]> 976 Ken Follett 045122213X John 5 4.34 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: John
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/04
date added: 2023/07/04
shelves:
review:
This is the third time I have read this book. This time I read it with Audible.
]]> The Name of the Rose 119073 552 Umberto Eco 0156001314 John 0 to-read 4.13 1980 The Name of the Rose
author: Umberto Eco
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Next in Line (William Warwick, #5)]]> 59227743
Which means for Scotland Yard, the focus is on the elite Royalty Protection Command, and its commanding officer. Entrusted with protecting the most famous family on earth, they quite simply have to be the best. A weak link could spell disaster.

Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his Scotland Yard squad are sent in to investigate the team. Maverick ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan is charged with a very sensitive―and unique―responsibility. But it soon becomes clear the problems in Royalty Protection are just the beginning. A renegade organization has the security of the country―and the Crown―in its sights. The only question is which target is next in line…]]> 388 Jeffrey Archer 0008526184 John 3 3.90 2022 Next in Line (William Warwick, #5)
author: Jeffrey Archer
name: John
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/25
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Falcon's Eyes 58064090
A sweeping, suspenseful tale about marriage, freedom, identity, and motherhood, The Falcon’s Eyes not only illuminates a brilliant century and the notorious queen who dominated it, but also brings to life the vivid band of characters whom the heroine encounters on her journey to selfhood. Principal among them, Isabelle’s charismatic, controlling husband, as obsessed by falconry as he is by having an heir. The various settings—Château Ravinour, Fontevraud Abbey, and Queen Eleanor’s exiled court in England—are depicted as memorably as the noblewomen, nuns, servants, falconers, and courtiers who inhabit them. With a series of twists and turns, the story pulses forward as Isabelle confronts one challenge, one danger, after another, until it hurtles to its final, enthralling, page.

With the historical understanding of Hillary Mantel and the storytelling gifts of Ken Follett, Francesca Stanfill has created an unforgettable character who, while firmly rooted in her era, is also a woman for all times.]]> 832 Francesca Stanfill 0063074222 John 0 3.54 2022 The Falcon's Eyes
author: Francesca Stanfill
name: John
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Simply Lies (Mickey Gibson, #1)]]> 61198195 A twisting new psychological thriller in which two women—one a former detective, the other a dangerous con artist—go head-to-head in an electrifying game of cat and mouse.

Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective, leads a hectic life similar to that of many moms: juggling the demands of her two small children with the tasks of her job working remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy tax and credit cheats.

When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems.

Not only does the arms dealer not exist but the murder victim turns out to be Harry Lancaster, a man with mob ties who used to be in Witness Protection. What’s more, no one named Arlene Robinson works at ProEye.

In the blink of an eye, Gibson has become a prime suspect in a murder investigation—and now her job is also on the line until she proves that she was set up. Before long, Gibson is locked in a battle of wits with a brilliant woman with no name, a hidden past, and unknown motives—whose end game is as mysterious as it is deadly.]]> 432 David Baldacci 1538750635 John 3 3.73 2023 Simply Lies (Mickey Gibson, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: John
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/29
date added: 2023/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Code (Temperance Brennan, #20)]]> 54304127 #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twentieth gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, fifteen years apart, of unidentified bodies washed up from the sea may be connected to a deadly new pestilence.

A storm has hit South Carolina, dredging up crimes of the past.

On the way to Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan receives a call from the Charleston coroner. During the storm, a medical waste container has washed up on the beach. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Chillingly, Tempe recognizes many details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she flies to Montreal to gather evidence and convince her boss Pierre LaManch to reopen the cold case. She also seeks the advice—and comfort—of her longtime beau Andrew Ryan.

Meanwhile, a storm of a different type gathers force in South Carolina. The citizens of Charleston are struck by a bacterium that, at its worst, can eat human flesh. Thousands panic and test themselves for a rare genetic mutation that may have rendered them vulnerable.

Shockingly, Tempe eventually discovers that not only are the victims in both grisly murder cases related, but that the murders and the disease outbreak also have a common cause…]]> 368 Kathy Reichs 198213996X John 4 3.84 2021 The Bone Code (Temperance Brennan, #20)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: John
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/29
date added: 2023/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Life’s Too Short (The Friend Zone, #3)]]> 54377375
When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn't expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers who shared her joy of seizing every moment. For her, living each day to its fullest isn't just a motto. Her mother and sister never saw the age of 30, and Vanessa doesn't want to take anything for granted.

But after her half-sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, life goes from "daily adventure" to "next-level bad" (now with bonus baby vomit in hair). The last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. No one warned her that he was the Secret Baby Tamer or that she'd be spending a whole lot of time with him and his geriatric Chihuahua.

Now she's feeling things she's vowed not to feel. Because the only thing worse than falling for Adrian is finding a little hope for a future she may never see.]]> 384 Abby Jimenez 1538715686 John 4 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
Even in disastrous setting like a terminal disease or sickness, God is working for our good.]]> 4.13 2021 Life’s Too Short (The Friend Zone, #3)
author: Abby Jimenez
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves:
review:
The title says alot. There is brief references to powers bigger than ourselves. I find that power in: Romans 8:28 NIV
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
Even in disastrous setting like a terminal disease or sickness, God is working for our good.
]]> Once an Eagle 38876 Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power.

Beginning in the French countryside during the Great War, the conflict between these adversaries solidifies in the isolated garrison life marking peacetime, intensifies in the deadly Pacific jungles of World War II, and reaches its treacherous conclusion in the last major battleground of the Cold War -- Vietnam.

A study in character and values, courage, nobility, honesty, and selflessness, here is an unforgettable story about a man who embdies the best in our nation -- and in us all.

]]> 1312 Anton Myrer 0060084359 John 5 4.36 1968 Once an Eagle
author: Anton Myrer
name: John
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/08
date added: 2023/04/08
shelves:
review:
This was the 3rd time I read this book. May the leaders of our military always remember the men and women they lead as Sam did.
]]> <![CDATA[The Angel of Darkness (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #2)]]> 8344442
But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara’s aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.

Once again, Caleb Carr proves his brilliant ability to re-create the past, both high life and low. Fast-paced and chilling, The Angel of Darkness is a tour de force, a novel of modern evil in old New York.]]> 770 Caleb Carr John 5 4.13 1997 The Angel of Darkness (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #2)
author: Caleb Carr
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/24
date added: 2023/03/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Psychology of Money 41881472 242 Morgan Housel 0857197681 John 5 4.28 2020 The Psychology of Money
author: Morgan Housel
name: John
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/11
date added: 2023/03/11
shelves:
review:
An excellent book that is easy to follow and understand.
]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak John 5 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: John
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/28
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves:
review:
This is a great story of the power of words, reading, and hopefulness surrounded by bleak circumstances.
]]> The Westing Game 902 182 Ellen Raskin 014240120X John 5 4.00 1978 The Westing Game
author: Ellen Raskin
name: John
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/25
date added: 2023/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Marriage Portrait 60353768 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de� Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.

Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.

Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.]]> 355 Maggie O'Farrell John 5 3.97 2022 The Marriage Portrait
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: John
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/27
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Fairy Tale 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 John 5 4.05 2022 Fairy Tale
author: Stephen King
name: John
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/30
date added: 2022/12/30
shelves:
review:
Would be better with less cursing, however, the story is terrific!
]]> The Island 59020375
It's only the first hint of what will be a summer of upheavals and revelations. Before the dust has even begun to settle, far worse news arrives, sending Chess into a tailspin of despair. Reluctantly taking a break from the first new romance she's embarked on since the recent end of her 30-year marriage, Birdie circles the wagons and enlists the help of her younger daughter Tate and her own sister India. Soon all four are headed for beautiful, rustic Tuckernuck Island, off the coast of Nantucket, where their family has summered for generations. No phones, no television, no grocery store - a place without distractions where they can escape their troubles.

But throw sisters, daughters, ex-lovers, and long-kept secrets onto a remote island, and what might sound like a peaceful getaway becomes much more. Before summer has ended, dramatic truths are uncovered, old loves are rekindled, and new loves make themselves known. It's a summertime story only Elin Hilderbrand can tell, filled with the heartache, laughter, and surprises that have made her page-turning, bestselling novels as much a part of summer as a long afternoon on a sunny beach.]]> 422 Elin Hilderbrand John 4 4.27 2010 The Island
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/13
date added: 2022/12/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)]]> 59756995 Listening Length: 32 hours and 42 minutes

The latest installment in the highly acclaimed, internationally bestselling Strike series finds Cormoran and Robin ensnared in another winding, wicked case.

When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie's true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can't help with this - and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie's true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits - and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .

A gripping, fiendishly clever mystery, The Ink Black Heart is a true tour-de-force.]]> 1391 Robert Galbraith John 4 Will Strike and Robin ever get together? Maybe it will take the same time as Castle? Just so long as the intrigue of their investigation continues.
Definitely wish it was shorter. A casual Vacancy was much shorter and was excellent.]]> 4.09 2022 The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: John
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/12/23
shelves:
review:
Another excellent book by JK Rowling. There no doubt she could have made the book shorter. The ending was a surprise.
Will Strike and Robin ever get together? Maybe it will take the same time as Castle? Just so long as the intrigue of their investigation continues.
Definitely wish it was shorter. A casual Vacancy was much shorter and was excellent.
]]> Lessons in Chemistry 58065033 390 Bonnie Garmus John 5
It is embarrassing how men treated professional women.]]> 4.23 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: John
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/23
date added: 2022/12/23
shelves:
review:
I bought this book because it had an interesting title. Then I saw it all over the B&N store. It had been selected book of the year. It is a terrific story.

It is embarrassing how men treated professional women.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)]]> 60144955
When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this—and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner, Cormoran Strike, become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits � and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .]]> 1391 Robert Galbraith 0316473537 John 4 4.07 2022 The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike, #6)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: John
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/06
date added: 2022/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Source 12657 "A sweeping chronology filled with excitement."
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER]]> 1080 James A. Michener 0375760385 John 5 4.29 1965 The Source
author: James A. Michener
name: John
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/26
date added: 2022/11/26
shelves:
review:
I like long books. This seemed particularly long.
]]> The Boys from Biloxi 61065355
Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends, as well as Little League all-stars. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to “clean up the Coast.� Hugh’s father became the “Boss� of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father’s clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.

Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.]]> 464 John Grisham 0385548923 John 0 3.81 2022 The Boys from Biloxi
author: John Grisham
name: John
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Silver Girl 10755433
Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie's had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can't offer complete escape, and they're plagued by new and old troubles alike. When Connie's brother Toby � Meredith's high school boyfriend � arrives, Meredith must reconcile the differences between the life she is leading and the life she could have had.

Set against the backdrop of a Nantucket summer, Elin Hilderbrand delivers a suspenseful story of the power of friendship, the pull of love, and the beauty of forgiveness.

“Clearly the Madoff family inspired this plot, but Hilderbrand gives it her own sun-kissed, optimistic spin â€� which is not to say it’s allĚý Rosa rugosa , just that there’s a silver lining to the ugliest of circumstances.”Ěý—Elisabeth Egan, New York Times]]> 415 Elin Hilderbrand John 5 4.31 2011 Silver Girl
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/24
date added: 2022/10/24
shelves:
review:

]]> The Identicals 32674134 Identical twin sisters who couldn't look more alike...or live more differently.

Harper Frost is laid-back, easygoing. She doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. She likes a beer and a shot and wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything fashionable. She's inherited her father's rundown house on Martha's Vineyard, but she can't hold down a job, and her latest romantic disaster has the entire island talking.

Two beautiful islands only eleven miles apart.

Tabitha Frost is dignified, refined. She prefers a fine wine and has inherited the impeccable taste of her mother, the iconic fashion designer Eleanor Roxie-Frost. She's also inherited her mother's questionable parenting skills--Tabitha's teenage daughter, Ainsley, is in full rebellion mode--and a flailing fashion boutique on Nantucket in desperate need of a cash infusion.

One unforgettable summer that will change their lives forever.

After more than a decade apart, Harper and Tabitha switch islands--and lives--to save what's left of their splintered family. But the twins quickly discover that the secrets, lies, and gossip they thought they'd outrun can travel between islands just as easily as they can. Will Harper and Tabitha be able to bury the hatchet and end their sibling rivalry once and for all? Before the last beach picnic of the season, there will be enough old resentments, new loves, and cases of mistaken identity to make this the most talked-about summer that Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket have experienced in ages.

]]> 433 Elin Hilderbrand 0316375209 John 5 Interesting comparison

Elin Hildebrand makes a good comparison with identical twins on very similar islands. Although, the residents of one island think the same of f the other island residents, "Poor you."]]> 4.15 2017 The Identicals
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/21
date added: 2022/10/22
shelves:
review:
Interesting comparison

Elin Hildebrand makes a good comparison with identical twins on very similar islands. Although, the residents of one island think the same of f the other island residents, "Poor you."
]]> The Blue Bistro 152695 Summer People and The Beach Club, invites you to experience the perfect getaway with her sparkling new novel.

Adrienne Dealey has spent the past six years working for hotels in exotic resort towns. This summer she has decided to make Nantucket home. Left flat broke by her ex-boyfriend, she is desperate to earn some fast money. When the desirable Thatcher Smith, owner of Nantucket's hottest restaurant, is the only one to offer her a job, she wonders if she can get by with no restaurant experience. Thatcher gives Adrienne a crash course in the business...and they share an instant attraction. But there is a mystery about their situation: what is it about Fiona, the Blue Bistro's chef, that captures Thatcher's attention again and again? And why does such a successful restaurant seem to be in its final season before closing its doors for good? Despite her uncertainty, Adrienne must decide whether to open her heart for the first time, or move on, as she always does.

Infused with intimate Nantucket detail and filled with the warmth of passion and the breeze of doubt, The Blue Bistro is perfect summer reading.]]> 356 Elin Hilderbrand 0312992629 John 5 3.92 2005 The Blue Bistro
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/06
date added: 2022/10/06
shelves:
review:
I was surprised they sold the Bistro. Thought maybe there would be a way to keep it going. The chef was the key.
]]> Death of a Salesman 12898 'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.'

Willy Loman has been a salesman for 34 years. At 60, he is cast aside, his usefulness now exhausted. With no future to dream about he must face the crushing disappointments of his past. He takes one final brave action, but is he heroic at last?, or a self-deluding fool?]]> 144 Arthur Miller 0435233076 John 5 3.57 1949 Death of a Salesman
author: Arthur Miller
name: John
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1949
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/01
date added: 2022/10/01
shelves:
review:
Willy overlooked what he did as a father, a husband, a neighbor. He measured his success by the number of people who thought he was a good or great man. Then he pushed his, and society's definition of success on his son Biff.
]]> The Matchmaker 18656006 A touching new novel from bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand in which a woman sets out to find love for those closest to her - before it's too late.

48-year-old Nantucketer Dabney Kimball Beech has always had a gift for matchmaking. Some call her ability mystical, while others - like her husband, celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech, and her daughter, Agnes, who is clearly engaged to the wrong man - call it meddlesome, but there's no arguing with her results: With 42 happy couples to her credit and all of them still together, Dabney has never been wrong about romance.

Never, that is, except in the case of herself and Clendenin Hughes, the green-eyed boy who took her heart with him long ago when he left the island to pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. Now, after spending 27 years on the other side of the world, Clen is back on Nantucket, and Dabney has never felt so confused, or so alive.

But when tragedy threatens her own second chance, Dabney must face the choices she's made and share painful secrets with her family. Determined to make use of her gift before it's too late, she sets out to find perfect matches for those she loves most. The Matchmaker is a heartbreaking story about losing and finding love, even as you're running out of time.]]> 368 Elin Hilderbrand 0316099759 John 5 3.83 2014 The Matchmaker
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: John
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/30
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves:
review:

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