en-US Mon, 14 Apr 2025 18:45:52 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 40603783 not the new twenty. In this enlightening book, Dr. Meg Jay reveals how many twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation that has trivialized what are actually the most defining years of adulthood. Drawing from more than ten years of work with hundreds of twentysomething clients and students, Dr. Jay weaves the science of the twentysomething years with compelling, behind-closed-doors stories from twentysomethings themselves. She shares what psychologists, sociologists, neurologists, reproductive specialists, human resources executives, and economists know about the unique power of our twenties and how they change our lives. The result is a provocative and sometimes poignant read that shows us why our twenties do matter. Our twenties are a time when the things we do--and the things we don't do--will have an enormous effect across years and even generations to come.]]> 273 Meg Jay Mary 0 currently-reading 4.09 2012
author: Meg Jay
name: Mary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 327 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress.

As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear—and the ones that plague us now—are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way—through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us sick.]]> 560 Robert M. Sapolsky 0805073698 Mary 0 currently-reading 4.18 1993
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Mary
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.� Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells Mary 0 currently-reading 4.11 2017
author: Martha Wells
name: Mary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 27213168
Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light—less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are. The microbes in our bodies are part of our immune systems and protect us from disease. Those in cows and termites digest the plants they eat. In the deep oceans, mysterious creatures without mouths or guts depend on microbes for all their energy. Bacteria provide squids with invisibility cloaks, help beetles to bring down forests, and allow worms to cause diseases that afflict millions of people.

I Contain Multitudes is the story of these extraordinary partnerships, between the creatures we are familiar with and those we are not. It reveals how we humans are disrupting these partnerships and how we might manipulate them for our own good. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.]]> 368 Ed Yong 0062368591 Mary 4 4.16 2016
author: Ed Yong
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:
4.5 Really entertaining overview of host-microbe interactions across the animal kingdom. Very well written.
]]> 53072555
Despite the intensity of their attraction, from the beginning Thomas knows how it will end: “Because you will leave and we will stay,� he says. Philippe becomes a writer and travels the world, though as this novel shows, he never lets go of the relationship that shaped him, and every story he’s ever told.]]> 176 Philippe Besson 1501197886 Mary 0 to-read 4.28 2017
author: Philippe Besson
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57949758 311 Daniel Keyes Mary 4 4.44 1966
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Mary
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 25422234 Only Ruth Bader Ginsburg can judge me.
The Ruth will set you free.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame—she was just trying to make the world a little better and a little freer. But along the way, the feminist pioneer's searing dissents and steely strength have inspired millions. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, created by the young lawyer who began the Internet sensation and an award-winning journalist, takes you behind the myth for an intimate, irreverent look at the justice's life and work. As America struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stays fierce. And if you don't know, now you know.]]> 240 Irin Carmon 0062415832 Mary 3 4.18 2015
author: Irin Carmon
name: Mary
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 33898810
Born in the mid-twentieth century and raised in the heart of conservative North Carolina, Armistead Maupin lost his virginity to another man "on the very spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired." Realizing that the South was too small for him, this son of a traditional lawyer packed his earthly belongings into his Opel GT (including a beloved portrait of a Confederate ancestor), and took to the road in search of adventure. It was a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970s.

Reflecting on the profound impact those closest to him have had on his life, Maupin shares his candid search for his "logical family," the people he could call his own. "Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us," he writes. "We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives." From his loving relationship with his palm-reading Grannie who insisted Maupin was the reincarnation of her artistic bachelor cousin, Curtis, to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, Maupin tells of the extraordinary individuals and situations that shaped him into one of the most influential writers of the last century.

Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty, and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. What emerges is an illuminating portrait of the man who depicted the liberation and evolution of America’s queer community over the last four decades with honesty and compassion—and inspired millions to claim their own lives.]]> 320 Armistead Maupin 0062391224 Mary 4 4.17 2017
author: Armistead Maupin
name: Mary
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 58999183
For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight —how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise.

Lane is among the vanguard of researchers asking why the Krebs cycle, the “perfect circle� at the heart of metabolism, remains so elusive more than eighty years after its discovery. Transformer is Lane’s voyage, as a biochemist, to find the inner meaning of the Krebs cycle—and its reverse—why it is still spinning at the heart of life and death today.

Lane reveals the beautiful, violent world within our cells, where hydrogen atoms are stripped from the carbon skeletons of food and fed to the ravenous beast of oxygen. Yet this same cycle, spinning in reverse, also created the chemical building blocks that enabled the emergence of life on our planet. Now it does both. How can the same pathway create and destroy? What might our study of the Krebs cycle teach us about the mysteries of aging and the hardest problem of all, consciousness?

Transformer unites the story of our planet with the story of our cells—what makes us the way we are, and how it connects us to the origin of life. Enlivened by Lane’s talent for distilling and humanizing complex research, Transformer offers an essential read for anyone fascinated by biology’s great mysteries. Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.]]> 400 Nick Lane 0393651487 Mary 0 currently-reading 4.06 2022
author: Nick Lane
name: Mary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 195790756 An inclusive and essential guide to reproductive health—including period problems, pelvic pain, menopause, fertility, sexual health, vaginal and urinary conditions, and overall wellbeing―from leading expert Dr. Karen Tang

Reproductive healthcare, from abortion to gender-affirming care, is under siege. The onus continues to fall on patients to find and advocate for the care they need. Dr. Karen Tang is on a mission to transform how women engage with their bodies and their healthcare.

Did you know that one in three women experiences menstrual abnormalities or pelvic issues, yet these conditions are overwhelmingly misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or dismissed? The root causes for these issues, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cysts, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and pelvic-floor muscle dysfunction, don’t receive the stream of funding for research and new treatments that other conditions do, despite the potential to affect up to half the population.

It’s Not Hysteria is a comprehensive guide to common conditions and potential treatment options, with practical tools such as symptom prompts and sample questions to ask one's provider. In the face of uncertainty and misinformation, It’s Not Hysteria is destined to become a new classic that educates and empowers.]]> 384 Karen Tang 1250894158 Mary 3 4.21 2024
author: Karen Tang
name: Mary
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 217005288
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]> 416 Ann Napolitano 0593243757 Mary 0 to-read 4.14 2023
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211004075 224 Guadalupe Nettel 1639735380 Mary 0 to-read 4.33 2020
author: Guadalupe Nettel
name: Mary
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 27216148 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World draws readers into a narrative particle accelerator in which a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters collide to dazzling effect. What emerges is simultaneously cooler than zero and unaffectedly affecting, a hilariously funny and deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind.]]> 401 Haruki Murakami Mary 0 currently-reading 3.99 1985
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 59344312
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.]]> 336 Colleen Hoover 153872474X Mary 0 4.29 2018
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Mary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 218042 “The word “love� is most often defined as a noun, yet� we would all love better if we used it as a verb,� writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provocative and intensely personal, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.

As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explore the question “What is love?�, her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for the individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the �100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life.� All About Love is a powerful affirmation of just how profoundly she can.

Librarian note: There is an alternate cover edition of this book here.]]> 238 bell hooks 0060959479 Mary 0 3.89 1999
author: bell hooks
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X Mary 4 4.22 2020
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Mary
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 6656720 From the New York Times bestselling author of All About Love, a brave and astonishing work that challenges patriarchal culture and encourages men to reclaim the best part of themselves.Everyone needs to love and be loved—even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving. In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are—whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it’s so deeply ingrained in our society that it’s hard for men to not comply—but hooks wants to help change that. With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways. She believes men can find the way to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves—and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women.]]> 208 bell hooks Mary 0 4.47 2003
author: bell hooks
name: Mary
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 77203 371 Khaled Hosseini 159463193X Mary 5 4.34 2003
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Mary
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 59012057
Part revisionist history, part historical biography and based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality and identity through its villains and baddies. From the Emperor Hadrian to notorious gangster Ronnie Kray, the authors excavate the buried history of queer lives. This includes fascist thugs, famous artists, austere puritans and debauched bon viveurs, imperialists, G-men and architects.

Together these amazing life stories expand and challenge the mainstream assumptions of sexual identity. They show that homosexuality itself was an idea that emerged in the nineteenth century and that its interpretation has been central to major historical moments of conflict from the ruptures of Weimar Republic to red-baiting in Cold War America.

Amusing, disturbing and fascinating, Bad Gays puts centre stage the queer villains and evil twinks in history.]]> 368 Huw Lemmey 1839763272 Mary 3 3.56 2022
author: Huw Lemmey
name: Mary
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 62878733 A scorching examination of how we treat endometriosis today

Have you ever been told that your pain is imaginary? That feeling better just takes yoga, CBD oil, and the blood of a unicorn on a full moon? That’s the reality of the more than 190 million people suffering the excruciating condition known as endometriosis. This disease affecting one in ten cis women and uncounted numbers of others is chronically overlooked, underfunded, and misunderstood � and improperly treated across the medical system. Discrimination and medical gaslighting are rife in endo care, often leaving patients worse off than when they arrived.

Journalist Tracey Lindeman knows it all too well. Decades of suffering from endometriosis propelled the creation of BLEED � part memoir, part investigative journalism, and all scathing indictment of how the medical system fails patients. Through extensive interviews and research, BLEED tracks the modern endo experience to the origins of medicine and how the system gained its power by marginalizing women. Using an intersectional lens, BLEED dives into how the system perpetuates misogyny, racism, classism, ageism, transphobia, fatphobia, and other prejudices to this day.

BLEED isn’t a self-help book. It’s an evidence file and an eye-opening, enraging read. It will validate those who have been gaslit, mistreated, or ignored by medicine and spur readers to fight for nothing short of revolution.]]> 336 Tracey Lindeman 1770416536 Mary 3 4.33 2023
author: Tracey Lindeman
name: Mary
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 138803694 0 Emily Nagoski Mary 4 4.42 2015
author: Emily Nagoski
name: Mary
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 60442656
This book offers a concise introduction of the lives of 46 women, taking you into the cultural and social context of the world they lived in. Through their intelligence, courage, and resilience, they used STEM to defy expectations and inspire generations to follow in their footsteps. Some of them invented items we use day-to-day and discovered causes and treatments for epidemics that ostracised whole sections of society, whilst others campaigned for the reproductive rights of women and harnessed mathematics to send people into space and break ciphers. These women are proof that females can and did have a hugely significant role in shaping the world we live in today.]]> 168 Emma Shimizu 1526789698 Mary 1 3.19
author: Emma Shimizu
name: Mary
average rating: 3.19
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Mary 0 4.41 2016
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Mary
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 204079049
Sharply observant and outrageously funny, Rejection is a provocative plunge into the touchiest problems of modern life. The seven connected stories seamlessly transition between the personal crises of a complex ensemble and the comic tragedies of sex, relationships, identity, and the internet.

In “The Feminist,â€� a young man’s passionate allyship turns to furious nihilism as he realizes, over thirty lonely years, that it isn’t getting him laid. ÌýA young woman’s unrequited crush in “Picsâ€� spirals into borderline obsession and the systematic destruction of her sense of self. And in “Ahegao; or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression,â€� a shy late bloomer’s flailing efforts at a first relationship leads to a life-upending mistake. As the characters pop up in each other’s dating apps and social media feeds, or meet in dimly lit bars and bedrooms, they reveal the ways our delusions can warp our desire for connection.

These brilliant satires explore the underrated sorrows of rejection with the authority of a modern classic and the manic intensity of a manifesto. Audacious and unforgettable, Rejection is a stunning mosaic that redefines what it means to be rejected by lovers, friends, society, and oneself.]]> 272 Tony Tulathimutte 0063337894 Mary 0 to-read 3.88 2024
author: Tony Tulathimutte
name: Mary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 34068659 464 Beverly Daniel Tatum 0465060684 Mary 4 4.46 1997
author: Beverly Daniel Tatum
name: Mary
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 16255 371 Armistead Maupin 0552998761 Mary 4 4.02 1978
author: Armistead Maupin
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
Like reading a tv show, in a good way. I ate this up! (Despite most of the 70’s references going straight over my head.)
]]> 41881472 242 Morgan Housel 0857197681 Mary 3 4.28 2020
author: Morgan Housel
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 34466963 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501144318.

Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep every night.]]> 368 Matthew Walker Mary 4 4.37 2017
author: Matthew Walker
name: Mary
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 52222275 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

The universe began as an enormous breath being held.

From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others � the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival � comes a ground-breaking new collection of short fiction: nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories. These are tales that tackle some of humanity's oldest questions along with new quandaries only Ted Chiang could imagine.

In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In "Exhalation", an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic � revelatory.

Contents:
- The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (2007)
- Exhalation (2008)
- What's Expected of Us (2005)
- The Lifecycle of Software Objects (2010)
- Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny (2011)
- The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling (2013)
- The Great Silence (2015)
- Omphalos (2018)
- Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom (2018)

]]> 350 Ted Chiang 1101947888 Mary 3 4.26 2019
author: Ted Chiang
name: Mary
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 217972477 What do you want, when no one is watching?
What do you want, when the lights are off?
What do you want, when you are anonymous?

When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain. And yet for many reasons � some complicated, some not � so many of us don't talk about it. Our deepest, most intimate fears and fantasies remain locked away inside of us, until someone comes along with the key. Here's the key. In this generation-defining book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous letters of hundreds of women from around the world (along with her own anonymous letter). Want reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous.]]> 400 Gillian Anderson 1526657945 Mary 4 3.39 2024
author: Gillian Anderson
name: Mary
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 59808605 Strangers to Ourselves, a powerful and gripping debut, Rachel Aviv raises fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Aviv writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. She follows an Indian woman, celebrated as a saint, who lives in healing temples in Kerala; an incarcerated mother vying for her children’s forgiveness after recovering from psychosis; a man who devotes his life to seeking revenge upon his psychoanalysts; and an affluent young woman who, after a decade of defining herself through her diagnosis, decides to go off her meds because she doesn’t know who she is without them. Animated by a profound sense of empathy, Aviv’s exploration is refracted through her own account of living in a hospital ward at the age of six and meeting a fellow patient with whom her life runs parallel―until it no longer does.

Aviv asks how the stories we tell about mental disorders shape their course in our lives. Challenging the way we understand and talk about illness, her account is a testament to the porousness and resilience of the mind.]]> 288 Rachel Aviv 0374600848 Mary 0 to-read 4.10 2022
author: Rachel Aviv
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 44516
Topping and tailing this collection are The Visitor and Bitch, stories featuring Dahl's notorious hedonist Oswald Hendryks Cornelius (or plain old Uncle Oswald) whose exploits are frequently as extraordinary as they are scandalous. In the middle, meanwhile, are The Great Switcheroo and The Last Act, two stories exploring a darker side of desire and pleasure.

In the black comedies of Switch Bitch Roald Dahl brilliantly captures the ins and outs, highs and lows of sex.

'Dahl is too good a storyteller to become predictable' Daily Telegraph

Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.]]> 140 Roald Dahl Mary 0 to-read 3.97 1974
author: Roald Dahl
name: Mary
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 208840291 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love.

Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.�]]> 112 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1668072246 Mary 5 4.39 2024
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Mary
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 55723020
In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke, psychiatrist and author, explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain...and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check. The lived experiences of her patients are the gripping fabric of her narrative. Their riveting stories of suffering and redemption give us all hope for managing our consumption and transforming our lives. In essence, Dopamine Nation shows that the secret to finding balance is combining the science of desire with the wisdom of recovery.

"Brilliant... riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued."--Beth Macy, author of Dopesick


INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
“Brilliant� riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued.�—Beth Macy, author of Dopesick
As heard on Fresh Air]]> 304 Anna Lembke 1524746738 Mary 1 3.88 2021
author: Anna Lembke
name: Mary
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2024/12/07
shelves:
review:
This book is riddled with micro- (and macro-) aggressions towards many people, especially those dealing with addiction. I didn't learn much, and the author's judgmental opinions further minimized any insight I could've gained.
]]> 57391296 Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.]]> 320 Stephen King Mary 4 4.49 2000
author: Stephen King
name: Mary
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 4985 Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, these superb stories share Vonnegut’s audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.

Alternative cover edition here ]]> 331 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385333501 Mary 0 to-read 4.14 1968
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1968
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60099237 A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity �

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives. Ìý
Ìý
Before We Were Trans  illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans  transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century  Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures. Ìý]]> 343 Kit Heyam 1541603087 Mary 4 4.29 2022
author: Kit Heyam
name: Mary
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 17465709 Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.]]> 408 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1571313354 Mary 5 favorites 4.52 2013
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Mary
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves: favorites
review:

]]> 145624806
There’s no magic formula for being “good with money.� The perfect budgeting spreadsheet or debt repayment plan will never address the root of your money issues. Ellyce Fulmore’s aha moment for her own financial health came when she realized that the reason she and so many others have struggled to pay off debt, stick to a budget, or build savings has little to do with being “bad at money.� Instead, it has everything to do with not fully understanding how their identity and lived experience affect their financial decisions.
Ìý
Now in Keeping Finance Personal ,ÌýEllyce shares outside the box advice that will help readers find the financial security and confidence they crave. With chapters focusing on the importance of finding safe spaces when dealing with your finances, personal values, relationship dynamics, vices and coping mechanisms, this is not your typical financial advice book. Ellyce asks readers to engage with how their upbringing, gender identity, culture, and mental health impact their decisions, and guides them through self-exploration exercises that will lead them to change their relationship with money.

This book is for the lesbian couple searching for a place to rent, the neurodivergent person struggling with impulse spending, the woman facing sexism at her local bank—all the people that don’t fit into the mold that traditional finance advice is aimed at.ÌýFilled with interviews from a diverse range of voices,Ìý Keep Finance PersonalÌý provides a path to develop a healthy money mindset, learn key money management skills, and understand the intersectionality of money and identity so you can take control of your financial life in authentic, empowered way.Ìý


Ìý]]> 352 Ellyce Fulmore 0306831317 Mary 3 4.13
author: Ellyce Fulmore
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 58662236
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 128 Claire Keegan 0802158749 Mary 2 4.14 2021
author: Claire Keegan
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 56852407
How about everything...]]> 517 Stephen King 1982173610 Mary 4 4.11 2021
author: Stephen King
name: Mary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 90590139
“A vibrant, and essential history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals� It's both a cause for hope, and a call to arms.�--Jane Mayer, author Dark Money

From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back.

In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. It soon turned into a newsletter and its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on her plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.

In Democracy Awakening , Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.

Richardson’s talent is to wrangle our giant, meandering, and confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. In her trademark calm prose, she is realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus and birth of “movement conservatism.�

Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.]]> 286 Heather Cox Richardson 0593652967 Mary 0 to-read 4.38 2023
author: Heather Cox Richardson
name: Mary
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58468792 "I am the fiery life of divine substance, I blaze above the beauty of the fields, I shine in the waters, I burn in sun, moon and stars" - Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179)

The middle ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings: a patriarchal society which oppressed and excluded women. But when we dig a little deeper into the truth, we can see that the 'dark' ages were anything but.

Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women's names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. As gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burnt, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, our view of history has been manipulated.

Only now, through a careful examination of the artefacts, writings and possessions they left behind, are the influential and multifaceted lives of women emerging. Femina goes beyond the official records to uncover the true impact of women like Jadwiga, the only female King in Europe, Margery Kempe, who exploited her image and story to ensure her notoriety, and the Loftus Princess, whose existence gives us clues about the beginnings of Christianity in England. See the medieval world with fresh eyes and discover why these remarkable women were removed from our collective memories.]]> 464 Janina Ramírez 0753558254 Mary 4 4.06 2022
author: Janina Ramírez
name: Mary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/12
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 61885029
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Mary 3 4.09 2023
author: John Scalzi
name: Mary
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/31
date added: 2024/10/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 58574423 AÌýlandmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases
Ìý

A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: these are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible� illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.
Ìý
Drawing on her own medical experiences as well as a decade of interviews with doctors, patients, researchers, and public health experts, O’Rourke traces the history of Western definitions of illness, and reveals how inherited ideas of cause, diagnosis, and treatment have led us to ignore a host of hard-to-understand medical conditions, ones that resist easy description or simple cures. And as America faces this health crisis of extraordinary proportions, the populations most likely to be neglected by our institutions include women, the working class, and people of color.
Ìý
Blending lyricism and erudition, candor and empathy, O’Rourke brings together her deep and disparate talents and roles as critic, journalist, poet, teacher, and patient, synthesizing the personal and universal into one monumental project arguing for a seismic shift in our approach to disease.ÌýThe Invisible KingdomÌýoffers hope for the sick, solace and insight for their loved ones, and a radical new understanding of our bodies and our health.

]]> 324 Meghan O'Rourke 1594633797 Mary 3 4.02 2022
author: Meghan O'Rourke
name: Mary
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 208580653 From the award-winning novelist of The Parisian and Enter Ghost comes an outstanding essay on the Palestinian struggle and the power of narrative.

Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University nine days before October 7th, 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword, written in the early weeks of 2024, together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what seems a turning point in the narrative of human history. Profound and moving, Hammad writes from within the moment, giving voice to the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Recognizing the Stranger is a brilliant melding of literary and cultural analysis by one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and a foremost writer of fiction in the world today.

"Extraordinary and amazingly erudite. Hammad shows how art and especially literature can be much, much more revealing than political writing.� � Rashid Khalidi, author of the New York Times bestseller The Hundred Years� War on Palestine]]> 96 Isabella Hammad 0802163920 Mary 0 to-read 4.68 2024
author: Isabella Hammad
name: Mary
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61111034
A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,� says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.�]]> 588 Mariana Enríquez 0451495144 Mary 0 to-read 4.07 2019
author: Mariana Enríquez
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Mary 2 4.16 2020
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 25837084 Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

A lone human ambassador is sent to Winter, an alien world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants can change their gender whenever they choose. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.]]> 320 Ursula K. Le Guin Mary 3 4.14 1969
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mary
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/30
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Mary 3 4.34 2011
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Mary
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/13
date added: 2024/10/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 41817500
“A sweeping, glorious story of hormones, threaded through with sex, suffering, neurology, biology, medicine, and self-discovery.� ―Siddhartha Mukherjee Metabolism, behavior, sleep, mood swings, the immune system, fighting, fleeing, puberty, and sex: these are just a few of the things our bodies control with hormones. Armed with a healthy dose of wit and curiosity, medical journalist Randi Hutter Epstein reveals the “invigorating history� ( Nature ) of hormones and the age-old quest to control them through the back rooms, basements, and labs where endocrinology began. 10 illustrations]]> 336 Randi Hutter Epstein 0393357082 Mary 0 currently-reading 3.93 2018
author: Randi Hutter Epstein
name: Mary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
-ÌýMake time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
-ÌýOvercome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear Mary 4 4.34 2018
author: James Clear
name: Mary
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 40180098 The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

A New York Times Bestseller.]]> 502 Richard Powers 039335668X Mary 0 to-read 4.10 2018
author: Richard Powers
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36327462
Topics include:
- how to come off hormonal birth control
- what your period should be like
- what can go wrong
- how to talk to your doctor
- treatment protocols for all common period problems, including PCOS and endometriosis.

The second edition contains insights from Professor Jerilynn Prior, more than 300 new references, and an additional chapter on peri-menopause and menopause. Written by a naturopathic doctor with more than twenty years of experience, this book is a compilation of everything that works for hormonal health.]]> 413 Lara Briden 1975926773 Mary 4 4.46 2015
author: Lara Briden
name: Mary
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/22
shelves:
review:
Every single person who menstruates should have access to this information.
]]> 211870359 If you feel tired and hungry all the time—and can’t lose weight—insulin resistance and metabolic inflexibility could be why.

Through a compassionate lens, Metabolism Repair for Women explores how both eating behavior and energy expenditure are not under conscious control. Instead, they’re subject to the brain’s regulatory mechanism. And if you have metabolic dysfunction (i.e., insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, and/or weight gain), it’s because something is amiss with that regulatory mechanism. (This is the same book as The Metabolism Reset, available in Australia.)

As a solution, the book provides a 10-step plan for identifying your personal metabolic obstacles, such as hormonal issues, digestive problems, ultra-processed food, chronic stress, and medications. It then offers actionable strategies for overcoming those obstacles and explains why a simple intervention like fixing your gut can reverberate through your entire system to feel less hungry and burn more energy.

Written by a naturopathic doctor with more than 25 years of experience, the book contains up-to-date research, patient stories, and practical advice. It’s your reality-based guide to repairing your metabolism and reclaiming health.

Praise for Metabolism Repair for Women

"With in-depth knowledge, clinical experience, and compassion, Lara Briden guides us through our metabolic and mindset challenges." ~ Dr. Libby Weaver

"This book is a must for women everywhere." ~ Dr. Stacy Sims

"Lara Briden effortlessly untangles one of the most complex and (often) shame-laden aspects of women's health. The metabolism repair resource I've been waiting for." ~ clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Faisandier]]> 385 Lara Briden 0648352498 Mary 0 to-read 4.47
author: Lara Briden
name: Mary
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52476830 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family–and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared.

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–she doesn’t behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.]]> 307 Ashley Audrain 1984881663 Mary 0 to-read 4.03 2021
author: Ashley Audrain
name: Mary
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 27833494
The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against “big government� led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system.

The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs—that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom—are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws.

The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights.

When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organizations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to banking and oil fortunes, had the brilliant insight that most of their political activities could be written off as tax-deductible “philanthropy.�

These organizations were given innocuous names such as Americans for Prosperity. Funding sources were hidden whenever possible. This process reached its apotheosis with the allegedly populist Tea Party movement, abetted mightily by the Citizens United decision—a case conceived of by legal advocates funded by the network.

The political operatives the network employs are disciplined, smart, and at times ruthless. Mayer documents instances in which people affiliated with these groups hired private detectives to impugn whistle-blowers, journalists, and even government investigators. And their efforts have been remarkably successful. Libertarian views on taxes and regulation, once far outside the mainstream and still rejected by most Americans, are ascendant in the majority of state governments, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Meaningful environmental, labor, finance, and tax reforms have been stymied.

Jane Mayer spent five years conducting hundreds of interviews-including with several sources within the network-and scoured public records, private papers, and court proceedings in reporting this book. In a taut and utterly convincing narrative, she traces the byzantine trail of the billions of dollars spent by the network and provides vivid portraits of the colorful figures behind the new American oligarchy.

Dark Money is a book that must be read by anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.]]> 464 Jane Mayer Mary 0 to-read 4.28 2016
author: Jane Mayer
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 37506350
Written with gemlike precision and marked by a sly sense of humor, Conversations with Friends is wonderfully alive to the pleasures and dangers of youth, and the messy edges of female friendship.]]> 307 Sally Rooney 0451499069 Mary 0 to-read 3.77 2017
author: Sally Rooney
name: Mary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11588 497 Stephen King 0450040186 Mary 0 4.28 1977
author: Stephen King
name: Mary
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 414999
But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?]]> 224 Arthur C. Clarke Mary 0 to-read 4.12 1953
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Mary
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 158649729 The fascinating history of women’s health as it’s never been told before.

For as long as medicine has been a practice, women's bodies have been treated like objects to be practiced on: examined and ignored, idealized and sexualized, shamed, subjugated, mutilated, and dismissed. The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal legacy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women.

While the modern age has seen significant advancements in the medical field, the notion that female bodies are flawed inversions of the male ideal lingers on—as do the pervasive societal stigmas and lingering ignorance that shape women’s health and relationships with their own bodies.

Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen peels back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives and experiences laid the foundation for today’s medical thought, and the many oversights that still remain unaddressed. With a physician’s knowledge and empathy, Dr. Comen follows the road map of the eleven organ systems to share unique and untold stories, drawing upon medical texts and journals, interviews with expert physicians, as well as her own experience treating thousands of women.

Empowering women to better understand ourselves and advocate for care that prioritizes healthy and joyful lives—for us and generations to come�All in Her Head is written with humor, wisdom, and deep scientific and cultural insight. Eye-opening, sometimes enraging, yet always captivating, this shared memoir of women’s medical history is an essential contribution to a holistic understanding and much-needed reclaiming of women’s history and bodies.]]> 368 Elizabeth Comen 0063293013 Mary 0 to-read 4.37 2024
author: Elizabeth Comen
name: Mary
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50773748
The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatise particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow � hopefully for the better � but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from.]]> 353 Kate Lister Mary 0 to-read 4.16 2020
author: Kate Lister
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61192833 A groundbreaking exploration of gendered oppression—its origins, its histories, our attempts to understand it, and our efforts to combat it

For centuries, societies have treated male domination as natural to the human species. But how would our understanding of gender inequality—our imagined past and contested present—look if we didn’t assume that men have always ruled over women, if we saw inequality as something more fragile that has had to be constantly remade and reasserted?

In The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini explores the roots of what we call patriarchy, uncovering a complex history of how it first became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present. She travels to the world’s earliest known human settlements, analyzes the latest research findings in science and archaeology, and traces cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, philosophers, historians, anthropologists, and feminists began to actively question what patriarchy meant as part of the attempt to understand the origins of inequality. In our own time, despite the pushback against sexism, abuse, and discrimination, even revolutionary efforts to bring about equality have often ended in failure and backlash. But The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality is a hopeful book—one that reveals a multiplicity to human arrangements that undercuts the old grand narratives and exposes male supremacy as no more, and no less, than an ever-shifting element in systems of control.]]> 256 Angela Saini 0807014540 Mary 0 to-read 3.96 2023
author: Angela Saini
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55502857 A trailblazing, conversation-starting history of women's health--from the earliest medical ideas about women's illnesses to hormones and autoimmune diseases--brought together in a fascinating sweeping narrative.

Elinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman ten years ago. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after a long period of being told her symptoms were anything from psychosomatic to a possible pregnancy. As Elinor learned to live with her unpredictable disease she turned to history for answers, and found an enraging legacy of suffering, mystification, and misdiagnosis.

In Unwell Women, Elinor Cleghorn traces the almost unbelievable history of how medicine has failed women by treating their bodies as alien and other, often to perilous effect. The result is an authoritative and groundbreaking exploration of the relationship between women and medical practice, from the wandering womb of Ancient Greece to the rise of witch trials across Europe, and from the dawn of hysteria as a catchall for difficult-to-diagnose disorders to the first forays into autoimmunity and the shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation, menopause, and conditions like endometriosis.

Packed with character studies and case histories of women who have suffered, challenged, and rewritten medical orthodoxy--and the men who controlled their fate--this is a revolutionary examination of the relationship between women, illness, and medicine. With these case histories, Elinor pays homage to the women who suffered so strides could be made, and shows how being unwell has become normalized in society and culture, where women have long been distrusted as reliable narrators of their own bodies and pain. But the time for real change is long overdue: answers reside in the body, in the testimonies of unwell women--and their lives depend on medicine learning to listen.]]> 386 Elinor Cleghorn 0593182952 Mary 4 4.13 2021
author: Elinor Cleghorn
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 202204718
"I don't want to talk about vaginas in my Monday morning meeting."

Women make over 80 percent of healthcare decisions in the U.S. yet have been excluded from designing the health system for too long. It was only 1993 when women and people of color were officially included in clinical trials. Heart attacks are the number one killer of women worldwide, but women are 50 percent more likely to be given a wrong diagnosis. Only four percent of all healthcare research and development is focused on women's health issues. From periods and childbirth to menopause, female pain has been normalized, as society shrugs and says "Welcome to being a woman" instead of coming up with better solutions.

In The Vagina Business, award-winning journalist Marina Gerner PhD takes an eye-opening—and often times shocking—look at the inequities when it comes to scientific research and the funding of female-focused health companies. She exposes the obstacles entrepreneurs around the world face in the boardroom and beyond. Most of all, she shows us that it doesn't have to be this way. From a life-saving bra to non-hormonal contraception and new takes on fertility and menopause, she shines a light on innovation that matters. Women should not be denied solutions to health issues just because people are embarrassed to talk about vaginas. We deserve much better.]]> 448 Marina Gerner 1728263301 Mary 0 to-read 4.37
author: Marina Gerner
name: Mary
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 Mary 0 3.96 2020
author: Matt Haig
name: Mary
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/08/27
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 452306
But Tibby says they’re great. She'd love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them.

Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye.

And then the journey of the pants � and the most memorable summer of their lives � begins.]]> 294 Ann Brashares 0385729332 Mary 0 3.85 2001
author: Ann Brashares
name: Mary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at: 2016/05/25
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 9361589
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 506 Erin Morgenstern Mary 0 4.00 2011
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Mary
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2016/03/31
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 17910054
In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.]]> 336 Elizabeth Kolbert 0805092994 Mary 0 4.13 2014
author: Elizabeth Kolbert
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 13353667
Total
For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World
All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction
With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide.]]> 395 James Patterson 1846058295 Mary 0 3.48 2012
author: James Patterson
name: Mary
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 51006096 Porque leer obliga a pensar, y en el país de Montag está prohibido pensar. Porque leer impide ser ingenuamente feliz, y en el país de Montag hay que ser feliz a la fuerza ....

Tim Hamilton convierte en imagen la visionaria distopía ideada por Ray Bradbury a mediados del siglo pasado, sin saberlo mas quizá intuyendo la vigencia de una advertencia imperecedera.]]> 150 Tim Hamilton Mary 0 3.87 2009
author: Tim Hamilton
name: Mary
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]> 313 John Green Mary 0 4.13 2012
author: John Green
name: Mary
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 7747374
Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.

I am next.]]> 440 Pittacus Lore 0061969559 Mary 0 3.94 2010
author: Pittacus Lore
name: Mary
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Mary 0 4.10 2010
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Mary
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 5886881
Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?]]> 424 Gillian Flynn 0307341569 Mary 0 3.95 2009
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Mary
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 6339664 A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.]]> 391 Becca Fitzpatrick 1416989412 Mary 0 3.93 2009
author: Becca Fitzpatrick
name: Mary
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 6186357 There are alternate cover editions for this ASIN here and here.

If you ain’t scared, you ain’t human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.]]> 384 James Dashner 0385737947 Mary 0 4.05 2009
author: James Dashner
name: Mary
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 6068551
Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human� until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.]]> 392 Maggie Stiefvater 0545123267 Mary 0 3.77 2009
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: Mary
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Mary 0 4.07 1922
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Mary
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 865 197 Paulo Coelho 0061122416 Mary 0 3.85 1988
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Mary
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 1618 226 Mark Haddon 1400032717 Mary 0 3.89 2003
author: Mark Haddon
name: Mary
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 108077 The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963 , celebrates 20 years with this anniversary edition featuring a special letter from Christopher Paul Curtis and an introduction by noted educator Dr. Pauletta Bracy.
Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. There's Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron, who's thirteen and an "official juvenile delinquent." When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to Grandma, Dad comes home with the amazing Ultra-Glide, and the Watsons set out on a trip like no other. They're heading South to Birmingham, Alabama, toward one of the darkest moments in America's history.]]> 224 Christopher Paul Curtis 044022800X Mary 0 3.99 1995
author: Christopher Paul Curtis
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 4374400 208 Gayle Forman 0525421033 Mary 0 3.92 2009
author: Gayle Forman
name: Mary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 43641
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.]]> 368 Sara Gruen 1565125606 Mary 0 4.11 2006
author: Sara Gruen
name: Mary
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 3975774 The first book in Alyson Noël's extraordinary new Immortals series. Enter an enchanting new world, where true love never dies...

After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact to suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head—wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea just who he really is—or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him.]]> 301 Alyson Noel 031253275X Mary 0 3.60 2009
author: Alyson Noel
name: Mary
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 6442769 Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...]]> 305 John Green 014241493X Mary 0 3.68 2008
author: John Green
name: Mary
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 2657
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, "To Kill A Mockingbird" takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Mary 0 4.25 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Mary
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 41865
First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a love story with bite.]]> 498 Stephenie Meyer 0316015849 Mary 0 3.66 2005
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Mary
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Mary 0 3.99 1932
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 49041 There is an alternate cover edition for ISBN13 9780316160193 here.

I knew we were both in mortal danger. Still, in that instant, I felt well. Whole. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, the blood pulsing hot and fast through my veins again. My lungs filled deep with the sweet scent that came off his skin. It was like there had never been any hole in my chest. I was perfect - not healed, but as if there had never been a wound in the first place.

I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES, the one where you have to run, run till your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough.... But this was no dream, and, unlike the nightmare, I wasn't running for my life; I was racing to save something infinitely more precious. My own life meant little to me today.

FOR BELLA SWAN THERE IS ONE THING more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella could ever have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning....

LEGIONS OF READERS ENTRANCED BY THE New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers Bell and Edward. In New Moon, Stephanie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin. passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.]]> 563 Stephenie Meyer 0316160199 Mary 0 3.61 2006
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Mary
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 331920 Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That's pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn't as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.]]> 212 Wendelin Van Draanen 0375825444 Mary 0 3.99 2001
author: Wendelin Van Draanen
name: Mary
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 2998
Mary Lennox, a spoiled, ill-tempered, and unhealthy child, comes to live with her reclusive uncle in Misselthwaite Manor on England’s Yorkshire moors after the death of her parents. There she meets a hearty housekeeper and her spirited brother, a dour gardener, a cheerful robin, and her wilful, hysterical, and sickly cousin, Master Colin, whose wails she hears echoing through the house at night.

With the help of the robin, Mary finds the door to a secret garden, neglected and hidden for years. When she decides to restore the garden in secret, the story becomes a charming journey into the places of the heart, where faith restores health, flowers refresh the spirit, and the magic of the garden, coming to life anew, brings health to Colin and happiness to Mary.]]> 331 Frances Hodgson Burnett 0517189607 Mary 0 4.16 1911
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Mary
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 10929
Mitch Albom mesmerized readers around the world with his number one New York Times bestsellers, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie. Now he returns with a beautiful, haunting novel about the family we love and the chances we miss.

For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?

As a child, Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence.
Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life.
He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother, who died eight years earlier, is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened..

What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together.

Through Albom's inspiring characters and masterful storytelling, readers will newly appreciate those whom they love and may have thought they'd lost in their own lives. For One More Day is a book for anyone in a family, and will be cherished by Albom's millions of fans worldwide.]]> 208 Mitch Albom 1401303277 Mary 0 4.12 2006
author: Mitch Albom
name: Mary
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 5326
Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler
To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this abridged edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.]]> 184 Charles Dickens 1561797464 Mary 0 4.06 1843
author: Charles Dickens
name: Mary
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1843
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

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

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

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Mary 0 3.81 1951
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Mary
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 968 The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, and The da Vinci Code

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.]]> 489 Dan Brown Mary 0 3.92 2003
author: Dan Brown
name: Mary
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 1162543 "Don't be afraid," I murmured. "We belong together."
I was abruptly overwhelmed by the truth of my own words.
This moment was so perfect, so right, there was no way to doubt it.
His arms wrapped around me,
holding me against him....
It felt like every nerve ending in my body was a live wire.
"Forever," he agreed.

WHEN YOU LOVED THE ONE WHO WAS KILLING YOU, IT LEFT YOU NO OPTIONS. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

TO BE IRREVOCABLY IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

NOW THAT BELLA HAS MADE HER DECISION, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life - first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse - seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed... forever?

THE ASTONISHING, BREATHLESSLY anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions.]]> 756 Stephenie Meyer 031606792X Mary 0 3.74 2008
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Mary
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 2921082
Book includes game cards which the reader may use to play an online version of the treasure hunt.]]> 220 Rick Riordan 0545060397 Mary 0 3.86 2008
author: Rick Riordan
name: Mary
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 13023 This is an adaptation. For the editions of the original book, see here .

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.]]> 96 Jane Carruth 0517223627 Mary 0 4.03 1865
author: Jane Carruth
name: Mary
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1865
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 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 Mary 0 3.57 1949
author: Arthur Miller
name: Mary
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]>