Sarah's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:23:05 -0700 60 Sarah's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg A Love to Die for 452140 256 Patricia Springer 078601086X Sarah 0 to-read 3.67 2000 A Love to Die for
author: Patricia Springer
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Project Hail Mary 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Sarah 5 audiobooks
]]> 4.49 2021 Project Hail Mary
author: Andy Weir
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: audiobooks
review:
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this book but whenever I saw the question “best book on audible� posed, this was the answer. Thousands of 5* reviews couldn’t be wrong. They weren’t!


]]> <![CDATA[And Then She Vanished (Joseph Bridgeman #1)]]> 122761555 375 Nick Jones 1982693681 Sarah 0 to-read 4.03 2021 And Then She Vanished (Joseph Bridgeman #1)
author: Nick Jones
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hooked Up for Murder 149228 Night In The City

19-year-old college student Mark Fisher couldn't wait to hit the Big Town. Booze and decadent dreams of beautiful and willing women filled the handsome footballer's mind. But Mark, from an affluent suburb, was unaware of the dark side of New York City night life. After becoming separated from his friends, Mark accepted an invitation to a party from an attractive young lady. It would be the last party of his life.

Death In The Morning

Police found Fisher's beaten body riddled with five bullet holes and dumped on a tree-lined Brooklyn street. For more than a year top investigators worked around the clock to penetrate the wall of silence that surrounded the tightly-knit community where being seen as a "rat" was worse than any crime--including murder.

A Young Life Wasted

But detectives finally fingered the man who pulled the trigger--the host of the party. John Guica was a self-styled Tony Soprano wannabe whose gang of no-good punks was little more than a neighborhood laughingstock. But when the perfect victim fell into their hands, Guica and his cohort blasted their way to infamy--and twenty-five years to life in the harsh, unforgiving hell of prison.

Includes 16 Pages of Shocking Photos b>Robert Mladinich is the author of From the Mouth of the Monster: The Joel Rifkin Story. He is a retired New York City Police Department second grade detective who has investigated numerous homicides and was named NYPD Cop of the Year in 1985 for his work as a patrol officer in the South Bronx. He is also the co-author, with Michael Benson, of Lethal Embrace (Pinnacle Books, January 2007). He lives in Long Island, New York.]]> 400 Robert Mladinlch 0786018658 Sarah 0 to-read 3.23 2007 Hooked Up for Murder
author: Robert Mladinlch
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Sarah 2 audiobooks 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: audiobooks
review:
Entitled twat who doesn’t know the first thing about real people’s struggles. Just run off to Elton’s mansion when you hit a problem. I thought he was supposed to be the down to earth one?!
]]> Bad Blood (DI Kim Stone, #19) 196675074 The victim is lying under the trees, arms lifted above his head, unnaturally still. His muscles are slack. His eyes are empty. There are no signs of life. But he is not quite dead�

When Detective Kim Stone races to the crime scene, there is no body waiting for the paramedics are desperately trying to save the victim’s life. But there is something very strange about the way the man was found, his arms raised above his head, his legs spread apart. When he dies on the way to the hospital, Kim is certain she’s on the hunt for a killer� but all evidence at the scene has been destroyed.

The dead man, Eric Gould , seems ordinary, until the team dig into his past. As a teenager, he was locked away for attacking his girlfriend, and Kim suspects he was hurting his fiancé now. Was someone trying to stop history repeating?

Then another man is found on the verge of death, his bones broken to force him into an unnatural shape. The team realise the killer is sending a message � the victims� bodies are spelling out their sins. As boys, they were both part of a group of six who bragged about their terrible crimes. But they were children then, and when she sees the grief on the faces of their loved ones now, Kim swears to find answers.

Is someone finally getting revenge� or do they think these men are still dangerous? The killer is threatening to strike again, and the only way Kim can crack the case is by tracking down the rest of the six first.

But then a revelation about what one of her team is suffering makes Kim understand why people take the law into their own hands. Do these victims deserve what’s coming to them? Or is there even more to fear from their brutal killer?

Unputdownable from start to finish, Bad Blood is a brilliantly gripping crime thriller with a reveal you’ll never see coming. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Robert Dugoni and Val McDermid will love the latest compulsive read from multi-million-copy bestseller Angela Marsons.

Can be read as a standalone.]]> 368 Angela Marsons 1837906742 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.54 Bad Blood (DI Kim Stone, #19)
author: Angela Marsons
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Count of Monte Cristo 7126 The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas� epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.

Translated with an Introduction by Robin Buss

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here]]> 1276 Alexandre Dumas 0140449264 Sarah 5 4.29 1846 The Count of Monte Cristo
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1846
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: would-read-again, reading-again, audiobooks
review:
I'd go so far as to say this is one of my favourite books of all time. It took me a long time to finish but I'm missing it already. I'd give it 10 stars if I could. I didn't know the story and it took me a while to get used to the writing style but I think it's one I will read again and again.
]]> Because She Loves Me 21888223 The Magpies.

When Andrew Sumner meets beautiful, edgy Charlie, he is certain his run of bad luck has finally come to an end.

But as the two of them embark on an intense affair, Andrew wonders if his grasp on reality is slipping. Items go missing in his apartment. Somebody appears to be following him. And as misfortune and tragedy strike his friends and loved ones, Andrew is forced to confront the frightening truth.�

Is Charlie really the girl of his dreams�or the woman of his nightmares?]]> 348 Mark Edwards 1477824863 Sarah 4 3.84 2014 Because She Loves Me
author: Mark Edwards
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/02/07
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Innocent Victims: The True Story of the Eastburn Family Murders]]> 34216468 The riveting true account of a grisly crime and the unprecedented three murder trials faced by Fort Bragg soldier Tim Hennis.

On Mother’s Day, 1985, the bodies of Kathryn Eastburn and her two young daughters were found in their Fayetteville, North Carolina, home. Katie, an air force captain’s wife, had been raped and stabbed to death. Kara and Erin’s throats had been slit. Their toddler sister, Jana, was the only survivor of a bloody killing spree that terrified a community still reeling from the conviction, six years prior, of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald for the savage slayings of his pregnant wife and two daughters.
Ěý
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department soon focused its investigation on US Army soldier Tim Hennis. Detectives and local prosecutors built their case on circumstantial evidence and a jury convicted Hennis and sentenced him to death. But his defense team refused to give up. Piece by piece, they discredited the state’s case, exposing false testimony, concealed evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. At a second trial, Hennis was found not guilty and released from death row.
Ěý
But an even more stunning turn of events was yet to come. Twenty-five years after the murders, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation tested a crucial piece of DNA evidence from the crime scene. The shocking results led to an unprecedented third trial to determine Tim Hennis’s guilt or innocence.
Ěý
From the initial discovery of the horrifying scene at 367 Summer Hill Road to the controversial change of jurisdiction that allowed Hennis to be prosecuted for an astonishing third time, author Scott Whisnant chronicles every development in this intricate, disturbing, and still-evolving case. Has the mystery of who killed Katie, Kara, and Erin Eastburn been solved beyond a reasonable doubt? Read Innocent Victims and decide for yourself.
Ěý]]> 436 Scott Whisnant 1504039149 Sarah 5 true-crime 4.21 1993 Innocent Victims: The True Story of the Eastburn Family Murders
author: Scott Whisnant
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/10
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holy Ghosts: Or, How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night]]> 8857743 224 Gary Jansen 1101443375 Sarah 0 to-read 3.78 2005 Holy Ghosts: Or, How a (Not So) Good Catholic Boy Became a Believer in Things That Go Bump in the Night
author: Gary Jansen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Daughter 1058564
But she soon finds herself intrigued by Nina, a young mother on the beach, eventually striking up a conversation with her. After Nina confides a dark secret, one seemingly trivial occurrence leads to events that could destroy Nina’s family.]]> 140 Elena Ferrante 1933372427 Sarah 0 to-read 3.70 2006 The Lost Daughter
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

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

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

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 Sarah 0 to-read 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lucid Dreaming Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide to Waking Up in Your Dreams (Made Easy series)]]> 40652387 An accessible introduction to the theory, practice, and innovative techniques behind becoming lucid in your dreamsLucid dreaming is the art of becoming conscious within your dreams. Charlie Morley has been lucid dreaming since he was a teenager and has trained with both Eastern and Western experts in this profound practice.In this introductory guide, Charlie explains how lucid dreaming is a powerful gateway into the subconscious mind and how it can help the reader transform, improve and heal all areas of their life.In this book, the reader will learn to use the virtual reality of the dream state Explore creative ideas- Understand addictions and unhealthy behaviours- Heal phobias and overcome fears- Forgive the past- Live a more awakened lifeThis title was previously published within the Hay House Basics series.]]> 220 Charlie Morley 178817271X Sarah 3 4.17 2018 Lucid Dreaming Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide to Waking Up in Your Dreams (Made Easy series)
author: Charlie Morley
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming]]> 316781 WHOLE EARTH REVIEW

This book goes far beyond the confines of pop dream psychology, establishing a scientifically researched framework for using lucid dreaming--that is, consciously influencing the outcome of your dreams. Based on Dr. Stephen LaBerge's extensive laboratory work at Stanford University mapping mind/body relationships during the dream state, as well as the teachings of Tibetan dream yogis and the work of other scientists, including German psycholgist Paul Tholey, this practical workbook will show you how to use your dreams to: Solve problems; Gain greater confidence; improve creativity, and more.]]> 335 Stephen LaBerge 034537410X Sarah 3 4.22 1989 Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
author: Stephen LaBerge
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/10
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman]]> 8491980
Lucie Blackman - tall, blonde, and 21 years old - stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.

The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl, involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, Australian dowsers and Lucie's desperate, but bitterly divided, parents. As the case unfolded, it drew the attention of prime ministers and sado-masochists, ambassadors and con-men, and reporters from across the world. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult, or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work, as a 'hostess' in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo, really involve?

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, has followed the case since Lucie's disappearance. Over the course of a decade, he has travelled to four continents to interview those caught up in the story, fought off a legal attack in the Japanese courts, and worked undercover as a barman in a Roppongi strip club. He has talked exhaustively to Lucie's friends and family and won unique access to the Japanese detectives who investigated the case. And he has delved into the mind and background of the man accused of the crime-Joji Obara, described by the judge as 'unprecedented and extremely evil'. With the finesse of a novelist, he reveals the astonishing truth about Lucie and her fate.

People Who Eat Darkness is, by turns, a non-fiction thriller, a courtroom drama and the biography of both a victim and a killer. It is the story of a young woman who fell prey to unspeakable evil, and of a loving family torn apart by grief. And it is a fascinating insight into one of the world's most baffling and mysterious societies, a light shone into dark corners of Japan that the rest of the world has never glimpsed before.]]> 404 Richard Lloyd Parry 0224079174 Sarah 3 audiobooks 3.73 2010 People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman
author: Richard Lloyd Parry
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves: audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Journeys Out of the Body: The Classic Work on Out-Of-Body Experience]]> 347918 280 Robert A. Monroe 0385008619 Sarah 4 4.07 1971 Journeys Out of the Body: The Classic Work on Out-Of-Body Experience
author: Robert A. Monroe
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith]]> 10847
A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.

Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. Along the way, he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest-growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.

Krakauer takes readers inside isolated communities in the American West, Canada, and Mexico, where some forty-thousand Mormon Fundamentalists believe the mainstream Mormon Church went unforgivably astray when it renounced polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the leaders of these outlaw sects are zealots who answer only to God. Marrying prodigiously and with virtual impunity (the leader of the largest fundamentalist church took seventy-five "plural wives," several of whom were wed to him when they were fourteen or fifteen and he was in his eighties), fundamentalist prophets exercise absolute control over the lives of their followers, and preach that any day now the world will be swept clean in a hurricane of fire, sparing only their most obedient adherents.

Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism’s violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism. The result is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.]]> 400 Jon Krakauer 0330419129 Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 2003 Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Sarah 5 3.98 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux, #1)]]> 55022 285 James Lee Burke 0753820331 Sarah 0 to-read 3.92 1987 The Neon Rain (Dave Robicheaux, #1)
author: James Lee Burke
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Conjuror's Apprentice (The Tudor Rose Murders, #1)]]> 62869412
Pulling the battered body of a young boy out of the Thames was not unusual in the cruel England of Bloody Mary. But this was different. The messages on his body tell of a plot which will take the queen's sister, Elizabeth, to The Tower heralding the end of the Tudor dynasty and England's freedom as a nation. Margaretta Morgan, apprenticed to Doctor John Dee for her strange gift of seeing the thoughts of others, will face her first murder mystery. Guided by her master's brilliance and ability to commune with the other side, she will uncover the evil and intrigue which goes to the very heart of Court.]]> 0 G.J. Williams 1915194199 Sarah 0 to-read 4.08 2023 The Conjuror's Apprentice (The Tudor Rose Murders, #1)
author: G.J. Williams
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Name of the Rose 119073 552 Umberto Eco 0156001314 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.13 1980 The Name of the Rose
author: Umberto Eco
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Sarah 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wrecking Crew: Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery]]> 42406215
In 2016-17, while working for the USA TODAY NETWORK’s Wisconsin Investigative Team, author John Ferak wrote dozens of articles examining the murder case again Steven Avery, who had already beat one wrongful conviction only to be charged with the murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005. The case became the wildly successful Netflix “Making A Murderer� documentary.

In WRECKING CREW: Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery, Ferak lays out in exacting detail the post-conviction strategy of Kathleen Zellner, the high-profile, high-octane lawyer, to free Avery. To write this book, Zellner, perhaps America’s most successful wrongful conviction attorney, gave Ferak unique access to the exhaustive pro bono efforts she and her small suburban Chicago law firm dedicated for a man she believes to be a victim of an unscrupulous justice system in Manitowoc County.]]> 380 John Ferak Sarah 3 audiobooks 3.80 Wrecking Crew: Demolishing The Case Against Steven Avery
author: John Ferak
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: audiobooks
review:

]]> The Nightingale 21853621 564 Kristin Hannah 0312577222 Sarah 0 to-read 4.63 2015 The Nightingale
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI]]> 29496076 Ěý
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,� roamed � virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.

In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.]]> 359 David Grann 0385534256 Sarah 4 true-crime 4.12 2017 Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
author: David Grann
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/05
date added: 2024/01/05
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession]]> 62873378 One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.

This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.]]> 224 Michael Finkel 0525657320 Sarah 0 to-read 3.92 2023 The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
author: Michael Finkel
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/10
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]]> <![CDATA[No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators]]> 858526 374 Steve Jackson 1942266138 Sarah 4 true-crime 4.20 2002 No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators
author: Steve Jackson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens]]> 152034931 A rollicking historyĚýof England's earliest kings and queens, a story ofĚýnarcissists, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars,Ěýand more, fromĚýaward-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.

In Unruly , David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects� destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur ( he didn’t exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I ( she dies), as the monarchy began to lose its power. It’s a tale of bizarre and curious ascensions, inadequate self-control, and at least one total Cnut, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed King.

How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history—and is damned if he’ll let it off the hook for the mess it’s made of everything.Ěý

A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the monarchy came to be—and who is to blame.]]> 433 David Mitchell 0593728491 Sarah 4 audiobooks 4.13 2023 Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens
author: David Mitchell
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/10
date added: 2023/12/10
shelves: audiobooks
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]]> Lessons in Chemistry 58607657 Your ability to change everything - including yourself - starts here

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with - of all things - her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ('combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride') proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
__________

'I loved Lessons in Chemistry and am devastated to have finished it!' NIGELLA LAWSON

'Elizabeth Zott is an iconic heroine - a feminist who refuses to be quashed, a mother who believes that her child is a person to behold, rather than to mould, and who will leave you, and the lens through which you see the world, quite changed' PANDORA SYKES

'It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, and I had no trouble choosing a side. A page-turning and highly satisfying zippy, zesty, and Zotty' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, author of GREAT CIRCLE]]> 400 Bonnie Garmus 1473594537 Sarah 5 4.54 2022 Lessons in Chemistry
author: Bonnie Garmus
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/09
date added: 2023/11/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Oh Miriam!: Stories from an Extraordinary Life]]> 75479352 'Oh Miriam! risks the curse of the sequel, and pulls it off . . . A force of nature, a tour de farce. Bold, brave and bright, but also revealing, shocking and touching. Miriam is an icon, a cocksucker - and the star of her show' ROBERT McCRUM, Independent

'Our naughtiest national treasure . . . famously filthy, funny and phlegmatic . . . Oh Miriam! is Margolyes's manifesto for a fulfilled life . . . She loves to tell it straight. And the older she gets, the straighter she tells it' SIMON HATTENSTONE, Guardian

'Irrepressible . . . A life-enhancing rollercoaster of a ride . . . this book is like Margolyes herself - outspoken, ebullient and unexpectedly wise' EMMA LEE-POTTER, Daily Express

'Snortingly funny . . . deliciously unbridled . . . There is something heroic in her unruliness. Let Miriam take the lead and enjoy the show' RHIK SAMADDER, Observer

'Insanely interesting, full of profanity and profundity, Oh Miriam!'s title comes from all the people who have ever exclaimed her name in every tone from horror to hilarity; and her unfiltered personality leaps off the page - honesty, kindness, generosity, sanity, erudition, outspokenness' SUZANNE HARRINGTON, Irish Examiner

'Endearingly eccentric' WOMEN'S WEEKLY

From declaring my love to Vanessa Redgrave to being fed cockroaches by Steve Buscemi, from turnip-based comedy with Blackadder to being farted on by Arnold Schwarzenegger, from Graham Norton's sofa to Alan Cumming's camper van, my life has been (and continues to be) an uproarious adventure.

Oh Miriam! has been such a constant refrain in my life, said in all kinds of tones - laughs, surprised gasps and orgasmic sighs (I'm hoping for all of those from you as you read on!) - that it had to be the title of this book. And with a cast list that stretches from Churchill to DiCaprio, Dahl to Dietrich, Princess Margaret to Maggie Smith, I've so much more to tell you and so much more to say.

My chapters range from 'How to Stay Married' to 'Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down'. Discover how to break the thickest conversational ice; why swearing is actually good for you (though not on the Today programme); the unexpected things I learned at school and what my Spice Girl name would be. Not to mention my Tale of the Unexpected and my very own Vagina Monologue.

Buckle up and join me on another unforgettable adventure, but this time through my heart and head . . .]]> 321 Miriam Margolyes 1399803387 Sarah 5 audiobooks 4.04 2023 Oh Miriam!: Stories from an Extraordinary Life
author: Miriam Margolyes
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/11/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Deadly Fate (DI Kim Stone #18)]]> 123158768
Late one evening, as the final church bell rings out, Sandra Deakin’s cold and lifeless body is found in the overgrown graveyard with multiple stab wounds. When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene, the violence of the attack convinces her that this murder was deeply personal. What could have caused such hate?

As the team dig into Sandra’s life, they discover she believed she could communicate with the dead. Was that why she was targeted? The last people to see her alive were a group of women who had a session with her the night before she was killed, and as Kim and her team pay them a visit, they soon learn each of the women is lying about why they wanted Sandra’s help�

Kim realises she must dig deep and open her mind to every avenue if she’s going to stand a chance at solving this case. And when she learns that Sandra was banned from the church grounds and had been receiving death threats too, she’s ever more certain that Sandra’s gifts are at the heart of everything.

But just when she thinks she’s found a lead, the broken body of a nineteen-year-old boy is found outside a call centre � a single slash across his mouth just like Sandra’s. Kim knows they are now racing against time to understand what triggered these attacks, and to stop a twisted killer.

But they might be too late. Just as Kim sits down at a local psychic show she discovers something that makes her blood run cold. Both Sandra and the call centre were named in an article about frauds. And this show stars the next name on the list. She looks around the audience with a feeling of utter dread, certain the killer is among them�

Totally addictive with a final twist that will leave you shouting out loud, you’ll want to inhale Deadly Fate in one sitting. Fans of Karin Slaughter, Val McDermid and Robert Dugoni will love the new crime thriller from the number one multi-million-copy bestselling author Angela Marsons.]]> 353 Angela Marsons Sarah 3 4.54 2023 Deadly Fate (DI Kim Stone #18)
author: Angela Marsons
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/23
date added: 2023/10/23
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]]> Heresy (Giordano Bruno, #1) 6611809
Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic.

In S.J. Parris's gripping novel, Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen.

His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy.

Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers.]]> 435 S.J. Parris 0385531281 Sarah 5 3.74 2010 Heresy (Giordano Bruno, #1)
author: S.J. Parris
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/13
date added: 2023/08/03
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sign of the Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)]]> 15980913 184 Arthur Conan Doyle Sarah 5 3.88 1890 The Sign of the Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1890
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/04/12
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]]> <![CDATA[A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)]]> 102868
But it's not long before Sherlock Holmes, with Watson in tow, is working with Scotland Yard investigating the murder of two Americans whose deaths have some mysterious connection to sinister groups gathering power in both Britain and America.

Here's where it all began. 'A Study in Scarlet.' Meet Sherlock Holmes, one of the world's leading consulting detectives - fictional of course!]]> 123 Arthur Conan Doyle 1420925539 Sarah 5 4.16 1887 A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes, #1)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1887
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/04/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe]]> 57137117 336 Mike Rothmiller 1913543625 Sarah 0 to-read 3.87 2021 Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe
author: Mike Rothmiller
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite]]> 54860378 In Golden Boy, New York Times bestselling author John Glatt tells the true story of Thomas Gilbert Jr., the handsome and charming New York socialite accused of murdering his father, a Manhattan millionaire and hedge fund founder.

By all accounts, Thomas Gilbert Jr. led a charmed life. The son of a wealthy financier, he grew up surrounded by a loving family and all the luxury an Upper East Side childhood could provide: education at the elite Buckley School and Deerfield Academy, summers in a sprawling seaside mansion in the Hamptons. With his striking good lucks, he moved with ease through glittering social circles and followed in his father's footsteps to Princeton.

But Tommy always felt different. The cracks in his façade began to show in warning signs of OCD, increasing paranoia, and--most troubling--an inexplicable hatred of his father. As his parents begged him to seek psychiatric help, Tommy pushed back by self-medicating with drugs and escalating violence. When a fire destroyed his former best friend's Hamptons home, Tommy was the prime suspect--but he was never charged. Just months later, he arrived at his parents' apartment, calmly asked his mother to leave, and shot his father point-blank in the head.

Journalist John Glatt takes an in-depth look at the devastating crime that rocked Manhattan's upper class. With exclusive access to sources close to Tommy, including his own mother, Glatt constructs the agonizing spiral of mental illness that led Thomas Gilbert Jr. to the ultimate unspeakable act.]]> 320 John Glatt 1250271029 Sarah 0 to-read 3.58 2021 Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite
author: John Glatt
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Nothing but the Night: Leopold & Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s America]]> 59808312
Nearly a hundred years ago, two wealthy and privileged teenagers―Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb―were charged and convicted in a gruesome crime that would lead to the original “Trial of the Century�. Even in Jazz Age Chicago, the murder was uniquely shocking for the motive of the well-to-do Jewish scions, full of promise, had killed fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The trial was made even more sensational by the revelation of a love affair between the defendants and by defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who delivered one of the most famous defense summations of all time to save the boys from the death penalty. The story of their mad folie à deux, with Loeb portrayed as the psychopathic mastermind and Leopold as his infatuated disciple, has been endlessly repeated and accepted by history as fact. And none of it is true.

Using twenty-first century investigative tools, forensics, and a modern understanding of the psychology of these infamous killers, Nothing but the Night turns history on its head. While Loeb has long been viewed as the architect behind the murders, King and Wilson’s new research points to Leopold as the dominant partner in the deadly relationship, uncovering a dark obsession with violence and sex. Nothing but the Night pulls readers into the troubled world of Leopold and Loeb, revealing a more horrifying tale of passion, obsession, and betrayal than history ever imagined.]]> 352 Greg King 1250272661 Sarah 0 to-read 3.75 2022 Nothing but the Night: Leopold & Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s America
author: Greg King
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection]]> 43784750 2188 Arthur Conan Doyle 9897787720 Sarah 0 currently-reading 4.60 Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/10
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Street of Crocodiles 244261
Bruno Schulz's untimely death at the hands of a Nazi stands as one of the great losses to modern literature. During his lifetime, his work found little critical regard, but word of his remarkable talents gradually won him an international readership. This volume brings together his complete fiction, including three short stories and his final surviving work, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass. Illustrated with Schulz's original drawings, this edition beautifully showcases the distinctive surrealist vision of one of the twentieth century's most gifted and influential writers.]]> 160 Bruno Schulz 0140186255 Sarah 0 to-read 4.18 1933 The Street of Crocodiles
author: Bruno Schulz
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1933
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer]]> 54457917 Harold Schechter, Amazon Charts bestselling author of Hell’s Princess, unearths a nearly forgotten true crime of obsession and revenge, and one of the first—and worst—mass murders in American history.

In 1927, while the majority of the township of Bath, Michigan, was celebrating a new primary school—one of the most modern in the Midwest—Andrew P. Kehoe had other plans. The local farmer and school board treasurer was educated, respected, and an accommodating neighbor and friend. But behind his ordinary demeanor was a narcissistic sadist seething with rage, resentment, and paranoia. On May 18 he detonated a set of rigged explosives with the sole purpose of destroying the school and everyone in it. Thirty-eight children and six adults were murdered that morning, culminating in the deadliest school massacre in US history.

Maniac is Harold Schechter’s gripping, definitive, exhaustively researched chronicle of a town forced to comprehend unprecedented carnage and the triggering of a “human time bomb� whose act of apocalyptic violence would foreshadow the terrors of the current age.]]> 227 Harold Schechter 1542000076 Sarah 4 true-crime 3.76 2021 Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer
author: Harold Schechter
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/09
date added: 2023/04/10
shelves: true-crime
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]]> <![CDATA[Cold Kill: The True Story of a Murderous Love]]> 33629828
After weeks of planning, the young misfits from two fine old Texas families donned grotesque battle gear and crept into the luxurious home where Cindy Ray's parents lay asleep with her two small sons. In the hot muggy room, the "cold kill" was over in seconds.

Everyone who knew the unpredictable Cindy suspected that she was involved, but the ghastly crime had been so carefully orchestrated that Houston's top homicide detectives could get nowhere. Cindy wore black and sobbed at the funeral, then began a frenzied attempt to collect her inheritance and as many of her wealthy parents possessions as she could haul away. No one except David West was surprised when she walked out on him.

Then the story took another bizarre turn. In a final bid to solve the case, a seductive young private investigator was assigned to cozy up to West. Soon the gullible killer was in love, once again with fateful consequences.

Traditionally, true-crime drama illuminates the sinister motivations in the human psyche. Yet Cold Kill reveals something still more frightful -- unspeakable murders are committed, not out of greed, revenge, or blind demented rage, but out of a troubled young man's tragically misconceived code of honor and a desperate need to please and protect the woman of his dreams.

Jack Olsen's Cold Kill is a stunning testament to the profoundly discerning eye of a grand master of true crime. To read Cold Kill is not to forgive David West. It is, however, to undergo the uncanny experience of feeling oneself slowly but surely moving into the shoes of a pathological killer.
]]> 464 Jack Olsen Sarah 4 audiobooks, true-crime 4.02 1987 Cold Kill: The True Story of a Murderous Love
author: Jack Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/10
date added: 2023/04/10
shelves: audiobooks, true-crime
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]]> To the Bridge 35884544 The case was closed, but for journalist Nancy Rommelmann, the mystery remained: What made a mother want to murder her own children?

On May 23, 2009, Amanda Stott-Smith drove to the middle of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland, Oregon, and dropped her two children into the Willamette River. Forty minutes later, rescuers found the body of four-year-old Eldon. Miraculously, his seven-year-old sister, Trinity, was saved. As the public cried out for blood, Amanda was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.

Embarking on a seven-year quest for the truth, Rommelmann traced the roots of Amanda’s fury and desperation through thousands of pages of records, withheld documents, meetings with lawyers and convicts, and interviews with friends and family who felt shocked, confused, and emotionally swindled by a woman whose entire life was now defined by an unspeakable crime. At the heart of that crime: a tempestuous marriage, a family on the fast track to self-destruction, and a myriad of secrets and lies as dark and turbulent as the Willamette River.

“In To the Bridge, Nancy Rommelmann takes what many consider the most unforgivable of crimes—a mother set on murdering her own children—and delivers something thoughtful and provocative: a deeply reported, sensitively told, all-too-relevant tragedy of addiction and codependency, toxic masculinity, and capricious justice. You won’t be able to look away—nor should any of us.� —Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery

“How do you understand the not understandable and forgive the unforgivable? So asks one of the characters in this clear-eyed investigation into something we all turn away from. To the Bridge is a tour de force of both journalism and compassion, in the lineage of such masterpieces as In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song. Word by word, sentence by sentence, Rommelmann’s writing is that good. And so is her heart.� —Nick Flynn, PEN/Martha Albrand Award–winning author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City]]> 303 Nancy Rommelmann 1542098416 Sarah 1 true-crime 3.38 2018 To the Bridge
author: Nancy Rommelmann
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2023/03/26
date added: 2023/03/26
shelves: true-crime
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator]]> 40092181 A chilling true crime story of poisonous family secrets, love gone wrong, and a cold case that refused to stay buried�

In late summer of 2012, millionaire landowner Göran Lundblad went missing from his farm in Sweden. When a search yielded nothing, and all physical evidence had seemingly disappeared, authorities had little to go on—except a disturbing phone call five weeks later from Göran’s daughter Maria. She was sure that her sister, Sara, was somehow involved. At the heart of the alleged Sara’s greed, her father’s land holdings, and his bitter feud with Sara’s idler boyfriend.

With no body, there was no crime—and the case went as cold and dark as the forests of southern Sweden. But not for Therese Tang. For two years, this case was her obsession.

A hard-working ex-model, mother of three, and Missing People investigator, Therese was willing to put her own safety at risk in order to uncover the truth. What she found was a nest of depraved secrets, lies, and betrayal. All she had to do now, in her relentless and dangerous pursuit of justice, was prove that it led to murder.]]> 314 Joakim Palmkvist 1503959791 Sarah 4 3.51 2017 The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator
author: Joakim Palmkvist
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/25
date added: 2023/02/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Deal with the Devil: The Death of Matthew Leveson and the Ten-Year Search for the Truth]]> 40674644
Atkins was, in fact, a serial liar. But to expose his deceit and achieve their main objective, to find Matt's body, the Levesons agreed in late 2016 to make a deal with the devil. In an unprecedented move, Atkins received immunity from prosecution in exchange for revealing where he had buried Matt. Atkins, however, claimed that Matt had died of a drug overdose and wasn't murdered.

Deal with the Devil is the story of the Leveson family from the journalist who was closest to them throughout the four-year police reinvestigation of Matt's case. This is a firsthand account of the Levesons' ordeal, from their harrowing decision to grant Atkins immunity to the extraordinary search for Matt's body in Sydney's Royal National Park. There is also an unnerving insight into Atkins' past, as well as exclusive interviews with his ex-boyfriends, lovers, and former friends. But, above all, what emerges is a portrait of a loving family, and of two parents bound by their public quest to achieve justice for their son.]]> 336 Grace Tobin 0143790226 Sarah 0 to-read 4.41 Deal with the Devil: The Death of Matthew Leveson and the Ten-Year Search for the Truth
author: Grace Tobin
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/23
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]]> The Lindbergh Nanny 59808208 Mariah Fredericks's The Lindbergh Nanny is powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime.

When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in New Jersey in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny.

A Scottish immigrant deciphering the rules of her new homeland and its East Coast elite, Betty finds Colonel Lindbergh eccentric and often odd, Mrs. Lindbergh kind yet nervous, and Charlie simply a darling. Far from home and bruised from a love affair gone horribly wrong, Betty finds comfort in caring for the child, and warms to the attentions of handsome sailor Henrik, sometimes known as Red. Then, Charlie disappears.

Suddenly a suspect in the eyes of both the media and the public, Betty must find the truth about what really happened that night, in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.]]> 309 Mariah Fredericks 125082740X Sarah 0 to-read 3.75 2022 The Lindbergh Nanny
author: Mariah Fredericks
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/23
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]]> A Man Called Ove 18774964
Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.]]> 337 Fredrik Backman 1476738017 Sarah 0 to-read 4.35 2012 A Man Called Ove
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/23
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]]> Son 372165
For more than two years, a rapist prowled the night streets of the homey, All-American city of Spokane, Washington, terrorizing women, sparking a run on gun stores, and finally causing one newspaper to offer a reward—the calls taken by the distinguished managing editor himself, Gordon Coe. In March 1981, luck and inspired police work at last produced an arrest, and Spokane shuddered. The suspect was clean cut and conservative…and Gordon Coe’s son.

For eighteen months, Jack Olsen researched the cases of Fred and Ruth Coe to try to learn not only what happened within that family, but how and why. He interviewed more than 150 people and built up a portrait not only of that extraordinary family, but of the mind of a psychopath. And searching the memories of the women in Fred Coe’s life, he unearthed a most horrifying question: What is it like to love and live with a man for years—and then discover he is a psychopathic criminal?]]> 544 Jack Olsen 0440181488 Sarah 0 to-read 4.01 1983 Son
author: Jack Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Poisonings That Shook the World]]> 60069636 From the #1 bestselling author comes the shocking true-crime story of a mother and wife, her disturbing family secrets and how she became a cold-hearted killer.

At 5.02 pm on June 5th, 1986, a call came into the local sheriff office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State from Stella Nickell. Her husband Bruce was having a seizure. As the officers arrived on the scene, Bruce was already dead.

Forensics identified that Bruce had consumed headache pills laced with cyanide and in an attempt to cover her tracks, Stella saw to it that a stranger would also become her next victim of the cyanide-tainted painkillers.

What would drive a seemingly normal outgoing and popular mum and wife to kill?
As the investigation began to unfold, Stella’s daughter Cynthia notified federal agents of her mother’s crimes. But she didn’t reveal everything…]]> 497 Gregg Olsen 1803146184 Sarah 3 true-crime 3.53 1993 American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood and the Cyanide Poisonings That Shook the World
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/12
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: true-crime
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]]> Just Mercy 20342617
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned.

Just Mercy tells the story of EJI, from the early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice.

One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching � a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent.]]> 336 Bryan Stevenson Sarah 3 audiobooks, true-crime 4.62 2014 Just Mercy
author: Bryan Stevenson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/11
date added: 2023/02/11
shelves: audiobooks, true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children]]> 18404221 In If I Can't Have You, bestselling author Gregg Olsen and co-author Rebecca Morris investigate one of the 21st Century's most puzzling disappearances and how it resulted in the murder of two children by their father.

Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story � with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm.

Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets. Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys and kill himself with brutality beyond belief.]]> 336 Gregg Olsen 1250027144 Sarah 5 audiobooks, true-crime 3.97 2014 If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/11
date added: 2023/02/11
shelves: audiobooks, true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hidden Scars (DI Kim Stone, #17)]]> 61858482
When a nineteen-year-old boy, Jamie Mills, is found hanging from a tree in a local park, his death is ruled a suicide. Detective Kim Stone’s instincts tell her something isn’t right � but it’s not her investigation and her temporary replacement is too busy waiting for the next big case to be asking the right questions.

Why would a seemingly healthy boy choose to end his life?
Why does his mother show no sign of emotional distress at the loss of her son?

Still mending her broken mind and body from her last harrowing case, Kim is supposed to be easing back into work gently. But then she finds a crucial, overlooked Jamie had a recent injury that would have made it impossible for him to climb the tree. He must have been murdered.

Quickly taking back charge of her team and the case, Kim visits Jamie’s parents and is shocked to hear that they had sent him to a clinic to â€cureâ€� him of his sexuality. According to his mother, Jamie was introverted and prone to mood swings. Yet his friend speaks of a vibrant, outgoing boy.

The clues to smashing open this disturbing case lie behind the old Victorian walls of the clinic, run by the Gardner family. They claim that patients come of their own accord and are free to leave at any time. But why are those that attended the clinic so afraid to speak of what happens there? And where did the faded restraint marks identified on Jamie’s wrists come from?

Then the body of a young woman is found dead by suffocation and Kim makes two chilling discoveries. The victim spent time at the clinic too, and her death was also staged to look like a suicide.

Scarred from an ordeal that nearly took her life, is Kim strong enough to stop a terrifying killer from silencing the clinic’s previous patients one by one?]]> 356 Angela Marsons 1803147717 Sarah 4 4.61 2022 Hidden Scars (DI Kim Stone, #17)
author: Angela Marsons
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2023/01/17
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[A Deadly Secret: The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst]]> 25227011 The subject of the HBO documentary The Jinx, convicted murdererĚýRobert Durst'sĚýstory is as outrageous as it is horrifying.Here, from the first reporter to access Durst’s NYPD files, is the authoritative account of a decades-long criminal odyssey—the very book found in Durst’s own apartment when it was searched by police. When medical student Kathie Durst vanished in 1982, she was married to Robert Durst, son of a New York real estate magnate. Kathie’s friends had reason to implicate her husband. They told police that Kathie lived in terror of Robert, and that she had uncovered incriminating financial evidence about him. But Durst’s secrets went even deeper. For decades, Kathie’s disappearance remained a mystery. Then in 2001, Durst, an heir to an empire valued at two billion dollars, was arrested for shoplifting in Pennsylvania. When the police brought him in, they discovered that he was a suspect in the murder of Texas drifter Morris Black, whose dismembered remains were found floating in Galveston Bay, and that Durst was also wanted for questioning in the killing of his friend, Susan Burman, in Los Angeles. Ěý Based on interviews with family, friends, and acquaintances of Durst, law enforcement, and others involved in the case, A Deadly Secret is a cross-country odyssey of stolen IDs and multiple identities that raises baffling questions about one of the country’s most prominent families—and one of its most elusive killers. Includes additional material not in the original Berkley edition and eight pages of photographs]]> 330 Matt Birkbeck 110198743X Sarah 0 to-read 3.87 2002 A Deadly Secret: The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst
author: Matt Birkbeck
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories]]> 61313693
Reader caution is advised. Advance readers of this anthology have reported nausea, feelings of anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations after reading the texts included.

Stories by: Holly Rae Garcia, Jeremy Hepler, Bev Vincent, Ally Wilkes, Clay McLoed Chapman, Nick Kolakowski, Tim McGregor, Alan Baxter, Angela Sylvaine, Josh Rountree, Georgia Cook, Ali Seay, Donna Lynch, Kurt Fawver, Robert Levy, Joe Butler, Fred Fischer IV, Aristo Couvaras.]]> 274 Andrew Cull Sarah 2 3.93 2022 Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories
author: Andrew Cull
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/27
date added: 2022/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? 32336396 There is evidence that the child beauty queen's death was a tragic accident, not a deliberate murder. Autopsy evidence is consistent with sexual abuse prior to her death, and certain crime scene evidence contradicts the "intruder theory.� Was the murder scene compromised? Discover who Dr. Wecht believes is really responsible for JonBenet's death. Includes the complete ramson note and autopsy report.

“Cyril Wecht is the Sherlock Holmes of forensic medicine,� according to famed attorney Alan Dershowitz.

]]> 352 Charles Bosworth Jr. 1631680951 Sarah 3 3.77 1998 Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?
author: Charles Bosworth Jr.
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/07
date added: 2022/12/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Presumed Guilty: Casey Anthony: the Inside Story]]> 13662820 Presumed Guilty exposes shocking, never-before revealed, exclusive information from the trial of the century and the verdict that shocked the nation.

When Caylee Anthony was reported missing in Orlando, Florida, in July 2008, the public spent the next three years following the investigation and the eventual trial of her mother, Casey Anthony. On July 5, 2011, the case that captured headlines worldwide exploded when, against all odds, defense attorney Jose Baez delivered one of the biggest legal upsets in American history: a not-guilty verdict.

In this tell-all, Baez shares secrets the defense knew but has not disclosed to anyone until now and frankly reveals his experiences throughout the entire case—discovering the evidence, meeting Casey Anthony for the first time, being with George and Cindy Anthony day after day, leading defense strategy meetings, and spending weeks in the judge’s chambers.

Presumed Guilty shows how Baez, a struggling, high-school dropout, became one of the nation’s most high-profile defense attorneys through his tireless efforts to seek justice for one of the country’s most vilified murder suspects.
]]> 352 José Báez 1937856380 Sarah 3 audiobooks 3.72 2012 Presumed Guilty: Casey Anthony: the Inside Story
author: José Báez
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/30
date added: 2022/11/30
shelves: audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice]]> 56637962 A rural physician learns that a former doctor at his clinic committed a shocking crime, leading him to uncover an undiagnosed mental health crisis in our broken prison system--a powerful true story expanding on one of the most popular This American Life episodes of all time.

When family physician Dr. Benjamin Gilmer began working at the Cane Creek clinic in rural North Carolina, he was following in the footsteps of a man with the same last name. His predecessor, Dr. Vince Gilmer, was beloved by his patients and community--right up until the shocking moment when he strangled his ailing father and then returned to the clinic for a regular day of work after the murder. He'd been in prison for nearly a decade by the time Benjamin arrived, but Vince's patients would still tell Benjamin they couldn't believe the other Dr. Gilmer was capable of such violence. The more Benjamin looked into Vince's case, the more he knew that something was wrong.

Vince knew, too. He complained from the time he was arrested of his SSRI brain, referring to withdrawal from his anti-depressant medication. When Benjamin visited Vince in prison, he met a man who was obviously fighting his own mind, constantly twitching and veering off into nonsensical tangents. Enlisting This American Life journalist Sarah Koenig, Benjamin resolved to get Vince the help he needed. But time and again, the pair would come up against a prison system that cared little about the mental health of its inmates--despite an estimated one third of them suffering from an untreated mental illness.

In The Other Dr. Gilmer, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer tells of how a caring man was overcome by a perfect storm of rare health conditions, leading to an unimaginable crime. Rather than get treatment, Vince Gilmer was sentenced to life in prison--a life made all the worse by his untrustworthy brain and prison and government officials who dismissed his situation. A large percentage of imprisoned Americans are suffering from mental illness when they commit their crimes and continue to suffer, untreated, in prison. In a country with the highest incarceration rates in the world, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer argues that some crimes need to be healed rather than punished.]]> 304 Benjamin Gilmer 0593355164 Sarah 0 to-read 4.19 2022 The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice
author: Benjamin Gilmer
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary]]> 25019 The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history. The compilation of the OED, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.]]> 242 Simon Winchester 0060839783 Sarah 0 to-read 3.84 1998 The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
author: Simon Winchester
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania]]> 22551730
On May 1, 1915, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were anxious. Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone, and for months, its U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "Greyhounds" and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. He knew, moreover, that his ship - the fastest then in service - could outrun any threat.

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

It is a story that many of us think we know but don't, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour, mystery, and real-life suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope Riddle to President Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster that helped place America on the road to war.]]> 430 Erik Larson 0307408868 Sarah 0 to-read 4.10 2015 Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
author: Erik Larson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/11/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry]]> 12391521
The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath.

Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges.]]> 275 Jon Ronson 1594485755 Sarah 0 to-read 3.97 2011 The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
author: Jon Ronson
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Foreign Faction - Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet?]]> 15760050
Foreign Faction blows the cover off the lone-intruder / sexual predator theory, and reveals startling new evidence that heretofore has only been seen by a select few. Kolar's work offers an entirely new perspective for the events leading up to JonBenet's murder on Christmas Day 1996, and it will ultimately redifine the public perception of one of the most unusual murder investigations this country has ever witnessed.]]> 530 A. James Kolar 0984763201 Sarah 4 true-crime 3.98 2012 Foreign Faction - Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet?
author: A. James Kolar
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/29
date added: 2022/10/30
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder]]> 18296159
Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When, in March of 2006, Charles Cullen was marched from his final sentencing in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, courthouse into a waiting police van, it seemed certain that the chilling secrets of his life, career, and capture would disappear with him. Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism nearly ten years in the making, journalist Charles Graeber presents the whole story for the first time. Based on hundreds of pages of previously unseen police records, interviews, wire-tap recordings and videotapes, as well as exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself and the confidential informant who helped bring him down, THE GOOD NURSE weaves an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship, and betrayal.

Graeber's portrait of Cullen depicts a surprisingly intelligent and complicated young man whose promising career was overwhelmed by his compulsion to kill, and whose shy demeanor masked a twisted interior life hidden even to his family and friends. Were it not for the hardboiled, unrelenting work of two former Newark homicide detectives racing to put together the pieces of Cullen's professional past, and a fellow nurse willing to put everything at risk, including her job and the safety of her children, there's no telling how many more lives could have been lost.

In the tradition of In Cold Blood, THE GOOD NURSE does more than chronicle Cullen's deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him; it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers a penetrating look inside America's medical system. Harrowing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at medicine, hospitals, and the people who work in them, in an entirely different way.]]> 320 Charles Graeber 1455574139 Sarah 0 to-read 3.87 2013 The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder
author: Charles Graeber
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman]]> 52188983 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A top journalist crosses the yellow tape to investigate a shocking high-society crime.

Billionaires, philanthropists, socialites . . . victims. Barry and Honey Sherman appeared to lead charmed lives. But the world was shocked in late 2017 when their bodies were found in a bizarre tableau in their elegant Toronto home. First described as murder-suicideĚý—Ěýbelts looped around their necks, they were found seated beside their basement swimming poolĚý—Ěýpolice later ruled it a staged, targeted double murder. Nothing about the case made sense to friends of the founder of one of the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical firms and his wife, a powerhouse in Canada’s charity world. Together, their wealth has been estimated at well over $4.7 billion.
Ěý
There was another side to the story. A strategic genius who built a large generic drug company —ĚýApotex Inc. —ĚýBarry Sherman was a self-described workaholic, renowned risk-taker, and disruptor during his fifty-year career. Regarded as a generous friend by many, Sherman was also feared by others. He was criticized for stifling academic freedom and using the courts to win at all costs. Upset with building issues at his mansion, he sued and recouped millions from tradespeople. At the time of his death, Sherman had just won a decades-old legal case involving four cousins who wanted 20 percent of his fortune.
Ěý
Toronto Star investigative journalist Kevin Donovan chronicles the unsettling story from the beginning, interviewing family members, friends, and colleagues, and sheds new light on the Shermans� lives and the disturbing double murder. Deeply researched and authoritative, The Billionaire Murders is a compulsively readable tale of a strange and perplexing crime.]]> 330 Kevin Donovan 0735237042 Sarah 3 true-crime 3.95 2019 The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman
author: Kevin Donovan
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/15
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir]]> 34398622
When law student Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is asked to work on a death-row hearing for convicted murderer and child molester Ricky Langley, she finds herself thrust into the tangled story of his childhood. As she digs deeper and deeper into the case she realizes that, despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.

The Fact of a Body is both an enthralling memoir and a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories, and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.]]> 337 Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich 1509805656 Sarah 3 true-crime 3.82 2017 The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
author: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/11
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> The Want-Ad Killer 46147253 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me comes a true crime story of a serial killer who was sentenced to die—yet lived to murder again....and again....

After committing his first grisly crime,ĚýHarvey Louis CarignanĚýbeat a death sentence and continued to manipulate, rape, and bludgeon women to death, using want ads to lure his young female victims. And time after time, justice was thwarted by a killer whose twisted legal genius was matched only by his sick savagery.

Complete with the testimony of the officers who put him behind bars and the women who barely escaped with their lives, The Want-Ad Killer is one of the most shattering and thought-provoking true-crime stories of our time.]]> 295 Ann Rule 110166746X Sarah 3 true-crime 4.19 1983 The Want-Ad Killer
author: Ann Rule
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2022/07/26
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Family Business: A Chilling Tale of Greed as One Family Commits Unspeakable Crimes Against the Dead]]> 41796484 They were the owners of funeral home—and organ harvesters. An unsettling look at the Sconce family from the acclaimed true crime author of Deadly Lessons.
Ěý
For sixty years, families in Southern California trusted the Sconce Family Funeral Home with their loved ones� remains. That trust was betrayed in an extraordinary, horrifying fashion, as it was discovered that the family, seeing an opportunity, had been stealing gold fillings and harvesting the organs of the newly deceased, hiding the evidence by burning the bodies in their crematorium.
Ěý
When the shocking acts came to light, a trial brought every gruesome detail to the forefront, and Ken Englade has—with even-handed, clear-eyed reporting—chronicled every chilling detail.
Ěý]]> 388 Ken Englade 162681502X Sarah 1 true-crime 3.75 1992 A Family Business: A Chilling Tale of Greed as One Family Commits Unspeakable Crimes Against the Dead
author: Ken Englade
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1992
rating: 1
read at: 2022/09/03
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> Love, Lies, And Murder 25025607 A Wealthy Wife
...A successful lawyer, Perry March married the beautiful daughter of one of the most powerful attorneys in Nashville. Through his wife Janet, Perry won a position in his father-in-law's firm and joined the city's social elite. The couple raised two children in a mansion that Janet, a talented artist, designed. They seemed to have the good life and more...

A Husband's Betrayal
...But in 1996, when Janet vanished, police dug into Perry's past, turning up strange stories of sexual obsession, unfaithfulness, and vicious arguments with Janet. When they suspected that one of those fights ended in murder, Perry skipped town with his children.

A Father's Vow For JusticeĚý
Janet's father would not let Perry escape so easily. He and his agents pursued the murder suspect to Chicago, and then to Mexico, where Perry opened a new practice and remarried. Still, ten years would pass before the desperate fugitive became trapped in his own web of deceit and betrayal.

Includes 16 Pages Of Revealing Photos!]]> 351 Gary C. King 0786038446 Sarah 2 true-crime 3.72 2007 Love, Lies, And Murder
author: Gary C. King
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2022/10/06
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fast, Feast, Repeat: The Comprehensive Guide to Delay, Don't Deny® Intermittent Fasting]]> 51168294 The instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller!

Change when you eat and change your body, your health, and your life!

Diets don’t work. You know you know that, and yet you continue to try them, because what else can you do? You can Fast. Feast. Repeat. After losing over eighty pounds and keeping every one of them off, Gin Stephens started a vibrant, successful online community with hundreds of thousands of members from around the world who have learned the magic of a Delay, Don’t Deny® intermittent fasting lifestyle.

Fast. Feast. Repeat. has it all! You’ll learn how to work a variety of intermittent fasting approaches into your life, no matter what your circumstances or schedule. Once you’ve ignited your fat-burning superpower, you’ll get rid of “diet brain� forever, tweak your protocol until it’s second nature, and learn why IF is a lifestyle, not a diet.

Fast. Feast. Repeat. is for everyone! Beginners will utilize the 28-Day FAST Start. Experienced intermittent fasters will strengthen their intermittent fasting practice, work on their mindset, and read about the latest research out of top universities supporting intermittent fasting as the health plan with a side effect of weight loss. Still have questions? Gin has you covered! All of the most frequently asked intermittent fasting questions are answered in the exhaustive FAQ section.]]> 224 Gin Stephens 1250624479 Sarah 4 4.26 2020 Fast, Feast, Repeat: The Comprehensive Guide to Delay, Don't Deny® Intermittent Fasting
author: Gin Stephens
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/29
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty]]> 43868109 The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing.

The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.

Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.]]> 535 Patrick Radden Keefe 0385545681 Sarah 0 to-read 4.54 2021 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
author: Patrick Radden Keefe
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> Know My Name 50196744
Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways–there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.

Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic.]]> 384 Chanel Miller 0735223718 Sarah 0 to-read 4.69 2019 Know My Name
author: Chanel Miller
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.69
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Abandoned Prayers: The Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession and Amish Secrets]]> 26784
Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet façade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning. . .

Gregg Olsen's Abandoned Prayers is an incredible true story of murder and Amish secrets.]]> 399 Gregg Olsen 0312982011 Sarah 3 3.58 2002 Abandoned Prayers: The Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession and Amish Secrets
author: Gregg Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves:
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]]> The Red Parts 263257
In an instance of remarkable serendipity, more than three decades later, a 2004 DNA match led to the arrest of a new suspect for Jane's murder at precisely the same time that Nelson was set to publish a book of poetry about her aunt's life and death - a book she had been working on for years, and which assumed her aunt's case to be closed forever.

The Red Parts chronicles the uncanny series of events that led to Nelson's interest in her aunt's death, the reopening of the case, the bizarre and brutal trial that ensued, and the effects these events had on the disparate group of people they brought together. But The Red Parts is much more than a "true crime" record of a murder, investigation, and trial. For into this story Nelson has woven an account of a girlhood and early adulthood haunted by loss, mortality, mystery, and betrayal, as well as a look at the personal and political consequences of our cultural fixation on dead (white) women.]]> 201 Maggie Nelson 141653203X Sarah 0 to-read 4.04 2007 The Red Parts
author: Maggie Nelson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Zodiac 105760 356 Robert Graysmith 0425098087 Sarah 0 to-read 3.92 1986 Zodiac
author: Robert Graysmith
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Terror]]> 33027241 Edgar Award The shocking account of a Wyoming father who terrorized his family for years—until his children plotted a deadly solution.

One cold November night, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, fifteen-year-old Richard Jahnke Jr., ROTC leader and former Boy Scout, waited for his parents to return from celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the night they met. When his father got out of the car, the boy blasted him through the heart with a twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun. Richard’s seventeen-year-old sister, Deborah, was sitting on the living room couch with a high-powered rifle—just in case her brother missed.
Ěý
Hours later the Jahnke kids were behind bars. Days later they made headlines. So did the truth about the house of horrors on Cowpoke Road.
Ěý
Was it cold-blooded murder? Or self-defense?
Ěý
Richard Jahnke Sr., special agent for the IRS, gun collector, and avid reader of Soldier of Fortune, had been subjecting his wife, Maria, and both children to harrowing abuse—physical, psychological, and sexual—for years. Deborah and her brother conspired to finally put a stop to it themselves. But their fate was in the hands of a prejudiced and inept judicial system, and only public outcry could save them.
Ěý
Written with the full and revealing cooperation of the Jahnkes, this finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime is “the ultimate family nightmare, played out in the heartland of America.Ěý.Ěý.Ěý.ĚýFrom the night of the murder through both trials, convictions and both youngstersâ€� eventual releaseĚý.Ěý.Ěý.Ěýit’s gripping readingâ€� (Chicago Tribune).
Ěý]]> 378 Alan Prendergast 1504042158 Sarah 0 to-read 3.88 1986 The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Terror
author: Alan Prendergast
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders]]> 52259498
Chris ultimately pled guilty to the murders, and he is currently serving multiple life sentences. While in prison, Chris receives tons of mail—from family and friends but also fans. Author Cheryln Cadle decided that, after a calling from God, she would write to Chris and ask him if she could write a book about his story. Surprisingly, he wrote back.

After a few back-and-forth letters, Chris sent the paperwork to Cheryln to be put on the visitors� list. She then visited him and they talked about her writing a book. After visiting him, he told Cheryln he wanted to tell her his confessions in writing because he felt their conversations were being recorded. He has revealed things to her that no one else knows, not even the FBI. Some of these details will be completely shocking for you to hear.

Letters from Christopher is a true crime story with important information to put the pieces of the puzzle together for inquiring minds. Read herein the completely truthful account of what happened to Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and Nico Watts.

About the Author

New and upcoming author Cheryln Cadle lives in the Midwest with her husband of 47 years, three children and their spouses, and eleven grandchildren. She loves to write, play golf, camp, and travel. Her most favorite pastime is spending time with her grandchildren. She loves true crime stories.]]> 294 Cheryln Cadle 164610479X Sarah 1 2.55 Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders
author: Cheryln Cadle
name: Sarah
average rating: 2.55
book published:
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2022/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation]]> 40098861 A deeply-reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect � a female detective within the LAPD’s own ranks.On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John’s, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects, and the case went cold.DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri’s arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus, John’s onetime girlfriend.The Lazarus Files delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri’s murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?]]> 597 Matthew McGough 0805095608 Sarah 3 true-crime Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2019
How did Stephanie react when arrested?? Did she have an inkling she was finally getting caught? How had she lived with herself all these years? Why are there no details on her police interviews? What happened in court? How did her husband react when he find out he married a murderer?? All these questions remain unanswered. Yet there’s so much detail on the mundane - probably 60% too much. Very repetitive in fact.
It’s well written and did keep me interested but ended up very disappointed.]]> 3.75 2019 The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation
author: Matthew McGough
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/21
date added: 2022/08/08
shelves: true-crime
review:
Too many questions left unanswered - disappointing.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2019
How did Stephanie react when arrested?? Did she have an inkling she was finally getting caught? How had she lived with herself all these years? Why are there no details on her police interviews? What happened in court? How did her husband react when he find out he married a murderer?? All these questions remain unanswered. Yet there’s so much detail on the mundane - probably 60% too much. Very repetitive in fact.
It’s well written and did keep me interested but ended up very disappointed.
]]> <![CDATA[Deadly Little Secrets: The Minister, His Mistress, and a Heartless Texas Murder]]> 13156142 456 Kathryn Casey 0062018558 Sarah 0 to-read 4.09 2012 Deadly Little Secrets: The Minister, His Mistress, and a Heartless Texas Murder
author: Kathryn Casey
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Never See Them Again 18844503
"Phelps is the Harlan Coben of real-life thrillers." -Allison Brennan

"The best true-crime writer to come along in years." -Gregg Olsen

Praise for M. William Phelps

"Phelps ratchets up the dramatic tension." -Stephen Singular

"One of America's finest true-crime writers." -Vincent Bugliosi

"Phelps creates a vivid portrait." -"Publishers Weekly"

Includes 16 Pages Of Dramatic Photos]]> 433 M. William Phelps 0786030550 Sarah 0 to-read 4.27 2012 Never See Them Again
author: M. William Phelps
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Little Lost Angel 1156191 306 Michael Quinlan 0671884689 Sarah 0 to-read 4.16 1995 Little Lost Angel
author: Michael Quinlan
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Shattered 8545947
In Creekstone, Texas, a small, quiet suburb of Houston, football was king . . . and David Temple was a prince. A former high school and college gridiron star-turned-coach, he had a fairy-tale marriage to bright, vivacious Belinda Lucas, a teacher at the local high school who was so warm and popular her colleagues called her "The Sunshine Girl."

The fairy tale ended savagely on January 11, 1999, when Belinda's lifeless body was discovered in a closet. Her skull had been shattered by a shotgun blast at close range. She was eight months pregnant.

There was no damning evidence directly linking the brutal murder to husband David, who stood by emotionless and dry-eyed as police searched the crime scene. But a dogged eight-year investigation would expose a shocking history of cruelty and domination, infidelity and rage-ultimately resulting in an epic courtroom battle for the ages-as the scandalous truth was revealed about love betrayed and innocent lives . . . shattered.]]> 396 Kathryn Casey Sarah 2 true-crime 4.28 2010 Shattered
author: Kathryn Casey
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2016/08/14
date added: 2022/07/11
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Skincare: the Ultimate No-Nonsense Guide]]> 52762832 As seen on This Morning

Straight-talking advice from the Skincare Queen
Caroline Hirons is the authority in skincare � and for the first time, she’s sharing her knowledge with the world. With over 100 million views of her blog and over 13 million views of her YouTube videos, she cuts out the jargon, tells you want you do and don’t need, and is finally going to get the nation off face wipes for good!


Skincare is the go-to book for people of all ages and skin types who want to feel and look fantastic. It explains the facts, the myths and the best way to get good skin � on any budget. With everything from Caroline’s signature cheat sheets, simple tips and tricks to glow (inside and out!) understanding ingredients lists, and advice on how to choose the products that are right for you, this is the ultimate guide to healthier, brighter skin.]]> 304 Caroline Hirons 0008375526 Sarah 4 4.34 2020 Skincare: the Ultimate No-Nonsense Guide
author: Caroline Hirons
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/07/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation]]> 666453 352 Dennis McAuliffe Jr. 1571780831 Sarah 0 to-read 4.20 1999 Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation
author: Dennis McAuliffe Jr.
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Perfect Couple 45185987
A devoted wife…A year ago, Gemma met the love of her life, Danny. Since then, their relationship has been perfect. But one evening, Danny doesn’t return home.

A missing husband…Gemma turns to the police. She is horrified by what she discovers � a serial killer is on the loose in Bristol. When she sees photos of the victims she is even more stunned…they all look just like Danny.

Who would you believe?But the police are suspicious. Why has no one apart from Gemma heard from Danny in weeks? Why is there barely a trace of him in their flat? Is she telling them the truth, or is this marriage hiding some very dark secrets?

'Keeps you guessing as you frantically turn the pages� Sunday Times bestselling author C. L. Taylor

â€I couldn't put it down!â€� Alex Lake, bestselling author of Seven Days

â€There is no let-up in this twisty-turny thrillerâ€� Kate Riordan, author of The Heatwave

What readers are saying about The Perfect Coupleâ€This book kept me up all night. So many twists and turns. I just could not get enoughâ€�

â€Oh my word!! This book was absolutely brilliant!! I cannot even describe how brilliant the plot was and the twists and turns were just amazing!!â€�

â€The perfect read!â€�

â€Jackie Kabler -you have written a thriller beyond words!â€�

â€A page turning, knee trembling read!â€�

â€Suspense, thrills, police procedural, and a good old-fashioned creepy scare await youâ€�

â€Amazing, twisty, ride. I was left with a jaw dropped open and asking myself why and howâ€�

â€Oh My Gosh what a Head Spinning book!!!!. Kept me on my toes through every chapter’]]> 433 Jackie Kabler 0008328420 Sarah 1 4.00 2020 The Perfect Couple
author: Jackie Kabler
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2022/07/02
date added: 2022/07/02
shelves:
review:

]]> The Life You Left Behind 60125505 A heartbreaking, life-affirming novel for fans of Mhairi McFarlane's Last Night and Holly Miller's The Sight of You.


Two strangers.

One missed flight.

It only takes a moment to change a life.

One year ago Casey Cassidy was happy. She had great friends, a wonderful teaching job and a busy life - until with one missed flight, everything changes.

One year later Casey knows what it means to find that once-in-a-lifetime love people dream of. But when Ben leaves, her heart is shattered.

Left facing a year of firsts without him, piecing her life back together seems impossible. But then a friend offers her a home in rural France.

In the solitude and emptiness, Casey needs to comes to terms with what’s happened and find a way to move forward. She has no idea where that will take her one year later...]]> 362 Debbie Howells 180280997X Sarah 2 4.06 2022 The Life You Left Behind
author: Debbie Howells
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Six Graves (DI Kim Stone, #16)]]> 60388552
It’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top. How had the girl’s mother looked down at her sleeping child and pulled the trigger?

When Detective Kim Stone rushes to the scene of a house fire, she’s shocked to discover it’s claimed the lives of two teenage children and their parents. But this tragedy is not quite as it seems. Each body is marked by a gunshot wound and the mother, Helen Daynes, is holding the gun.

The case sparks painful childhood memories for Kim who suffered at the hands of her own abusive mother, but it just makes her more determined to uncover the truth. As Kim untangles Helen’s past, she finds a history of clinical depression. But did it drive Helen to murder her loved ones?

Then Kim uncovers a tiny, vital clue in Helen’s bedroom that throws the investigation wide open. Could someone else have killed the Daynes family?

Just as Kim feels she’s making progress, a deadly threat is made to her own life by a dangerous psychopath from her past. Biting back her fear, she keeps digging. And when Kim hits upon a shocking secret that changes everything she thought she knew about Helen, she realises that the remaining family members are in grave danger.

Kim is under pressure like never before, and the monster circling her is getting ever closer. Four bodies already. Four graves fresh in the ground. Who will be next? Can Kim find the killer and save herself before it’s too late?]]> 380 Angela Marsons 1838887385 Sarah 4 4.68 2022 Six Graves (DI Kim Stone, #16)
author: Angela Marsons
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> I Have Something to Tell You 57800975 Don’t miss the captivating new book from Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Lewis!

High-flying lawyer Jessica Wells has it all. A successful career, loving husband Tom and a family she adores. But one case � and one client � will put all that at risk.

Edward Blake. An ordinary life turned upside down � or a man who quietly watched television while his wife was murdered upstairs? With more questions than answers and a case too knotted to unravel, Jay suspects he’s protecting someone�

Then she comes home one day, and her husband utters the words no-one ever wants to hear. Sit down� because I've got something to tell you�.

Now Jay must fight not only for the man she defends, but for the man she thought she trusted with her life � her husband.


Look out for the latest thrilling book from the Sunday Times bestselling author � available to pre-order now!]]> 509 Susan Lewis 0008287007 Sarah 1 4.28 2021 I Have Something to Tell You
author: Susan Lewis
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2022/06/09
date added: 2022/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Missing Sapphire of Zangrabar (Patricia Fisher Cruise Ship Mysteries #1)]]> 45871396 Patricia Fisher is about to find out that fifty-two is the perfect age for an adventure!

When her life is unexpectedly turned upside down, ginaholic housewife, Patricia, doesn’t react as most would. Instead, she empties the bank accounts and jumps on the first cruise ship available � it just happens to be the world’s largest and finest, the Aurelia.

Less than twenty-four hours later, the world throws her the next curveball and so begins a race against time to prove she’s not a killer.

She has help though:
Her butler � his perfect Downton Abbey accent and penchant for folding napkins correctly should be enormously helpful!

A pretty gym instructor � can balanced nutrition and perfect abs keep Patricia out of jail?

Her chances don’t look great, but in our most testing times, we truly find our inner strength. Join Patricia Fisher as she learns that you are never beyond discovering a new version of yourself. The world will always look a little different once you have seen it through Patricia’s eyes.

Praise for the author:

"Higgs makes everyone and everything come alive!� � Amazon customer

"Truly delightful tales of mystery and misadventure." � Amazon customer

The Patricia Fisher cozy mysteries are a series of fun, but enthralling tales which you can read without fear of graphic sex, unnecessary cussing or descriptive violence.]]> 227 Steve Higgs Sarah 2 4.10 2019 The Missing Sapphire of Zangrabar (Patricia Fisher Cruise Ship Mysteries #1)
author: Steve Higgs
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2022/04/14
date added: 2022/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Cat's Cradle 8699986 306 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Sarah 3 4.17 1963 Cat's Cradle
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/16
date added: 2022/03/16
shelves:
review:

]]> And Away... 57513156 323 Bob Mortimer 1398505293 Sarah 5 audiobooks 4.30 2021 And Away...
author: Bob Mortimer
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/18
date added: 2022/01/18
shelves: audiobooks
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Under the Trestle: The 1980 Disappearance of Gina Renee Hall & Virginia’s First “No Body� Murder Trial.]]> 43331808 Under The Trestle is the true story of the most compelling murder case in Virginia history. In 1980, beautiful Gina Renee Hall, a Radford University freshman, went to a Virginia Tech nightclub on a Saturday night. She was never seen again. Her abandoned car was found parked beneath a railroad trestle bridging the New River, with blood in the trunk. The investigation led police to a secluded cabin on Claytor Lake, where there was evidence of a violent attack.

Former Virginia Tech football player, Stephen Epperly, was charged with murder, despite the fact that Gina’s body was never found. In Virginia’s “trial of the century�, prosecutor Everett Shockley presented an entirely circumstantial case. Key witnesses against Epperly included his best friend, his mother, and a tracking dog handler later believed by many to be a fraud. Three former Virginia Tech football players testified, including a Hokies quarterback once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Would Epperly become the first person in Virginia history convicted of murder without the victim’s body, an eyewitness, or a confession? And would authorities ever find the body of Gina Renee Hall?]]> 334 Ron Peterson Jr. 1532063504 Sarah 5 true-crime 4.31 2018 Under the Trestle: The 1980 Disappearance of Gina Renee Hall & Virginia’s First “No Body” Murder Trial.
author: Ron Peterson Jr.
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/13
date added: 2022/01/13
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body: A Guide for Occupants]]> 43599513 #1 Bestseller in both hardback and SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE _______'A directory of wonders.' - The Guardian'Jaw-dropping.' - The Times'Classic, wry, gleeful Bryson...an entertaining and absolutely fact-rammed book.' - The Sunday Times'It is a feat of narrative skill to bake so many facts into an entertaining and nutritious book.' - The Daily Telegraph_______'We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and what goes on inside it. The idea of the book is simply to try to understand the extraordinary contraption that is us.' Bill Bryson sets off to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up. A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this new book is an instant classic. It will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.'What I learned is that we are infinitely more complex and wondrous, and often more mysterious, than I had ever suspected. There really is no story more amazing than the story of us.' Bill Bryson]]> 521 Bill Bryson Sarah 5 4.49 2019 The Body: A Guide for Occupants
author: Bill Bryson
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/24
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography]]> 57313302 In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life.Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal.It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing.Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs.He "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!"I just "Exactly!"After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...']]> 356 Billy Connolly Sarah 5 audiobooks 4.41 Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography
author: Billy Connolly
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/30
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: audiobooks
review:

]]> This Much is True 58604389 Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure. Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?'

From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.]]> 427 Miriam Margolyes Sarah 5 audiobooks …and I love them both. I’ve always enjoyed watching her interviews, especially on Graham Norton after the watershed. The Will.i.am one was hilarious. I think Miriam is kind and just lovely. On one of her documentaries she asked a little girl to describe her. It was a documentary about overweight people so you could see where this might go. The little girl looked at her and simply said “kind�. Out of the mouths of babes they say.

This is a wonderful audiobook and Miriam’s narration is great. I didn’t realise until a few chapters in that she was doing all the other voices of people in her story. She is a real talent.

It also helps that she reminds me of how my mom used to be; strong, independent, talented, outspoken and a bit of a potty mouth. My mom is also in her 80s but now has Alzheimer’s and I’m slowly losing her. So watching and listening to Miriam does bring mixed emotions but I embrace them all.

My top book of this year!
]]> 4.08 2021 This Much is True
author: Miriam Margolyes
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/30
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: audiobooks
review:
Miriam is like Marmite
…and I love them both. I’ve always enjoyed watching her interviews, especially on Graham Norton after the watershed. The Will.i.am one was hilarious. I think Miriam is kind and just lovely. On one of her documentaries she asked a little girl to describe her. It was a documentary about overweight people so you could see where this might go. The little girl looked at her and simply said “kind�. Out of the mouths of babes they say.

This is a wonderful audiobook and Miriam’s narration is great. I didn’t realise until a few chapters in that she was doing all the other voices of people in her story. She is a real talent.

It also helps that she reminds me of how my mom used to be; strong, independent, talented, outspoken and a bit of a potty mouth. My mom is also in her 80s but now has Alzheimer’s and I’m slowly losing her. So watching and listening to Miriam does bring mixed emotions but I embrace them all.

My top book of this year!

]]> <![CDATA[The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception]]> 34772884
Who could believe Romand was a murderer? He was, after all, a noted doctor at the World Health Organisation, a ground-breaking researcher with connections to international humanitarian figures, a financial wizard entrusted with his in-laws' life savings, and a loving son who called his parents every evening to say goodnight. But when a relative went to break the terrible news of the murder of his wife and children to Romand's parents they too were dead - murdered by the stranger who had been their son.

Acclaimed master of psychological suspense, Emmanuel Carrère, whose fiction John Updike described as 'stunning' (New Yorker) explores the double life of a respectable doctor, eighteen years of lies, five murders, and the extremes to which an ordinary man will go to protect himself.]]> 190 Emmanuel Carrère Sarah 5 true-crime 3.65 2000 The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception
author: Emmanuel Carrère
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> Salt of the Earth 23533590 331 Jack Olsen Sarah 4 true-crime 4.34 1996 Salt of the Earth
author: Jack Olsen
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/29
date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Once Upon a Time: A True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law]]> 2423098 576 Harry N. MacLean 0440217164 Sarah 0 to-read 3.53 1993 Once Upon a Time: A True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law
author: Harry N. MacLean
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators]]> 51022071
All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance that could not be explained - until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood, to Washington, and beyond.

This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability and silence victims of abuse - and it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement.

Both a spy thriller and a meticulous work of investigative journalism, Catch and Kill breaks devastating new stories about the rampant abuse of power - and sheds far-reaching light on investigations that shook the culture.

In a dramatic account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost.]]> 608 Ronan Farrow 0316454133 Sarah 5 true-crime 4.33 2019 Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
author: Ronan Farrow
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/29
date added: 2021/12/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[She Said: How Two Reporters Broke the Story that Changed the Rules about Sex and Power]]> 52127164 'We were determined, from the start, to give a voice to the voiceless.' KANTOR AND TWOHEY

On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey that changed the world forever. For months Kantor and Twohey had been having confidential discussions with top actresses, former Weinstein employees and other sources, learning of disturbing, long-buried allegations. The journalists meticulously picked their way through a web of decades-old secret payouts and non-disclosure agreements, pressed some of the most famous women in the world � and some unknown ones � to risk going on the record, and faced down Weinstein, his team of high-priced defenders, and even his private investigators.

In this book, Kantor and Twohey relive in real-time what it took to break the story and give an up-close portrait of the forces they were up against. They describe the experiences of the women who spoke up � for the sake of other women, for future generations, and for themselves. Their stories have never been told in this way before.
]]> 352 Jodi Kantor 1526603284 Sarah 4 true-crime 4.32 2019 She Said: How Two Reporters Broke the Story that Changed the Rules about Sex and Power
author: Jodi Kantor
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/22
date added: 2021/12/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Almost the Perfect Murder: The Killing of Elaine O’Hara, the Extraordinary Garda Investigation and the Trial That Stunned the Nation: The Only Complete Inside Account]]> 25833997
>Almost the Perfect Murder details the exhaustive investigation - one of the most complex and chilling in Irish criminal justice history - that allowed gardaĂ­ to build a case against Dwyer. And it outlines the twists and turns - both in the courtroom and behind the scenes - during the dramatic trial that followed.

This book includes fresh insights into the garda investigation and background information on Graham Dwyer.]]> 283 Paul Williams Sarah 5 true-crime 4.18 2015 Almost the Perfect Murder: The Killing of Elaine O’Hara, the Extraordinary Garda Investigation and the Trial That Stunned the Nation: The Only Complete Inside Account
author: Paul Williams
name: Sarah
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/07
date added: 2021/12/29
shelves: true-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Widow: The Catherine Nevin Story]]> 21376159 Number One Bestseller The incredible story of the murder which gripped the nation. When Tom Nevin was brutally murdered in Jack White's Inn on the morning of 19 March 1996 there was widespread mourning for the man known as a 'gentle giant'. And none seemed as grief-stricken as his widow, Catherine. She stood by the graveside holding a single red rose, the classic symbol of a lost love. But even as that picture occupied the front page of the nation's newspapers, the rumours had started.

Four years later Catherine Nevin stood in the dock and listened impassively as a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband, and guilty on three counts of soliciting others to murder. The trial had kept the entire country enthralled, as every day more bizarre stories contract killers, money laundering, the IRA, sexual affairs, plastic surgery, contacts in high places. It had all the ingredients of a bestselling thriller, but this was real life, and with a real victim.

The Black Widow is the story of a woman who wanted it all and didn't care how she got it. Niamh O'Connor, a journalist who sat through every day of the record-breaking trial, explores the personality behind the glamorous mask, the real motives for the murder, and, in a series of revealing interviews, unravels the web of intrigue, deception and violence that brought the woman who once gave deportment classes to schoolchildren to the cells of Mountjoy.]]> 255 Niamh O'Connor Sarah 1 true-crime 3.76 2000 The Black Widow: The Catherine Nevin Story
author: Niamh O'Connor
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at: 2021/12/17
date added: 2021/12/29
shelves: true-crime
review:
Couldn’t finish unfortunately, had to speed read to the end. I found it repetitive and boring. I need a book that I can’t wait to get back to and this wasn’t one of them.
]]> Apropos of Nothing 52647113 The Long-Awaited, Enormously Entertaining Memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time—Now a New York Times,ĚýUSA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller.
Ěý
In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recountsĚýhis departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies asĚýTake the Money and Run, and revisits his entire,Ěýsixty-year-long,ĚýandĚýenormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classicsĚýAnnie Hall,ĚýManhattan,ĚýandĚýHannah and Her SistersĚýto his most recent films, includingĚýMidnight in Paris.ĚýAlong the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays.ĚýWe learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure.
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This is a hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.Ěý
Ěý]]> 392 Woody Allen 1951627342 Sarah 4 3.96 2020 Apropos of Nothing
author: Woody Allen
name: Sarah
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/12/28
shelves:
review:

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