Brett's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 13 Sep 2024 02:46:33 -0700 60 Brett's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America]]> 58268014 220 John McWhorter 0593423070 Brett 0 to-read 4.25 2021 Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
author: John McWhorter
name: Brett
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/13
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]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist � an informational topologist with half his mind gone � as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Brett 0 to-read 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Brett
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> The Call of Cthulhu 15730101 The Call of Cthulhu is a harrowing tale of the weakness of the human mind when confronted by powers and intelligences from beyond our world.]]> 43 H.P. Lovecraft Brett 0 to-read 3.97 1928 The Call of Cthulhu
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Brett
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1928
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
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]]> Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook 508166 258 Ann B. Davis 1558533079 Brett 0 to-read 3.89 1994 Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook
author: Ann B. Davis
name: Brett
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)]]> 76620 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN13 9780380395866 here.

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.]]> 478 Richard Adams 038039586X Brett 0 to-read 4.08 1972 Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)
author: Richard Adams
name: Brett
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/10
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]]> The Story of Ferdinand 35527856 A true classic with a timeless message!
Ěý
All the other bulls run, jump, and butt their heads together in fights. Ferdinand, on the other hand, would rather sit and smell the flowers. So what will happen when Ferdinand is picked for the bullfights in Madrid?
Ěý
The Story of FerdinandĚýhas inspired, enchanted, and provoked readers ever since it was first published in 1936 for its message of nonviolence and pacifism. In WWII times, Adolf HitlerĚýordered the book burned in Nazi Germany, whileĚýJoseph Stalin, the leader of theĚýSoviet Union, granted it privileged status as the only non-communist children's book allowed in Poland.
Ěý
The preeminent leader of Indian nationalism and civil rights, Mahatma Gandhi—whose nonviolent and pacifistic practices went on to inspire Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.—even called it his favorite book.
Ěý
The story was adapted byĚýWalt DisneyĚýinto a short animated film entitledĚýFerdinand the BullĚýin 1938. Ferdinand the BullĚýwon the 1938ĚýAcademy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).]]> 41 Munro Leaf 0451479033 Brett 0 to-read 4.53 1936 The Story of Ferdinand
author: Munro Leaf
name: Brett
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1936
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Heaven Tree Trilogy: The Heaven Tree / The Green Branch / The Scarlet Seed]]> 321544 The Heaven Tree, The Green Branch, and The Scarlet Seed--chronicles the adventures of master stone carver Harry Talvace; Ralf Isambard, Lord of Parfois; and their two sons.

Set on the volatile, hotly disputed Welsh border, this full-bodied, swift-moving story of deadly politics, clashing armies, and private passions sweeps the reader into its characters' grand quest for justice and vengeance. The trilogy focuses on Harry Talvace, who bears stamped on his face the lineage of Shrewsbury's Norman conquerors. Born to aristocratic parents and nursed by a stone mason's wife, he grows up fiercely loyal to his breast-brother, the sunny, irresistibly charming Adam. Harry also discovers that he has a gift--the ability to carve stone with the sure hand of genius.

In his fifteenth year, Harry's devotion to Adam and his obsession to sculpt set into motion the thrilling tale of Volume One, The Heaven Tree. Rebelling against his father and fleeing England to save Adam, Harry finds his destiny entangled in the affairs of commoners and kings, divided by two women--the courageous dark-haired Gilleis and the beautiful courtesan Benedetta--and pledged to the brooding, mysterious Lord of Parfois, Ralf Isambard, who sponsors Harry's monumental creation of a cathedral. And while Wales and France challenge England's crown, these men and women follow their desires toward jealousy, pitiless revenge, and passion so madly glorious neither time nor a merciless execution can end it.

In Volume Two, The Green Branch, Harry's son, young Harry Talvace, is drawn into the fabulous intrigues of the court of Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, and bound by a blood oath to find and kill his father's old enemy, Isambard. Yet the threads that bind his life to the ruthless Isambard are not so easily severed, as Harry falls under the spell of the aging warrior lord.

The concluding volume, The Scarlet Seed, brings full circle this tale of implacable enmity and unshakeable loyalty. As a kingdom shudders under the flames of civil war and captor becomes captive, the final siege of Parfois creates a climax to this tale so majestic, noble, and heartbreaking no reader will ever forget it.]]> 899 Edith Pargeter 0446517089 Brett 0 to-read 4.31 1960 The Heaven Tree Trilogy: The Heaven Tree / The Green Branch / The Scarlet Seed
author: Edith Pargeter
name: Brett
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1960
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes, #1)]]> 77449
A sweeping novel of power and passion, loyalty and lives, this is the book that began the trilogy that includes FALLS THE SHADOW and THE RECKONING.]]> 704 Sharon Kay Penman 0345382846 Brett 0 to-read 4.29 1985 Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes, #1)
author: Sharon Kay Penman
name: Brett
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/10
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]]> Twenty and Ten 1069576 76 Claire Huchet Bishop 0140310762 Brett 0 to-read 4.17 1952 Twenty and Ten
author: Claire Huchet Bishop
name: Brett
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar]]> 40605640 Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors.
Ěý
Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman Emperors and it's a colorful story of rule and ruination, running from the rise of Augustus through to the death of Nero. Holland's expansive history also has distinct shades of I Claudius, with five wonderfully vivid (and in three cases, thoroughly depraved) Emperors—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—featured, along with numerous fascinating secondary characters. Intrigue, murder, naked ambition and treachery, greed, gluttony, lust, incest, pageantry, decadence—the tale of these five Caesars continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.]]> 496 Tom Holland 0385537905 Brett 0 to-read 4.19 2015 Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
author: Tom Holland
name: Brett
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/19
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]]> The Things They Carried 133518
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.]]> 246 Tim O'Brien 0767902890 Brett 0 to-read 4.14 1990 The Things They Carried
author: Tim O'Brien
name: Brett
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/28
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterious Island (Captain Nemo, #3)]]> 32831
What unfolds in Jules Verne’s imaginative marvel is both an enthralling mystery and the ultimate in survivalist adventures.]]> 723 Jules Verne 0812972120 Brett 0 to-read 4.14 1874 The Mysterious Island (Captain Nemo, #3)
author: Jules Verne
name: Brett
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1874
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/27
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]]> Wanderer 34531135 372 Sterling Hayden 1786251736 Brett 0 to-read 4.40 1963 Wanderer
author: Sterling Hayden
name: Brett
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Frog and Toad Together (Frog and Toad, #2)]]> 94803 School and Library Journal called this beloved story collection from Arnold Lobel "a masterpiece of child-styled humor and sensitivity."

Winner of the Newbery Honor award, Frog and Toad Together is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help.

Supports the Common Core Learning Standards]]> 64 Arnold Lobel 069401298X Brett 0 4.25 1972 Frog and Toad Together (Frog and Toad, #2)
author: Arnold Lobel
name: Brett
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Owl at Home (I Can Read, Level 2)]]> 410009
Owl lives all by himself in a cozy little house. But whether he's inviting Winter in on a cold and snowy night, or welcoming a new friend he meets while on a stroll, Owl always has room for visitors!]]> 64 Arnold Lobel 0064440346 Brett 5 4.23 1975 Owl at Home (I Can Read, Level 2)
author: Arnold Lobel
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1975
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/06/07
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I wonder if Owl suffers from a lack of companionship? I think there are few other children’s stories that speak this softly and sincerely to the human heart. I’m glad to know Owl. You will be too.
]]> <![CDATA[Frog and Toad Are Friends (Frog and Toad, #1)]]> 537296 Celebrate the power of friendship in these five adventurous stories starring Frog and Toad—a Caldecott Honor Book!

From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.ĚýFrog and Toad Are Friends is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help.

The classic Frog and Toad stories by Arnold Lobel have won numerous awards and honors, including a Newbery Honor (Frog and Toad Together), a Caldecott Honor (Frog and Toad are Friends), ALA Notable Children’s Book, Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book), School Library Journal Best Children’s Book, and Library of Congress Children’s Book.]]> 64 Arnold Lobel Brett 5 4.25 1970 Frog and Toad Are Friends (Frog and Toad, #1)
author: Arnold Lobel
name: Brett
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1970
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/06/07
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There are very few children’s books that reach this level of sublimity. These stories don’t teach anything overtly. They do not moralize either. They merely delight. That is all.
]]> <![CDATA[In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein]]> 40374780
Mary Shelley was brought up by her father in a house filled with radical thinkers, poets, philosophers and writers of the day. Aged sixteen, she eloped with Percy Bysshe Shelley, embarking on a relationship that was lived on the move across Britain and Europe, as she coped with debt, infidelity and the deaths of three children, before early widowhood changed her life forever. Most astonishingly, it was while she was still a teenager that Mary composed her canonical novel Frankenstein, creating two of our most enduring archetypes today.

The life story is well-known. But who was the woman who lived it? She's left plenty of evidence, and in this fascinating dialogue with the past, Fiona Sampson sifts through letters, diaries and records to find the real woman behind the story. She uncovers a complex, generous character - friend, intellectual, lover and mother - trying to fulfil her own passionate commitment to writing at a time when to be a woman writer was an extraordinary and costly anomaly.

Published for the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein, this is a major new work of biography by a prize-winning writer and poet.]]> 336 Fiona Sampson 1781255296 Brett 0 to-read 3.62 2018 In Search of Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein
author: Fiona Sampson
name: Brett
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Audacity of Inez Burns: Dreams, Desire, Treachery & Ruin in the City of Gold]]> 36675567 THE VIVID, SCANDAL-FILLED STORY OF A SHREWD, RAGS-TO-RICHES MILLIONAIRESS AND THE RUTHLESS POLITICIAN WHO PURSUED HER, TOLD AGAINST THE EFFERVESCENT BACKDROP OF AMERICA’S GOLDEN CITY—SAN FRANCISCO.

San Francisco, until the mid-1940s, was a city that lived by its own rules, fast and loose. Formed by the gold rush and destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, it served as a pleasure palace for the legions of men who sought their fortunes in the California foothills. For the women who followed, their only choice was to support, serve, or submit.

Inez Burns was different. She put everyone to shame with her dazzling, calculated, stone-cold ambition.

Born in the slums of San Francisco to a cigar-rolling alcoholic, Inez transformed herself into one of California’s richest women, becoming a notorious powerbroker, grand dame, and iconoclast. A stunning beauty with perfumed charm, she rose from manicurist to murderess to millionaire, seducing one man after another, bearing children out of wedlock, and bribing politicians and cops along the way to secure her place in the San Francisco firmament.

Inez ruled with incandescent flair. She owned five hundred hats and a closet full of furs, had two small toes surgically removed to fit into stylish high heels, and had two ribs excised to accentuate her hourglass figure. Her presence was defined by couture dresses from Paris, red-carpet strutting at the San Francisco Opera, and a black Pierce-Arrow that delivered her everywhere. She threw outrageous parties on her sprawling, eight-hundred-acre horse ranch, a compound with servants, cooks, horse groomers, and trainers, where politicians, judges, attorneys, Hollywood moguls, and entertainers gamboled over silver fizzes.

Inez was adored by the desperate women who sought her out—and loathed by the power-hungry men who plotted to destroy her.

During a time when women risked their lives with predatory practitioners lurking in back alleys, Inez and her team of women, clad in crisp, white nurse’s uniforms, worked night and day in her elegantly appointed clinic, performing fifty thousand of the safest, most hygienic abortions available during a time when even the richest wives, Hollywood stars, and mistresses had few options when they found themselves with an unwanted pregnancy.

Inez’s illegal business bestowed upon her power and influence—untilĚýa determined politician by the name of Edmund G. (Pat) Brown—the father of current California Governor Jerry Brown—used Inez to catapult his nascent career to national prominence.

In The Audacity of Inez Burns, Stephen G. Bloom, the author of the bestselling Postville, reveals a jagged slice of lost American history. From Inez’s riveting tale of glamour and tragedy, he has created a brilliant, compulsively readable portrait of an unforgettable woman during a moment when America’s pendulum swung from compassion to criminality by punishing those who permitted women to control their own destinies.]]> 448 Stephen G. Bloom 1682450104 Brett 0 to-read 4.04 The Audacity of Inez Burns: Dreams, Desire, Treachery & Ruin in the City of Gold
author: Stephen G. Bloom
name: Brett
average rating: 4.04
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rating: 0
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date added: 2022/09/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams]]> 413806 620 Nick Tosches 038533429X Brett 0 to-read 4.05 1992 Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams
author: Nick Tosches
name: Brett
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/04/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Bach's Operas of the Soul: A Listener's Guide to the Sacred Cantatas]]> 52873160
In clear and accessible language, Mark Ringer examines this vast output of masterpieces as the great musical dramatic creations that they. Bach's sacred cantatas represent an almost superhuman artistic and spiritual achievement, arguably the richest investment by a great composer within a single genre. But outside of a handful of pieces, they remain a closed book to a majority of serious listeners already familiar with Bach's large-scale religious works. Nevertheless, the same musical-dramatic genius of Bach's Passions is fully evident in virtually all of the composer's sacred cantatas. Ringer approaches the sacred cantatas as sermons in musical-dramatic form, un-staged operas, planned for each occasion of the church year. Bach's era relished dramatic contrast, and his use of the human voice offers a constantly changing pallet of vocal colors. The singers play 'roles' throughout the cantatas from penitent sinner, to ardent believer, to Christ himself.


This book is accompanied by online audio tracks of select Bach canatatas from the Naxos music library. It will be of use to readers interested in opera and vocal music who have already come to love Bach's Passions and who want to familiarize themselves with this wide array of masterpieces.]]> 208 Mark Ringer 1538135574 Brett 0 to-read 0.0 Bach's Operas of the Soul: A Listener's Guide to the Sacred Cantatas
author: Mark Ringer
name: Brett
average rating: 0.0
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]]> Youngblood Hawke 42990
The 1992 paperback was re-issued in April 2004, and became widely available again in Britain, where it had enjoyed success in the early 1960s.]]> 783 Herman Wouk 0316955175 Brett 0 to-read 4.06 1962 Youngblood Hawke
author: Herman Wouk
name: Brett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/05
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]]> A Death in the Family 113091 The classic American novel, re-published for the 100th anniversary of James Agee's birth

Published in 1957, two years after its author's death at the age of forty-five, A Death in the Family remains a near-perfect work of art, an autobiographical novel that contains one of the most evocative depictions of loss and grief ever written. As Jay Follet hurries back to his home in Knoxville, Tennessee, he is killed in a car accident--a tragedy that destroys not only a life but also the domestic happiness and contentment of a young family. A novel of great courage, lyric force, and powerful emotion, A Death in the Family is a masterpiece of American literature.


]]> 320 James Agee 0375701230 Brett 0 to-read 3.89 1957 A Death in the Family
author: James Agee
name: Brett
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1957
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/05
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]]> Empire Falls 187020
Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it’s Janine, Miles� soon-to-be ex-wife, who’s taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it’s the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town–and seems to believe that “everything� includes Miles himself. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace]]> 483 Richard Russo 0375726403 Brett 0 to-read 3.94 2001 Empire Falls
author: Richard Russo
name: Brett
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/05
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]]> Middlesex 2187 Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.]]> 529 Jeffrey Eugenides 0312422156 Brett 0 to-read 4.03 2002 Middlesex
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: Brett
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/05
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]]> Ogres 58778279 Ogres are bigger than you.
Ogres are stronger than you.
Ogres rule the world.

It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call.

Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes.

But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule.]]> 102 Adrian Tchaikovsky Brett 0 to-read 4.35 2022 Ogres
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Brett
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Mothering Our Boys: A Guide for Mums of Sons]]> 42406411
Mothers of sons are worried about raising their boys in a world where negative images of masculinity are front and centre of our media, almost every day. Not only that, but statistically our boys are still struggling in many ways.

Even though we live in a time where we recognise that nothing in gender is fixed, it remains a fact that the influence of a mother on her son is massive.

A mother of four sons herself, Maggie Dent draws on her personal experience - and over four decades work as a teacher, counsellor and now author and speaker - to help build understanding, empathy and compassion for our boys.

Maggie shares her five key secrets that every mum needs to know, and uses the voices of men she has worked with and surveyed to reveal what really matters in a boy's relationship with his mother and other mother figures.

Maggie is one of Australia's most popular parenting educators and her seminars about boys have sold out all across Australia and in the UK. She is finally sharing her insights, her reflections, and (as always) her humour around mothering boys in this book that will help you be the mum your son needs you to be.]]> 340 Maggie Dent 0994563272 Brett 0 to-read 4.25 Mothering Our Boys: A Guide for Mums of Sons
author: Maggie Dent
name: Brett
average rating: 4.25
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date added: 2022/01/21
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]]> <![CDATA[From Boys to Men: Guiding Our Boys to Grow into Happy, Healthy Men]]> 54112489 416 Maggie Dent 1760787779 Brett 0 to-read 4.32 From Boys to Men: Guiding Our Boys to Grow into Happy, Healthy Men
author: Maggie Dent
name: Brett
average rating: 4.32
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rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/21
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]]> J SS Bach 44239065 317 Martin Goodman 1903110629 Brett 0 to-read 4.15 J SS Bach
author: Martin Goodman
name: Brett
average rating: 4.15
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rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Swami and Friends (Phoenix Fiction)]]> 732482
Offering rare insight into the complexities of Indian middle-class society, R. K. Narayan traces life in the fictional town of Malgudi. The Dark Room is a searching look at a difficult marriage and a woman who eventually rebels against the demands of being a good and obedient wife. In Mr. Sampath, a newspaper man tries to keep his paper afloat in the face of social and economic changes sweeping India. Narayan writes of youth and young adulthood in the semiautobiographical Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts. Although the ordinary tensions of maturing are heightened by the particular circumstances of pre-partition India, Narayan provides a universal vision of childhood, early love and grief.

"The experience of reading one of his novels is . . . comparable to one's first reaction to the great Russian the fresh realization of the common humanity of all peoples, underlain by a simultaneous sense of strangeness—like one's own reflection seen in a green twilight."—Margaret Parton, New York Herald Tribune

"The novels of R.K. Narayan are the best I have read in any language for a long time. . . . His work gives the conviction that it is possible to capture in English, a language not born of India, the distinctive characteristics of Indian family life."—Amit Roy, Daily Telegraph]]> 190 R.K. Narayan 0226568318 Brett 0 to-read 4.23 1935 Swami and Friends (Phoenix Fiction)
author: R.K. Narayan
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1935
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America]]> 58133534 People of good will on both the left and the right are secretly asking themselves the same question: how has the conversation on race gone so crazy?

Bestselling author and acclaimed linguist John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting black communities and weakening the social fabric.

We're told to read books and listen to music by people of colour but that wearing certain clothes is 'appropriation.' We hear that being white automatically gives you privilege and that being black makes you a victim. We want to speak up but fear we'll be seen as unwoke, or worse, labelled a racist. According to John McWhorter, the problem is that a well-meaning but pernicious form of antiracism has become, not a progressive ideology, but a religion - and one that's illogical, unreachable, and unintentionally neoracist.

In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of 'white privilege' and the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervour of the 'woke mob.' He shows how this religion that claims to 'dismantle racist structures' is actually harming his fellow black Americans by infantilizing black people, setting black students up for failure, and passing policies that disproportionately damage black communities. The new religion might be called 'antiracism, ' but it features a racial essentialism that's barely distinguishable from racist arguments of the past.

Fortunately, for all of us, it's not too late to push back against woke racism. McWhorter shares scripts and encouragement with those trying to deprogramme friends and family. And most importantly, he offers a roadmap to justice that actually will help, not hurt, black people.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER]]> 224 John McWhorter 0593423062 Brett 5 3.87 2021 Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
author: John McWhorter
name: Brett
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/10/19
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]]> Tell the Machine Goodnight 36435424
Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater satisfaction in being unhappy. The very rejection of joy is his own kind of "pursuit of happiness." As his mother, Pearl wants nothing more than to help Rhett—but is it for his sake or for hers? Certainly it would make Pearl happier. Regardless, her son is one person whose emotional life does not fall under the parameters of her job—not as happiness technician, and not as mother, either.

Told from an alternating cast of endearing characters from within Pearl and Rhett's world, Tell the Machine Goodnight delivers a smartly moving and entertaining story about relationships and the ways that they can most surprise and define us. Along the way, Katie Williams playfully illuminates our national obsession with positive psychology, our reliance on quick fixes and technology. What happens when these obsessions begin to overlap? With warmth, humor, and a clever touch, Williams taps into our collective unease about the modern world and allows us see it a little more clearly.]]> 287 Katie Williams 0525533125 Brett 0 to-read 3.44 2018 Tell the Machine Goodnight
author: Katie Williams
name: Brett
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Postmodernity and Its Discontents]]> 643170 If, as Freud postulated, modern society assails man's freedom by repressing his sexual expression, then the postmodern era can be said to be defined by the individual's quest for sublime happiness at the expense of security. Society has held to the concepts of beauty, purity, and order for centuries, and now a new worldview has emerged with the individual at its nucleus.
Framed by discussions of such thinkers as Michel Foucault, Emannuel Levinas, Hans Jones and Richard Rorty, Postmodernity and Its Discontents explores this brave new era, tackling head-on such issues as the postmodernization of surveillance and social control; the often tenuous threads binding morality, ethics, and freedom together; contemporary artistic and aesthetic theory; and the complex associations between solidarity, difference and freedom.

Arguing that you need most what you lack most, internationally renowned scholar Zygmunt Bauman asserts that freedom without security assures no greater happiness than security without freedom. In this thoughtful, nuanced volume, Bauman searches for a balance between the two, tipping the scales of the postmodern world decidedly in our favor.

]]> Zygmunt Bauman 0745617913 Brett 0 to-read 4.06 1997 Postmodernity and Its Discontents
author: Zygmunt Bauman
name: Brett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage]]> 29993424
Before film made them international comedy legends, the Marx Brothers developed their comic skills on stage for twenty-five years. In Four of the Three The Marx Brothers on Stage , Robert S. Bader offers the first comprehensive history of the foursome’s hardscrabble early years honing their act in front of live audiences.

From Groucho’s debut in 1905 to their final live performances of scenes from A Night in Casablanca in 1945, the brothers� stage career shows how their characters and routines evolved before their arrival in Hollywood. Four of the Three Musketeers draws on an unmatched array of sources, many not referenced elsewhere. Bader’s detailed portrait of the struggling young actors both brings to vivid life a typical night on the road for the Marx Brothers and illuminates the inner workings of the vaudeville business, especially during its peak in the 1920s.

As Bader traces the origins of the characters that would later come to be beloved by filmgoers, he also skillfully scrapes away the accretion of rumors and mythology perpetuated not only by fans and writers but by the Marx Brothers themselves. Revealing, vital, and entertaining, Four of the Three Musketeers has taken its place as an essential reference for this legendary American act. Now, the updated edition adds newly discovered performances—some submitted by readers—and additional information provided by descendants of long-departed vaudevillians mentioned in the book.]]> 544 Robert S. Bader 0810134160 Brett 0 to-read 4.39 Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage
author: Robert S. Bader
name: Brett
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties]]> 43015073
In 1999, when Tom O'Neill was assigned a magazine piece about the thirtieth anniversary of the Manson murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Weren't the facts indisputable? Charles Manson had ordered his teenage followers to commit seven brutal murders, and in his thrall, they'd gladly complied. But when O'Neill began reporting the story, he kept finding holes in the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi's narrative, long enshrined in the best-selling Helter Skelter. Before long, O'Neill had questions about everything from the motive to the manhunt. Though he'd never considered himself a conspiracy theorist, the Manson murders swallowed the next two decades of his career. He was obsessed.

Searching but never speculative, CHAOS follows O'Neill's twenty-year effort to rebut the "official" story behind Manson. Who were his real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties? Why didn't law enforcement act on their many chances to stop him? And how did he turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers? O'Neill's hunt for answers leads him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from the Summer of Love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with cover-ups and coincidences.

Featuring hundreds of new interviews and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI, and the CIA, CHAOS mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. In those two dark nights in Los Angeles, O'Neill finds the story of California in the sixties: when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia-or dystopia-was just an acid trip away.



]]> 504 Tom O'Neill 0316477575 Brett 0 to-read 4.04 2019 Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
author: Tom O'Neill
name: Brett
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Gone World 33413556 Inception meets True Detective in this science fiction thriller of spellbinding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind...

Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In western Pennsylvania, 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family--and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can't share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra—a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL's experience with the future has triggered this violence.

Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work, for what she witnesses rising over time's horizon and hurtling toward the present is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself.

Luminous and unsettling, The Gone World bristles with world-shattering ideas yet remains at its heart an intensely human story.]]> 400 Tom Sweterlitsch 0399167501 Brett 0 to-read 3.90 2018 The Gone World
author: Tom Sweterlitsch
name: Brett
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/04/25
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]]> Aurora 23197269 Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.

Our voyage from Earth began generations ago.
Now, we approach our new home.
AURORA.]]> 466 Kim Stanley Robinson 0316098108 Brett 2 3.76 2015 Aurora
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Brett
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 2
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date added: 2021/04/24
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KSR has talents. He can even almost create characters that are interesting and compelling. Perhaps if he focused on characters and storytelling alone, he could be a really great writer. I read 3/4 of the Mars Trilogy and, though I lost interest before the very end and skimmed large sections of those books, I found plenty of it to be interesting and fun. The problems with KSR's writing in Mars is magnified here. The first half of the book was reasonably good. Increasingly, as with the Mars stuff, in Aurora, Robinson spends his time writing screeds of speculative hard-science. Page after page go by without the main characters or any kind of story. Robinson seems to very much enjoy making sure the reader knows how much research he's done and just how hard he's thought about every tidbit of the science. Like George Martin, he desperately needs an editor (and like GOT, both Mars and Aurora could be an excellent TV show). I think if KSR could write books with economy, concision, and if he paid attention to prose, he could write a great novel some day. But, maybe that's not what he wants to do and maybe there's enough of a fan-base out there that is more interested in a kind of lecture of imaged science, with characters thrown in the mix, than a good novel. This will be the last KSR book for me, though I may check in to see what he's up to in the future.
]]> The Red Tent 4989 The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.]]> 324 Anita Diamant 0312353766 Brett 0 to-read 4.21 1997 The Red Tent
author: Anita Diamant
name: Brett
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/04/16
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]]> 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.
Ěý
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 Brett 5 3.96 2020 Apropos of Nothing
author: Woody Allen
name: Brett
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/03/29
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]]> Klara and the Sun 54250259 A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick!

A magnificent new novel from the Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro—author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day.

Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.

Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?]]> 418 Kazuo Ishiguro Brett 0 to-read 3.99 2021 Klara and the Sun
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Brett
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy]]> 1107413
Wallace's book, the only biography of this most enigmatic of prodigies, gives us a balanced look at Sidis' up-bringing and a somewhat revisionist look at his later life. Sidis apparently was hard at work on manuscripts of various sorts even during his later years; this book is to my knowledge the only one that gives an account of that later work, which dealt with American Indians. New manuscripts by Sidis have surfaced since the writing of this book, including a book on traffic accident patterns.]]> 297 Amy Wallace 0525244042 Brett 0 to-read 4.03 1986 The Prodigy: A Biography of William James Sidis, America's Greatest Child Prodigy
author: Amy Wallace
name: Brett
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/17
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]]> Radio Life 51308846
When Lilly was first Chief Engineer at The Commonwealth, nearly fifty years ago, the Central Archive wasn't yet the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world, protected by scribes copying every piece of found material - books, maps, even scraps of paper - and disseminating them by Archive Runners to hidden off-site locations for safe keeping. Back then, there was no Order of Silence to create and maintain secret routes deep into the sand-covered towers of the Old World or into the northern forests beyond Sea Glass Lake. Back then, the world was still quiet, because Lilly hadn't yet found the Harrington Box.

But times change. Recently, the Keepers have started gathering to the east of Yellow Ridge - thousands upon thousands of them - and every one of them determined to burn the Central Archives to the ground, no matter the cost, possessed by an irrational fear that bringing back the ancient knowledge will destroy the world all over again. To prevent that, they will do anything.

Fourteen days ago the Keepers chased sixteen-year-old Archive Runner Elimisha into a forbidden Old World Tower and brought the entire thing down on her. Instead of being killed, though, she slipped into an ancient unmapped bomb shelter where she has discovered a cache of food and fresh water, a two-way radio like the one Lilly's been working on for years... and something else. Something that calls itself 'the internet'...]]> 400 Derek B. Miller 152940858X Brett 0 to-read 3.90 2021 Radio Life
author: Derek B. Miller
name: Brett
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan]]> 132040 576 Robert Shelton 0306812878 Brett 0 to-read 4.10 1986 No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan
author: Robert Shelton
name: Brett
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/09
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]]> <![CDATA[No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II]]> 18728 No Ordinary Time is a chronicle of one of the most vibrant & revolutionary periods in US history. With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin weaves together a number of story lines—the Roosevelt’s marriage & partnership, Eleanor’s life as First Lady, & FDR’s White House & its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin melds these into an intimate portrait of Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt & of the time during which a new, modern America was born.]]> 633 Doris Kearns Goodwin 0684804484 Brett 0 to-read 4.19 1994 No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
name: Brett
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/11/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942]]> 13707735
"Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." � San Francisco Chronicle On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible ―through a dramatic narrative relying predominantly on primary sources and eyewitness accounts of heroism and sacrifice from both navies―tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history to seize the strategic initiative. 24 pages of illustrations; 12 maps]]> 656 Ian W. Toll 0393343413 Brett 0 to-read 4.66 2011 Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
author: Ian W. Toll
name: Brett
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/11/21
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]]> Who Are You? 761586 117 Anna Kavan 0720611504 Brett 0 to-read 3.99 1963 Who Are You?
author: Anna Kavan
name: Brett
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/11/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody]]> 53052177
In this probing and intrepid volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields.

Today this dogma is recognizable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous.

As Pluckrose and Lindsay warn, the unchecked proliferation of these anti-Enlightenment beliefs present a threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself. While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how this often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalized communities it claims to champion. They also detail its alarmingly inconsistent and illiberal ethics.

Only through a proper understanding of the evolution of these ideas, they conclude, can those who value science, reason, and consistently liberal ethics successfully challenge this harmful and authoritarian orthodoxy—in the academy, in culture, and beyond.]]> 348 Helen Pluckrose 1634312023 Brett 0 to-read 4.08 2020 Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody
author: Helen Pluckrose
name: Brett
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
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date added: 2020/10/03
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]]> The Death of the Heart 91494 The Death of the Heart is perhaps Elizabeth Bowen's best-known book. As she deftly and delicately exposes the cruelty that lurks behind the polished surfaces of conventional society, Bowen reveals herself as a masterful novelist who combines a sense of humor with a devastating gift for divining human motivations.

In this piercing story of innocence betrayed set in the thirties, the orphaned Portia is stranded in the sophisticated and politely treacherous world of her wealthy half-brother's home in London. There she encounters the attractive, carefree cad Eddie. To him, Portia is at once child and woman, and he fears her gushing love. To her, Eddie is the only reason to be alive. But when Eddie follows Portia to a sea-side resort, the flash of a cigarette lighter in a darkened cinema illuminates a stunning romantic betrayal—and sets in motion one of the most moving and desperate flights of the heart in modern literature.]]> 418 Elizabeth Bowen 0385720173 Brett 0 to-read 3.66 1938 The Death of the Heart
author: Elizabeth Bowen
name: Brett
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1938
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage]]> 139069 The harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole, one of the greatest adventure stories of the modern age.

In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic's heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization.

In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton's fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age.

First edition: here.]]> 282 Alfred Lansing Brett 0 to-read 4.42 1959 Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
author: Alfred Lansing
name: Brett
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/24
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]]> Shane 1072364 It was Shane, who appeared on the horizon and became a friend and guardian to the Starrett family at a time when homesteaders and cattle rangers battled for territory and survival. Jack Schaefer’s classic novel illuminates the spirit of the West through the eyes of a young boy and a hero who changes the lives of everyone around him. Renowned artist Wendell Minor provides stunning images and a moving introduction to this new edition of Shane, the ultimate tale of the Western landscape.]]> 160 Jack Schaefer 0553271105 Brett 0 to-read 3.82 1949 Shane
author: Jack Schaefer
name: Brett
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1949
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/24
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]]> Malafrena 118017 343 Ursula K. Le Guin 0425046478 Brett 5 3.53 1979 Malafrena
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Brett
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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date added: 2020/09/23
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review:
I’m a big fan of 18th and 19th century literature. This book is unique in that it reads like it could have been written a hundred and fifty or two hundred years ago. Is there any other contemporary book that tried to do that? I very much enjoyed this book - though it’s not my favorite Le Guin. Maybe it’s a 4 star book but I can’t bring myself to rate any Le Guin work at under five stars.
]]> <![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 48829708 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]> 880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Brett 0 to-read 3.77 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Brett
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/16
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]]> Noon: 22nd Century 1091478 319 Arkady Strugatsky 0026151502 Brett 0 to-read 4.02 1961 Noon: 22nd Century
author: Arkady Strugatsky
name: Brett
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors]]> 401514
This is their story—one of the most astonishing true adventures of the twentieth century.]]> 318 Piers Paul Read 038000321X Brett 0 to-read 4.13 1974 Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
author: Piers Paul Read
name: Brett
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917]]> 378569 Mont Blanc and the Belgian relief ship Imo collide in the Halifax harbour. Nearly 2,000 people are killed; over 9,000 more are injured. The story of one of the world’s worst non-natural disasters has been told before, but never like this.

In a sweeping narrative, Curse of the Narrows tells a tale of ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, retracing the steps of survivors through the wreckage of a city destroyed. Laura M. MacDonald weaves a panoramic chronicle of the astonishing international response to the explosion, telling of the generous donations of money and medical specialists made by the city of Boston, of how the number of horrific injuries to Halifax’s children inspired startling developments in pediatric medicine, and exploring the disaster’s chilling link to the creation of the atomic bomb.

Filled with archival photos, defined by meticulous research andi nfused with a storyteller’s sensibility, Curse of the Narrows is a compelling and powerful book.]]> 356 Laura Mac Donald 0002007878 Brett 0 to-read 3.97 2005 Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917
author: Laura Mac Donald
name: Brett
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Alas, Babylon (Perennial Classics)]]> 38169 323 Pat Frank 0060741872 Brett 0 to-read 4.07 1959 Alas, Babylon (Perennial Classics)
author: Pat Frank
name: Brett
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival]]> 18377974
No one has ever attempted the complete reconstruction of a crash of this magnitude. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of survivors, crew, and airport and rescue personnel, Laurence Gonzales, a commercial pilot himself, captures, minute by minute, the harrowing journey of pilots flying a plane with no controls and flight attendants keeping their calm in the face of certain death. He plumbs the hearts and minds of passengers as they pray, bargain with God, plot their strategies for survival, and sacrifice themselves to save others.

Ultimately he takes us, step by step, through the gripping scientific detective work in super-secret labs to dive into the heart of a flaw smaller than a grain of rice that shows what brought the aircraft down.

An unforgettable drama of the triumph of heroism over tragedy and human ingenuity over technological breakdown, Flight 232 is a masterpiece in the tradition of the greatest aviation stories ever told.]]> 432 Laurence Gonzales 0393240029 Brett 0 to-read 4.04 2014 Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival
author: Laurence Gonzales
name: Brett
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers]]> 177187
At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers-reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it-until now.

Of the millions of words written about this wrenching day, most were told from the outside looking in. New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn have taken the opposite-and far more revealing-approach. Reported from the perspectives of those inside the towers, 102 Minutes captures the little-known stories of ordinary people who took extraordinary steps to save themselves and others. Beyond this stirring panorama stands investigative reporting of the first rank. An astounding number of people actually survived the plane impacts but were unable to escape, and the authors raise hard questions about building safety and tragic flaws in New York's emergency preparedness.

Dwyer and Flynn rely on hundreds of interviews with rescuers, thousands of pages of oral histories, and countless phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts. They cross a bridge of voices to go inside the infernos, seeing cataclysm and heroism, one person at a time, to tell the affecting, authoritative saga of the men and women-the nearly 12,000 who escaped and the 2,749 who perished-as they made 102 minutes count as never before.Ěý 102 Minutes is a 2005 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.]]> 384 Jim Dwyer 0805080325 Brett 0 to-read 4.28 2005 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
author: Jim Dwyer
name: Brett
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[What It Takes: The Way to the White House]]> 380057 1051 Richard Ben Cramer 0679746498 Brett 0 to-read 4.42 1992 What It Takes: The Way to the White House
author: Richard Ben Cramer
name: Brett
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/02
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]]> We, the Drowned 7988467 We, the Drowned is the story of the port town of Marstal, whose inhabitants sailed the world’s oceans aboard freight ships for centuries. Spanning over a hundred years, from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War � from the barren rocks of Newfoundland to the lush plantations of Samoa, from the roughest bars in Tasmania to the frozen coasts of northern Russia � We, the Drowned is a magnificent tale of love, war, and adventure, of the men who go to sea and the women they leave behind.

Ships are wrecked and blown up in wars, they are places of terror and violence, yet they continue to lure each generation of Marstallers. Among them are Laurids Madsen, who vanishes in the South Pacific; his son Albert, who searches the globe for his father; Knud Erik and his widowed mother, Klara, who takes on the town and the seas. There are cannibals here, shrunken heads, prophetic dreams, forbidden passions, cowards, heroes, devastating tragedies, and miraculous survivals � everything that a town like Marstal has actually lived. We, the Drowned is a novel destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.]]> 678 Carsten Jensen 0151013772 Brett 0 to-read 4.23 2006 We, the Drowned
author: Carsten Jensen
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/08/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Cruel Sea (Classics of War)]]> 183586 520 Nicholas Monsarrat 1580800467 Brett 0 to-read 4.16 1951 The Cruel Sea (Classics of War)
author: Nicholas Monsarrat
name: Brett
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1951
rating: 0
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]]> The Sand Pebbles 815854 This now-classic novel by Richard McKenna enjoyed great critical acclaim and commercial success when it was first published in 1962. The winner of the coveted Harper Prize, it was on the New York Times bestseller list for seven months and was made into a popular motion picture that continues to be shown on television today.
Set in China on the eve of revolution, the book tells the story of an old U.S. Navy gunboat, the San Pablo , and her dedicated crew of "Sand Pebbles" on patrol in the far reaches of the Yangtze River to show the flag and protect American missionaries and businessmen from bandits. The plot revolves around a newcomer to the boat, machinist's mate Jake Holman, a maverick and loner who dramatically alters the lives of the crew and the people they have come to save. A faithful engine-room coolie and a pretty young missionary help Holman gain an appreciation of China and its people and discover a world of humanity and promise he has never known. It is a story of old loyalties versus new values, of violence and tenderness, tragedy and humor, and it engages the reader from the first line to the last. This new paperback edition includes in informative introduction by Robert Shenk, written for the Naval Institute's Classics of Naval Literature edition in 1984.]]> 602 Richard McKenna 1557504466 Brett 0 to-read 4.23 1962 The Sand Pebbles
author: Richard McKenna
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1)]]> 21484
Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II, as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.

The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance stand as the crowning achievement of one of America's most celebrated storytellers.]]> 896 Herman Wouk 0316952664 Brett 0 to-read 4.37 1971 The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1)
author: Herman Wouk
name: Brett
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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]]> I, Claudius (Claudius, #1) 18765
I, Claudius and its sequel, Claudius the God, are among the most celebrated, as well the most gripping historical novels ever written.

Cover illustration: Brian Pike]]> 469 Robert Graves 067972477X Brett 0 to-read 4.24 1934 I, Claudius (Claudius, #1)
author: Robert Graves
name: Brett
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1934
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1)]]> 24983
But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin--barely of age herself--finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering, and the indomitable will of the human spirit.]]> 578 Connie Willis 0553562738 Brett 0 to-read 4.02 1992 Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1)
author: Connie Willis
name: Brett
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/24
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]]> Cosmicomics 59780
During the course of these stories Calvino toys with continuous creation, the transformation of matter, and the expanding and contracting reaches of space and time. He succeeds in relating complex scientific concepts to the ordinary reactions of common humanity.

William Weaver's excellent translation won a National Book Award in 1969

“Naturally, we were all there," old Qfwfq said, "where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?�

The distance of the moon --
At daybreak --
A sign in space --
All at one point --
Without colors --
Games without end --
The aquatic uncle --
How much shall we bet? --
The dinosaurs --
The form of space --
The light-years --
The spiral.]]> 153 Italo Calvino 0156226006 Brett 0 to-read 4.23 1965 Cosmicomics
author: Italo Calvino
name: Brett
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1965
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/24
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]]> Golden Days 71831 208 Carolyn See 0520206738 Brett 0 to-read 3.47 1986 Golden Days
author: Carolyn See
name: Brett
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World]]> 10374 Lord Jim.

Science fiction, detective story and post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo, Murakami unites East and West, tragedy and farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy.]]> 400 Haruki Murakami Brett 0 to-read 4.14 1985 Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Brett
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> The Glass Bead Game 16634 The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.

Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).]]> 558 Hermann Hesse 0312278497 Brett 0 to-read 4.12 1943 The Glass Bead Game
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Brett
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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]]> Ice 636223 158 Anna Kavan 0720612683 Brett 0 to-read 3.70 1967 Ice
author: Anna Kavan
name: Brett
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1967
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/23
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review:

]]> Axiom's End (Noumena, #1) 51171377
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.]]> 384 Lindsay Ellis 1250256739 Brett 0 to-read 3.68 2020 Axiom's End (Noumena, #1)
author: Lindsay Ellis
name: Brett
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/21
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]]> The Doomed City 34505635 It is a mysterious city whose sun is switched on in the morning and switched off at night, bordered by an abyss on one side and an impossibly high wall on the other. Its inhabitants are people who were plucked from twentieth-century history at various times and places and left to govern themselves, advised by Mentors whose purpose seems inscrutable. This is life in the Experiment.
Andrei Voronin, a young astronomer plucked from Leningrad in the 1950s, is a die-hard believer in the Experiment, even though his first job in the city is as a garbage collector. As increasingly nightmarish scenarios begin to affect the city, he rises through the political hierarchy, with devastating effect.

]]> 480 Arkady Strugatsky 147322229X Brett 0 to-read 3.95 1989 The Doomed City
author: Arkady Strugatsky
name: Brett
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/06/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Great Book of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, #1-10)]]> 5367 Alternate cover edition can be found here

Roger Zelazny's chronicles of Amber have earned their place as all-time classics of imaginative literature. Now, here are all ten novels, together in one magnificent omnibus volume. Witness the titanic battle for supremacy waged on Earth, in the Courts of Chaos, and on a magical world of mystery, adventure and romance.
--back cover]]> 1258 Roger Zelazny 0380809060 Brett 0 to-read 4.31 1999 The Great Book of Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, #1-10)
author: Roger Zelazny
name: Brett
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/05/30
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]]> The Windup Girl 6597651
Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.]]> 359 Paolo Bacigalupi 1597801577 Brett 0 to-read 3.75 2009 The Windup Girl
author: Paolo Bacigalupi
name: Brett
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> The Broken Sword 715287 274 Poul Anderson 0575074256 Brett 0 to-read 3.87 1954 The Broken Sword
author: Poul Anderson
name: Brett
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1954
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Good Kiss (C.W. Sughrue, #1)]]> 523795 244 James Crumley 0394759893 Brett 0 to-read 4.06 1978 The Last Good Kiss (C.W. Sughrue, #1)
author: James Crumley
name: Brett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1978
rating: 0
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]]> Her Smoke Rose Up Forever 27059 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever is the quintessential Tiptree collection. These eighteen brilliant short stories reflect the darkly complex world author, Alice Bradley Sheldon, who created and wrote under the persona of reclusive, enigmatic genius James Tiptree, Jr. This updated edition contains revisions from the author’s original notes, offering further insight into the fascinating subjects of her multi award-winning fiction: exploring the alien among us; the unreliability of perception; love, sex, and death; and humanity’s place in a vast, cold universe.]]> 448 James Tiptree Jr. 1892391201 Brett 0 to-read 4.19 1990 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
author: James Tiptree Jr.
name: Brett
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything]]> 27171845 Seinfeld—the cultural sensation that changed television and bled into the real world, altering the lives of everyone it touched.

Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn’t think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly forty million Americans were tuning in weekly.

In Seinfeldia, acclaimed TV historian and entertainment writer Jennifer Keishin Armstrong celebrates the creators and fans of this American television phenomenon, bringing readers behind-the-scenes of the show while it was on the air and into the world of devotees for whom it never stopped being relevant, a world where the Soup Nazi still spends his days saying “No soup for you!�, Joe Davola gets questioned every day about his sanity, Kenny Kramer makes his living giving tours of New York sights from the show, and fans dress up in Jerry’s famous puffy shirt, dance like Elaine, and imagine plotlines for Seinfeld if it were still on TV.]]> 307 Jennifer Keishin Armstrong 1476756104 Brett 2 3.69 2016 Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
author: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
name: Brett
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2016
rating: 2
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date added: 2020/05/03
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This book is a disappointment. No one who’s a fan of the show needs to have the episode plots recounted in detail nor are the anecdotes in the book particularly interesting or telling. I was surprised that this was so bad as I didn’t think one could make Seinfeld boring.
]]> Changing Planes 13657
This method - changing planes - enables Sita to visit fifteen societies not found on Earth. She will encounter cultures where the babble of children fades over time into the silence of adults; where whole towns exist solely for holiday shopping; where personalities are ruled by rage; where genetic experiments produce less than desirable results. And many other exotic landscapes whose denizens are fundamentally human...]]> 239 Ursula K. Le Guin 0441012248 Brett 0 to-read 3.86 2003 Changing Planes
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Brett
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/04/26
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]]> The Essential Ellison 458604
Contents:

1 · Introduction: Sublime Rebel · Terry Dowling · in
5 · Beginnings · Misc. Material · si
11 · The Sword of Parmagon · ss The Cleveland News, 1949
17 · The Gloconda · ss The Cleveland News, 1949
23 · The Wilder One · vi Sundial Jan �55
25 · The Saga of Machine Gun Joe · vi Sundial Jan �55
27 · Introduction to Glowworm · is Unearth Win �77
30 · Glowworm · ss Infinity Science Fiction Feb �56; slightly revised and expanded
41 · Life Hutch [Kyben] · ss If Apr �56
53 · S.R.O. [as by Ellis Hart] · ss Amazing Mar �57
63 · Worlds of Terror · Misc. Material · si
67 · Lonelyache · ss Knight Jul �64
83 · Punky & the Yale Man · nv Knight Jan �66
107 · A Prayer for No One’s Enemy · nv Cad Mar �66
125 · Worlds of Love · Misc. Material · si
129 · In Lonely Lands · ss Fantastic Universe Jan �59
135 · The Time of the Eye · ss The Saint Detective Magazine May �59
143 · Grail · nv Twilight Zone Apr �81
163 · That New Old-Time Religion · Misc. Material · si
167 · I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream · ss If Mar �67
181 · Corpse · ss F&SF Jan �72
189 · The Whimper of Whipped Dogs · ss Bad Moon Rising, ed. Thomas M. Disch, Harper & Row, 1973
205 · A Stab of Merriment · Misc. Material · si
209 · The Voice in the Garden · vi Lighthouse Jun �67
211 · Erotophobia · ss Penthouse Aug �71
217 · Mom · nv Silver Foxes Aug �76
229 · Ecowareness · ss Sideshow Sep �74
231 · The Outpost Undiscovered By Tourists · ss F&SF Jan �82
235 · Dept. of “What Was the Question?� Dept. · ms *
237 · From Competition 4: Story Leads from the Year’s Worst Fantasy and SF · ms F&SF Apr �73
238 · From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles · ms F&SF Sep �74
239 · From Competition 23: Unwieldy SF Titles · ms F&SF Feb �80
239 · From Competition 26: Imaginary Collaborations · ms F&SF Mar �81
240 · From Competition 39: Complete the Following Sentence... · ms F&SF Mar �86
241 · Trouble with Women · Misc. Material · si
245 · The Very Last Day of a Good Woman [“The Last Day”] · ss Rogue Nov �58
253 · Valerie: A True Memoir · ar Los Angeles Free Press Nov 3-24 �72
267 · The Other Eye of Polyphemus · ss Cosmos SF&F Magazine Nov �77
275 · All the Birds Come Home to Roost · ss Playboy Mar �79
287 · To the Mattresses with Mean Demons · Misc. Material · si
293 · The Tombs: An Excerpt from Memos from Purgatory · ar Memos from Purgatory, Harlan Ellison, Regency, 1961
333 · “Our Little Miss� · ar Los Angeles Free Press, 1970
341 · A Love Song for Jerry Falwell · ar, 1984
347 · Telltale Tics and Tremors · ar Unearth Fll �77
357 · True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail [“How I Survived the Great Videotape Matchmaker”] · ar Los Angeles Magazine, 1978
377 · Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54� N, Longitude 77° 00� 13" W · nv F&SF Oct �74
407 · Rococo Technology · Misc. Material · si
413 · The Sky Is Burning · ss If Aug �58
421 · The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World · nv Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967
439 · Along the Scenic Route [“Dogfight on 101”] · ss Adam Aug �69; Amazing Sep �69
449 · The Song the Zombie Sang · Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg · ss Cosmopolitan Dec �70
461 · Knox · ss Crawdaddy Mar �74
475 · Heart’s Blood · Misc. Material · si
481 · From Alabamy, with Hate [“March to Montgomery”] · ar Knight Sep �65
493 · My Father · ar Los Angeles Free Press, 1972
499 · My Mother · ar Saint Louis Literary Supplement, 1976
507 · Tired Old Man · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Jan �76
517 · Gopher in the Gilly · ss Stalking the Nightmare, Phantasia, 1982
523 · Strange Wine · ss Amazing Jun �76
531 · Nights & Days in Good Old Hollyweird · Misc. Material · si
537 · The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie · na Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled, Trident, 1968
607 · Flintlock: An Unproduced Teleplay (1972) · pl *
687 · The Man on the Mushroom · in Ellison Wonderland, Paperback Library, 1974
691 · Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas, Toto · ar Genesis Jun �74; revised
707 · Face-Down in Gloria Swanson’s Swimming Pool · ar Los Angeles Magazine, 1978
711 · Petards & Hangings · Misc. Material · si
715 · Soldier [“Soldier from Tomorrow”] · nv Fantastic Universe Oct �57
735 · The Night of Delicate Terrors · ss The Paper: A Chicago Weekly Apr 8 �61
743 · Shattered Like a Glass Goblin · ss Orbit 4, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam’s, 1968
751 · At the Mouse Circus · ss New Dimensions I, ed. Robert Silverberg, Doubleday, 1971
759 · Shadows from the Past · Misc. Material · si
763 · Free with This Box! · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Mar �58
771 · Final Shtick · ss Rogue Aug �60
781 · One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty · ss Orbit 8, ed. Damon Knight, G.P. Putnam’s, 1970
795 · Jeffty Is Five · ss F&SF Jul �77
813 · Contracts on the Soul · Misc. Material · si
817 · Daniel White for the Greater Good · ss Rogue Mar �61
827 · Neither Your Jenny Nor Mine · ss Knight Apr �64
861 · Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage · ss F&SF Jul �77
871 · The Classics · Misc. Material · si
877 · “Repent, Harlequin!� Said the Ticktockman · ss Galaxy Dec �65
887 · Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes · nv Knight May �67
905 · A Boy and His Dog [Vic & Blood] · nv New Worlds Apr �69; revised
939 · The Deathbird · nv F&SF Mar �73
965 · Dark Liberation · Misc. Material · si
971 · The Thick Red Moment · ar The Los Angeles Weekly News, 1981
989 · The Man Who Was Heavily into Revenge · ss Analog Aug �78
1003 · Driving in the Spikes · ar Los Angeles Magazine, 1983
1015 · Afterword · aw]]> 1019 Harlan Ellison 0962344737 Brett 0 to-read 4.48 1974 The Essential Ellison
author: Harlan Ellison
name: Brett
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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]]> Sabbath's Theater 11654 Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction

Sabbath's Theater is a comic creation of epic proportions, and Mickey Sabbath is its gargantuan hero. At sixty-four Sabbath is still defiantly antagonistic and exceedingly libidinous; sex is an obsession and a principle, an instrument of perpetual misrule in his daily existence. But after the death of his long-time mistress - an erotic free spirit whose great taste for the impermissible matches his own - Sabbath embarks on a turbulent journey into his past. Bereft and grieving, tormented by the ghosts of those who loved and hated him, he contrives a succession of farcical disasters that take him to the brink of madness and extinction.]]> 451 Philip Roth 0679772596 Brett 0 to-read 3.88 1995 Sabbath's Theater
author: Philip Roth
name: Brett
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> Make Room! Make Room! 473850 300 Harry Harrison 0553564587 Brett 0 to-read 3.73 1966 Make Room! Make Room!
author: Harry Harrison
name: Brett
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/03/17
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review:

]]> Ask Again, Yes 42201996
Ask Again, Yes is a moving novel about two families, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.]]> 388 Mary Beth Keane 1982106980 Brett 0 to-read 3.92 2019 Ask Again, Yes
author: Mary Beth Keane
name: Brett
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/03/10
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]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 37703550
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 370 Delia Owens 0735219095 Brett 0 to-read 4.42 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Brett
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/03/10
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]]> The Vanished Birds 45422268
"This is when your life begins."

Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her; all she has left is work. Alone and adrift, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky.

A boy, broken by his past.

The scarred child does not speak, his only form of communication the beautiful and haunting music he plays on an old wooden flute. Captured by his songs and their strange, immediate connection, Nia decides to take the boy in. And over years of starlit travel, these two outsiders discover in each other the things they lack. For him, a home, a place of love and safety. For her, an anchor to the world outside of herself.

For both of them, a family.

But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy. The past hungers for him, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.]]> 391 Simon Jimenez 0593128982 Brett 0 to-read 4.05 2020 The Vanished Birds
author: Simon Jimenez
name: Brett
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War]]> 37542581
The man was a spy for MI6. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia.

So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever...]]> 384 Ben Macintyre 0771060335 Brett 0 to-read 4.48 2018 The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
author: Ben Macintyre
name: Brett
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/03/10
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]]> Interference (Semiosis, #2) 43263202 The sequel to Sue Burke's sweeping SF epic debut, Semiosis, continues in Interference as the colonists and a team from Earth confront a new and more implacable intelligence.

Over two hundred years after the first colonists landed on Pax, a new set of explorers arrives from Earth on what they claim is a temporary scientific mission.

But the Earthlings misunderstand the nature of the Pax settlement and its real leader. Even as Stevland attempts to protect his human tools, a more insidious enemy than the Earthlings makes itself known.

Stevland is not the apex species.

Semiosis duology
Semiosis
Interference]]> 320 Sue Burke 1250317843 Brett 3 3.89 2019 Interference (Semiosis, #2)
author: Sue Burke
name: Brett
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 3
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date added: 2020/02/28
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This follow-up was disappointing. Burke has the right aim and good ideas. She’s more like an Ursula LeGuin than your average science fiction space opera scribbler. But she’s not that good, unfortunately, and her weaknesses really seep through in this sequel. There wasn’t a great narrative in this book though there were good attempts and the makings of what could have been...what I like is that Burke is thoughtful and has that LeGuin-ian anthropological bent. But this book was confusing, hard to follow, windy, and a bit boring. She really did try hard though and I’ll even read the third if it comes out.
]]> Semiosis (Semiosis, #1) 35018907 In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance.

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.

Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive. The planet provides a lush but inexplicable landscape--trees offer edible, addictive fruit one day and poison the next, while the ruins of an alien race are found entwined in the roots of a strange plant. Conflicts between generations arise as they struggle to understand one another and grapple with an unknowable alien intellect.]]> 333 Sue Burke 076539135X Brett 5 3.85 2018 Semiosis (Semiosis, #1)
author: Sue Burke
name: Brett
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/02/08
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I’m not great at reviewing books and I’m certainly not going to summarize this, but I would like to offer some praise. Since I finished nearly every bit of sci-fi Ursula Le Guin ever wrote, I’ve been depressed contemplating the lack of interesting books in this genre. I just don’t like many of them. Semiosis is not perfect, but it’s very good.
]]> <![CDATA[An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls, #1)]]> 24233708 343 Hank Green 1524743453 Brett 0 to-read 4.05 2018 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls, #1)
author: Hank Green
name: Brett
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress 16690 288 Robert A. Heinlein 0340837942 Brett 0 to-read 4.16 1966 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Brett
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/01/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Invincible 251633 The Invincible (Polish: Niezwyciężony) is a science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania ("The Invincible and Other Stories"). A translation into German was published in 1967; an English translation by Wendayne Ackerman, based on the German one, was published in 1973.

An interstellar 2nd-class cruiser called Invincible, lands on Regis III which seems bleakly uninhabited, to investigate the loss of sister ship, Condor.]]> 223 Stanisław Lem 0283979623 Brett 0 to-read 4.15 1964 The Invincible
author: Stanisław Lem
name: Brett
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1964
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/01/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)]]> 8127 Anne of Green Gables is also a wonderful portrait of a time, a place, a family� and, most of all, love.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]> 320 L.M. Montgomery 0451528824 Brett 0 to-read 4.30 1908 Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Brett
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1908
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Columbine 5632446
What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.]]> 417 Dave Cullen 0446546933 Brett 0 to-read 4.28 2009 Columbine
author: Dave Cullen
name: Brett
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/01/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Miss Austen 44280984 Whoever looked at an elderly lady and saw the young heroine she once was?

England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister’s reputation. Now in her sixties and increasingly frail, Cassandra goes to stay with the Fowles of Kintbury, family of her long-dead fiancé, in search of a trove of Jane’s letters. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister’s legacy to the flames?

Moving back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra’s vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane’s brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane’s life. With extraordinary empathy, emotional complexity, and wit, Gill Hornby finally gives Cassandra her due, bringing to life a woman as captivating as any Austen heroine.]]> 288 Gill Hornby 1250252202 Brett 0 to-read 3.71 2020 Miss Austen
author: Gill Hornby
name: Brett
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/01/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Don’t Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason]]> 49907457
America, and the West in general, is in the midst of an identity crisis that's headed towards an outright revolution. The progressive left, once the advocates of free expression and individual autonomy, now undermine these values at every turn. This uncomfortable truth has turned moderates and true liberals into the politically homeless class.

In response, Dave Rubin launched his political talk show The Rubin Report in 2015 as a laboratory for anyone trying to make sense of our shifting political landscape. He discusses the most controversial issues of the day with people he both agrees and disagrees with, including those who have been dismissed, deplatformed, and even despised before they've had a chance to speak for themselves. Based on his own story as well as his experiences from the front lines of the free speech wars, this book will inspire you to make up your own mind about what you believe on any issue, and show you how to:

* Check your facts, not your privilege: No matter your gender, economic class, or level of education, you're still allowed to have opinions (for now!). Rubin separates facts from feelings, dispelling today's most pervasive myths, like the wage gap, gun violence, racism, affirmative action, climate change, hate crimes, and more.
* Learn to stand your ground: A difference of opinion should not be a deal-breaker for any relationship, professional or personal. Sadly, these days, it often is. Rubin will show you that losing a few friends is a small price to pay for standing up for what you believe in--and why choosing an authentic path is ultimately worth it.
* Defend liberalism while you still can: Time is running out to defend individual rights, limited government, and free expression. Rubin provides a roadmap for true classically liberal principles regardless of your party affiliation, and shows you why freedom is impossible without them.

Don't Burn This Book empowers you with time-tested and common-sense principles that can turn the tide against authoritarians on both sides in this increasingly polarized world. This book is a rallying cry for anyone who wants to live freely, which is quickly becoming the most radical belief you could have.]]> 256 Dave Rubin 0593084292 Brett 1 3.67 2020 Don’t Burn This Book: Thinking for Yourself in an Age of Unreason
author: Dave Rubin
name: Brett
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 1
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date added: 2020/01/07
shelves:
review:
I’m starting with 1 star. If he has 100 high level ideas I’ll bump him up to 2. I’m thinking this is a very important book so if it’s burned I’ll give him 1 more.
]]> Imperium (Cicero, #1) 243601 imperium—supreme power in the state.

Of all the great figures of the Roman world, none was more fascinating or charismatic than Cicero. And Tiro—the inventor of shorthand and author of numerous books, including a celebrated biography of his master (which was lost in the Dark Ages)—was always by his side.

Compellingly written in Tiro's voice, Imperium is the re-creation of his vanished masterpiece, recounting in vivid detail the story of Cicero's quest for glory, competing with some of the most powerful and intimidating figures of his—or any other—age: Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, and the many other powerful Romans who changed history.

Robert Harris, the world's master of innovative historical fiction, lures us into a violent, treacherous world of Roman politics at once exotically different from and yet startlingly similar to our own—a world of Senate intrigue and electoral corruption, special prosecutors and political adventurism—to describe how one clever, compassionate, devious, vulnerable man fought to reach the top.]]> 305 Robert Harris 074326603X Brett 3 4.12 2006 Imperium (Cicero, #1)
author: Robert Harris
name: Brett
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/09/07
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review:
This really close to a 4. problem is, I only read 2/3rds. It's very well-written, very fine reading. It's got great language and characterization, etc. Problem is, for me, it's just plot. It didn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. I just find that there's something missing to make it great. On the other hand, not having read much historical fiction, there's nothing I can point to in this genre that's necessarily better. All I can say is that this book IS recommended but it's not a favorite or very memorable for me.
]]> The Kite Runner 77203 371 Khaled Hosseini 159463193X Brett 3 4.34 2003 The Kite Runner
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Brett
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 3
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date added: 2019/09/03
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review:
The first third of this book was quite good. After that, it went down hill fast. I think this writer started out with a great idea but couldn't sustain the energy he generated in the first section. Much of the book ends up being predictable and, to me, tedious. It feels like the author knew where he wanted to go and had to tap out the resulting plot. I'm wondering if this isn't a better book for young adults.
]]> <![CDATA[Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)]]> 7967
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.

Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.]]> 382 Orson Scott Card 0812550757 Brett 4 4.10 1986 Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Brett
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1986
rating: 4
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date added: 2019/08/14
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review:
I was really surprised by the quality of this book. For me, Ender’s Game was ok but it didn’t make me want to read more of Card, let alone more of this series. My favorite SciFi author, the only one I really love, is Ursula Le Guin and Speaker really reminds me of the type of Book Le Guin wrote. It’s more an anthropology of human beings than a space opera or fantasy of the future. I was happy to find that Card wrote a book like this but I’m still frustrated that it’s so hard to find more.
]]> Pushing Ice 89186 Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. But when Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, inexplicably leaves its natural orbit and heads out of the solar system at high speed, Bella is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach.

In accepting this mission she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny—for Janus has many surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome...]]> 458 Alastair Reynolds 0441014011 Brett 0 to-read 4.06 2005 Pushing Ice
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Brett
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Our Children Teach Us : Lessons in Joy, Love and Awareness]]> 1554907 Piero Ferrucci 0743221087 Brett 0 to-read 4.09 1997 What Our Children Teach Us : Lessons in Joy, Love and Awareness
author: Piero Ferrucci
name: Brett
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/07/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Great Alone 34927828 Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

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

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

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

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

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.]]> 440 Kristin Hannah 0312577230 Brett 3 4.35 2018 The Great Alone
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Brett
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 3
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date added: 2019/05/30
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]]>