Mayssem's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 19:01:19 -0700 60 Mayssem's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg East of Eden 4406
Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aaron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness enveloped by a mysterious darkness.

First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis.]]> 601 John Steinbeck 0142000655 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.41 1952 East of Eden
author: John Steinbeck
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> The Rules of Attraction 9912 From the bestselling author of American Psycho comes this satirical black comedy about the death of romance.

Set at an affluent liberal arts college during the height of the Reagan eighties, The Rules of Attraction follows a handful of rowdy, spoiled, sexually promiscuous students with no plans for the future—or even the present. Three of them—Sean, Paul, and Lauren—become involved in a love triangle of sorts within a sequence of drug runs, "Dressed to Get Screwed" parties, and "End of the World" parties.

As Bret Easton Ellis trains his incisive gaze on the kids at the self-consciously bohemian Camden College, treating their sexual posturing and agonies with a mixture of acrid hilarity and compassion, he exposes the moral vacuum at the center of their lives.]]> 283 Bret Easton Ellis 067978148X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.74 1987 The Rules of Attraction
author: Bret Easton Ellis
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> The Interior Castle 2327660
A masterpiece of spiritual literature, this sixteenth-century work was inspired by a mystical vision that came upon the revered St. Teresa of Avila, one of the most gifted and beloved religious figures in history. St. Teresa's vision was of a luminous crystal castle composed of seven chambers, or "mansions," each representing a different stage in the development of the soul.

In her most important and widely read book, St. Teresa describes how, upon entering the castle through prayer and meditation, the human spirit experiences humility, detachment, suffering, and, ultimately, self-knowledge, as it roams from room to room. As the soul progresses further toward the center of the castle, it comes closer to achieving ineffable and perfect peace, and, finally, a divine communion with God.

A set of rare and beautiful teachings for people of all faiths desirous of divine guidance, this meticulous modern translation by E. Allison Peers breathes contemporary life into a religious classic.]]> 169 Teresa de Ávila 0486461459 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.15 1588 The Interior Castle
author: Teresa de Ávila
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1588
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays]]> 201852
Bakhtin uses the category "novel" in a highly idiosyncratic way, claiming for it vastly larger territory than has been traditionally accepted. For him, the novel is not so much a genre as it is a force, "novelness," which he discusses in "From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse." Two essays, "Epic and Novel" and "Forms of Time and of the Chronotope in the Novel," deal with literary history in Bakhtin's own unorthodox way. In the final essay, he discusses literature and language in general, which he sees as stratified, constantly changing systems of subgenres, dialects, and fragmented "languages" in battle with one another.]]> 480 Mikhail Bakhtin 029271534X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.17 1975 The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays
author: Mikhail Bakhtin
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> In the Miso Soup 17810
From postmodern Renaissance man Ryu Murakami, master of the psycho-thriller and director of Tokyo Decadence, comes this shocking, hair-raising roller-coaster ride through the nefarious neon-lit world of Tokyo’s sex industry.]]> 217 Ryū Murakami 014303569X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.62 1997 In the Miso Soup
author: Ryū Murakami
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake]]> 7048800
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents� attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose.

The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language� (San Francisco Chronicle).]]> 292 Aimee Bender 0385501129 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.24 2010 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
author: Aimee Bender
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/28
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]]> A Tale for the Time Being 15811545
Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.

Full of Ozeki's signature humour and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.]]> 432 Ruth Ozeki 0670026638 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.06 2013 A Tale for the Time Being
author: Ruth Ozeki
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/28
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]]> <![CDATA[If Cats Disappeared from the World]]> 40740914
Because how do you decide what makes life worth living? How do you separate out what you can do without from what you hold dear? In dealing with the Devil our narrator will take himself � and his beloved cat � to the brink. Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World is a story of loss and reconciliation, of one man’s journey to discover what really matters in modern life.

This beautiful tale is translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland, who also translated The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide. Fans of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles will also surely love If Cats Disappeared from the World.]]> 202 Genki Kawamura 1509889175 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.77 2012 If Cats Disappeared from the World
author: Genki Kawamura
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/27
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]]> <![CDATA[DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)]]> 194036469
For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at the store is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including DallerGut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.]]> 243 Lee Mi-ye 1035412748 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.65 2020 DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)
author: Lee Mi-ye
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/27
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]]> The Travelling Cat Chronicles 40961230
An instant international bestseller and indie bestseller, The Travelling Cat Chronicles has charmed readers around the world. With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe...

With his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love.]]> 281 Hiro Arikawa 0735235244 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.35 2012 The Travelling Cat Chronicles
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/23
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]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

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

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

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Mayssem 4 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/23
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]]> Kiss an Angel 73086 Wedding Day

Pretty, flighty Daisy Devreaux can either go to jail or marry the mystery man her father has chosen for her. Arranged marriages don't happen in the modern world, so how did the irrepressible Daisy find herself in this fix?

Alex Markov, as humorless as he is deadly handsome, has no intention of playing the loving bridegroom to a spoiled little feather-head with champagne tastes. He drags Daisy from her uptown life to a broken down traveling circus and sets out to tame her to his ways.

But this man without a soul has met his match in a woman who's nothing but heart. Before long, passion will send them flying sky high without a safety net... risking it all in search of a love that will last forever.]]> 384 Susan Elizabeth Phillips 0380782332 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.16 1996 Kiss an Angel
author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/15
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]]> Celine 651123
Celine's father has left her with these instructions. She's not too worried about the last two, but she'll fail English unless she rewrites her Catcher in the Rye essay. And she keeps being interrupted, especially by Jake, the neighbor's boy, who's been dumped on her for the weekend.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Best Book of the '80s
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year]]> 224 Brock Cole 0374410828 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.87 1989 Celine
author: Brock Cole
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/15
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]]> The Return of the Native 32650 426 Thomas Hardy 037575718X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.87 1878 The Return of the Native
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1878
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> Franny and Zooey 5113 ‘Everything everybody does is so—I don’t know—not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and—sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you’re conforming just as much only in a different way.�

First published in The New Yorker as two sequential stories, ‘Franny� and ‘Zooey� offer a dual portrait of the two youngest members of J. D. Salinger’s fictional Glass family.

Franny Glass is a pretty, effervescent college student on a date with her intellectually confident boyfriend, Lane. They appear to be the perfect couple, but as they struggle to communicate with each other about the things they really care about, slowly their true feelings come to the surface. The second story in this book, ‘Zooey�, plunges us into the world of her ethereal, sophisticated family. When Franny’s emotional and spiritual doubts reach new heights, her older brother Zooey, a misanthropic former child genius, offers her consolation and brotherly advice.

Written in Salinger’s typically irreverent style, these two stories offer a touching snapshot of the distraught mindset of early adulthood and are full of the insightful emotional observations and witty turns of phrase that have helped make Salinger’s reputation what it is today.]]> 201 J.D. Salinger 0316769029 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.97 1957 Franny and Zooey
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1957
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> Earth Angel 75719826 In her electric debut, Madeline Cash synthesizes the godlessness of a digital age into a glimmering, sublime, life-affirming collage of stories.

Earth Angel is a book like no other, the paperback that swallowed the smartphone. An Isis recruit, an adolescent beauty queen, and a childless millennial walk into a bar. A Biblical plague rains down head lice, aerial drone strikes, gender non-conforming frogs. An app throws a slumber party for a friendless office worker. Texans in the winter, the Taliban in Springtime, Teslas with ℮☥ bumper stickers, Frozen 5 in Arabic, architectural consistency laws in Laurel Canyon, the longest recorded nosebleed in history.

An unhinged jet stream that is ultramodern and poignantly timeless, capturing the angst of the post-millennial generation.]]> 130 Madeline Cash 1955904693 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.97 2023 Earth Angel
author: Madeline Cash
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Hangsaman 131177 Hangsaman is Miss Jackson's second novel. The story is a simple one but the overtones are immediately present. "Natalie Waite who was seventeen years old but who felt that she had been truly conscious only since she was about fifteen lived in an odd corner of a world of sound and sight, past the daily voices of her father and mother and their incomprehensible actions." In a few graphic pages, the family is before us—Arnold Waite, a writer, egotistical and embittered; his wife, the complaining martyr; Bud, the younger brother who has not yet felt the need to establish his independence; and Natalie, in the nightmare of being seventeen.

The Sunday afternoon cocktail party, to which Arnold Waite has invited his literary friends and neighbors, serves to etch in the details of this family's life, and to draw Natalie into the vortex. The story concentrates on the next few critical months in Natalie's life, away at college, where each experience reproduces on a larger scale the crucial failure of her emotional life at home. With a mounting tension rising from character and situation as well as the particular magic of which Miss Jackson is master, the novel proceeds inexorably to the stinging melodrama of its conclusion. The bitter cruelty of the passage from adolescence to womanhood, of a sensitive and lonely girl caught in a world not of her own devising, is a theme well suited to Miss Jackson's brilliant talent.]]> 191 Shirley Jackson 0445031174 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.78 1951 Hangsaman
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1951
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/01
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]]> The Queen's Gambit 62022 258 Walter Tevis 1400030609 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.14 1983 The Queen's Gambit
author: Walter Tevis
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Concierge 195719877
The peaceful setting of Cavengreen Hotel has been shattered by a shocking murder. Hector Harrow, the hotel's concierge, has been accused and is determined to clear his name. Hector enlists the aid of Helen, a retired publisher, to document the shocking crime that has unfolded, with the intention of publishing a truthful account.

Amid interruptions from a nosy journalist and the egotistical antics of the hotel's new owner, American Dave, Helen works tirelessly to keep Hector focused on finishing his book.

As suspicions fall on different guests and one makes a shocking confession, Hector must navigate a web of secrets to uncover the truth.]]> 0 Abby Corson 1761152971 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.50 2024 The Concierge
author: Abby Corson
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead]]> 1785957 193 Barbara Comyns 0984469311 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.84 1954 Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1954
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> Quartet in Autumn 227002 186 Barbara Pym 0330326481 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.90 1978 Quartet in Autumn
author: Barbara Pym
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> Cat’s Cradle 135479 Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh...]]> 306 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Mayssem 0 to-read 4.17 1963 Cat’s Cradle
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Bluebeard's Egg 50536 Bluebeard'S Egg glows with childhood memories, the reality of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mundane lives, and unexpected loves. But here too is the inner world of hidden places and all that emerges from them-the intimately personal, the fantastic, the shockingly real...whether it's what lives in a mysterious locked room or the secret feelings we all conceal. In this dramatic and far-ranging collection, Margaret Atwood proves why she is a true master of the genre.]]> 244 Margaret Atwood 0385491042 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.76 1983 Bluebeard's Egg
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> Honey 181110082 Meet a woman as tenacious as Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and as irresistible as Andrew Sean Greer’s Arthur Less: Honey Fasinga, the glamorous daughter of a notorious New Jersey mobster, is returning home at last, ready to reckon with her violent past.

As a rebellious teenager, Honey managed to escape her father’s circle of influence and reinvent herself in a world of art and beauty, working for a high-end auction house in Los Angeles. Now in her twilight years, she decides to return home and unexpectedly falls in love. But in her family, nothing has changed. When her grandnephew Michael bursts into her life in what appears to be a drug-fueled frenzy, and her Lexus gets jacked, it’s hard to keep minding her own business. As old cruelties begin to resurface, Honey is no longer sure what she really wants—to forgive or to avenge.

This electrifying literary breakout from PEN USA Award-winning author Victor Lodato is a masterful and deeply moving portrait of love in all its forms, of moral ambiguity, and of inspiring change—a story of female rage that asks the question: What are the limits of compassion in a world of extraordinary violence?]]> 400 Victor Lodato 0063309610 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.94 2024 Honey
author: Victor Lodato
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> Medusa 55664141 48 Natalie Sierra 1946081418 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.91 Medusa
author: Natalie Sierra
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.91
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> Contraperfume 57834312 Contraperfume es todo aquello que nos permite dar sentido a lo que olemos. Una narración donde la memoria, la experiencia y el olfato son el espejo que nos devuelve nuestra propia imagen.

Mediante una escritura transversal, Daniel Figuero ha creado un discurso propio acerca de una industria que conoce como a sí mismo. Su relato consigue trasladarnos desde el recuerdo íntimo de nuestro primer perfume hasta los paisajes lejanos donde se cultivan las materias primas de la perfumería. El autor aborda con mirada inteligente y desenfadada asuntos como la construcción de género en el perfume, el trabajo de las marcas con los influencers o la evolución del gusto a través del tiempo. E incluso es capaz de, mediante una atrevida pirueta, relacionar las familias aromáticas con los juegos de rol.


Este es el libro de perfumes que todos llevamos dentro.

]]> 224 Daniel Figuero 8494875299 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.74 Contraperfume
author: Daniel Figuero
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Perfume: The Story of a Murderer]]> 343 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.]]> 263 Patrick Süskind Mayssem 4 4.05 1985 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
author: Patrick Süskind
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1985
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/05/30
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]]> The Hour of the Star 762390 The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector's consummate final novel, may well be her masterpiece. Narrated by the cosmopolitan Rodrigo S.M., this brief, strange, and haunting tale is the story of Macabéa, one of life's unfortunates. Living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and eking out a poor living as a typist, Macabéa loves movies, Coca-Cola, and her rat of a boyfriend; she would like to be like Marilyn Monroe, but she is ugly, underfed, sickly, and unloved. Rodrigo recoils from her wretchedness, and yet he cannot avoid realization that for all her outward misery, Macabéa is inwardly free. She doesn't seem to know how unhappy she should be. Lispector employs her pathetic heroine against her urbane, empty narrator--edge of despair to edge of despair--and, working them like a pair of scissors, she cuts away the reader's preconceived notions about poverty, identity, love, and the art of fiction. In her last novel she takes readers close to the true mystery of life, and leaves us deep in Lispector territory indeed.]]> 96 Clarice Lispector 0811211908 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.11 1977 The Hour of the Star
author: Clarice Lispector
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> Simple Passion 58678702 67 Annie Ernaux 1644213575 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.98 1991 Simple Passion
author: Annie Ernaux
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Country Girls (The Country Girls Trilogy, #1)]]> 517061 175 Edna O'Brien 0452283434 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.75 1960 The Country Girls (The Country Girls Trilogy, #1)
author: Edna O'Brien
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> An Oresteia 4770925
In this innovative rendition of The Oresteia, the poet, translator, and essayist Anne Carson combines three different visions—Aischylos� Agamemnon, Sophokles� Elektra, and Euripides� Orestes—giving birth to a wholly new experience of the classic Greek triumvirate of vengeance. After the murder of her daughter Iphegenia by her husband Agamemnon, Klytaimestra exacts a mother’s revenge, murdering Agamemnon and his mistress, Kassandra. Displeased with Klytaimestra’s actions, Apollo calls on her son, Orestes, to avenge his father’s death with the help of his sister Elektra. In the end, Orestes, driven mad by the Furies for his bloody betrayal of family, and Elektra are condemned to death by the people of Argos, and must justify their actions—signaling a call to change in society, a shift from the capricious governing of the gods to the rule of manmade law.

Carson’s accomplished rendering combines elements of contemporary vernacular with the traditional structures and rhetoric of Greek tragedy, opening up the plays to a modern audience. In addition to its accessibility, the wit and dazzling morbidity of her prose sheds new light on the saga for scholars. Anne Carson’s Oresteia is a watershed translation, a death-dance of vengeance and passion not to be missed.]]> 272 Anne Carson 086547902X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.34 2009 An Oresteia
author: Anne Carson
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> عائد إلى حيفا 3331756
تم تناول القصه في عمليين سينمائيين الاول يحمل نفس عنوان الروايه
من إخراج قاسم حول، وإنتاج مؤسسة الأرض للإنتاج السينمائي عام 1981م. حصد الفيلم أربع جوائز عالمية
والاخر بعنوان ""المتبقي "" من أخراج الإيرانى سيف الله داد وإنتاج إيراني سوري عام 1994م.

تم تناول القصه أيضا في عمل تلفزيوني للمخرج السوري باسل الخطيب .
وفي عمل مسرحي أردني أيضا]]> 76 Ghassan Kanafani Mayssem 0 to-read 4.38 1969 عائد إلى حيفا
author: Ghassan Kanafani
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention� and How to Think Deeply Again]]> 57933306 Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening--and how to get our attention back.

In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions--even abandoning his phone for three months--but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention--and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers' productivity.

Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus--as individuals, and as a society--if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.]]> 357 Johann Hari 0593138511 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.22 2022 Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again
author: Johann Hari
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> Delta of Venus 11041
In Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin penned a lush, magical world where the characters of her imagination possess the most universal of desires and exceptional of talents. Among these provocative stories, a Hungarian adventurer seduces wealthy women then vanishes with their money; a veiled woman selects strangers from a chic restaurant for private trysts; and a Parisian hatmaker named Mathilde leaves her husband for the opium dens of Peru. Delta of Venus is an extraordinarily rich and exotic collection from the master of erotic writing.

Part of the Quality Paperback Book Club series with limited-edition art cover. Cover art painted by Monica Elias.]]> 271 Anaïs Nin 1579125743 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.67 1977 Delta of Venus
author: Anaïs Nin
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Mae West on Sex, Health, and ESP]]> 6851833
She's been called the Queen of Vamp and Camp, the Big Ben of the hour-glass figure, the Statue of Libido. She has spent a lifetime in revolt against petty censorship and mealy-mouthed moralising. Uniquely endowed to talk about sex and sexuality, in her new book she shows how sexual energy can be harnessed and put to work.

Continuing good health has enabled her scintillating career to flourish for so long, and now she reveals for the first time the secrets of her diet and regime. Many of her career and personal decisions have been taken as the result of her psychic gifts, and her advice on how to cultivate and trust such extra-sensory perceptions makes fascinating reading. As the lady says, 'A happy medium is good to find.'

She concludes with a summary of her special philosophy, including these tenets of faith:
* A man in the house is worth two in the street
* There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out
* If man is by nature a sexual animal, I've always had my special pets
* A lady may let her hair down as long as the gentleman stands up
* As far as social matters go, I've been in Who's Who and I know what's what]]> 237 Mae West 0491016131 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.06 1975 Mae West on Sex, Health, and ESP
author: Mae West
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Parasite Eve 624023 Ghost in the Shell and Frankenstein, this medical fantasmagoria is a disorienting look into the consciousness and will have you questioning the future of human evolution. New life begins at the cellular level, but when that cell contains restless mitochondria, it will aspire to be much more than just a speck in a petri dish. Parasite Eve was the basis of the hugely popular video game of the same name and has been cinematized in Japan, where the novel’s smashing success helped set off a horror boom that has only been intensifying ever since.

When Dr. Nagashima loses his wife in a mysterious car crash, he is overwhelmed with grief but also an eerie sense of purpose; he becomes obsessed with the idea that he must reincarnate his dead wife. Her donated kidney is transplanted into a young girl with a debilitating disorder, but the doctor also feels compelled to keep a small sample of her liver in his laboratory. When these cells start mutating rapidly, a consciousness bent on determining its own fate awakens from an eonic sleep.]]> 320 Hideaki Sena 1932234195 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.52 1994 Parasite Eve
author: Hideaki Sena
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/10
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]]> Tomie 29632242 750 Junji Ito 1421590565 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.14 1987 Tomie
author: Junji Ito
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Hot Milk 26883528 Plunge into this hypnotic tale of female sexuality and power

Two women arrive in a village on the Spanish coast. Rose is suffering from a strange illness and her doctors are mystified. Her daughter Sofia has brought her here to find a cure with the infamous and controversial Dr Gomez - a man of questionable methods and motives. Intoxicated by thick heat and the seductive people who move through it, both women begin to see their lives clearly for the first time in years.

Through the opposing figures of mother and daughter, Deborah Levy explores the strange and monstrous nature of womanhood. Dreamlike and utterly compulsive, Hot Milk is a delirious fairy tale of feminine potency, a story both modern and timeless.]]> 218 Deborah Levy 1620406691 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.49 2015 Hot Milk
author: Deborah Levy
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/07
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]]> Infinite Jest 6759
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.]]> 1088 David Foster Wallace Mayssem 0 to-read 4.26 1996 Infinite Jest
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Goblin Market: A Tale of Two Sisters]]> 430788 "Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
“Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy...

Experience the temptation, pleasure, punishment, and redemption of Christina Rossetti's brilliant poetic masterpiece. First published in 1862, the work is the phantasmagoric tale of two maidens seduced by lewd goblin men, and it provides a startling glimpse into the depths of the Victorian psyche. For children, the story offers a captivating adventure into a land of fantasy. For adults, it's a lyrical and sensual allegory of temptation, sacrifice, and salvation.

Christina Rossetti (1830�1894) was one of the most important women poets writing in nineteenth-century England. She was born in London December 5, 1830, within a family of poets, artists, and critics. Today she is best remembered by her infamous poem 'Goblin Market' (1862), but also by 'Complete Poems' and 'Selected Poems of Christina Rossetti' (1970).]]> 70 Christina Rossetti 0811816494 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.11 1862 Goblin Market: A Tale of Two Sisters
author: Christina Rossetti
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1862
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/25
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]]> The Governesses 38458434
Written with the elegance of old French fables, the dark sensuality of Djuna Barnes and the subtle comedy of Robert Walser, this semi-deranged erotic fairy tale introduces American readers to the marvelous Anne Serre.

"Each sentence evokes a dream logic both languid and circuitous as the governesses move through a fever of domesticity and sexual abandon. A sensualist, surrealist romp."—Kirkus
]]> 108 Anne Serre 081122807X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.32 1992 The Governesses
author: Anne Serre
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.32
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/25
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]]> Stone Mattress 30181228 A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month� Selection

The author of such towering novels as The Handmaid’s Tale, The Blind Assassin, and Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood proves her imaginative prowess dazzles just as vividly in her short fiction. “Stone Mattress,� from her collection of the same name is witty, grotesque, and utterly hilarious—an exemplar of Atwood’s tremendous capacity for capturing our darkest impulses on the page.

Verna, aging widow, boards a cruise ship bound for the Arctic in search of her next husband. The last four had suffered regrettable tragedies and left Verna wickedly wealthy in their wake. But, instead of finding another wealthy suitor, Verna finds unwitting Bob, the first man to have ever wronged her. Single, reasonably near his grave, ordinary, and attracted to her like all the others—Bob is all-too-easy prey for Verna’s merciless revenge.

An ebook short.

]]> 304 Margaret Atwood Mayssem 0 to-read 4.10 2014 Stone Mattress
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/11/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery]]> 56179372 Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

A spirited young Englishwoman, Abitha, arrives at a Puritan colony betrothed to a stranger � only to become quickly widowed when her husband dies under mysterious circumstances. All alone in this pious and patriarchal society, Abitha fights for what little freedom she can grasp onto, while trying to stay true to herself and her past.

Enter Slewfoot, a powerful spirit of antiquity newly woken ... and trying to find his own role in the world. Healer or destroyer? Protector or predator? But as the shadows walk and villagers start dying, a new rumor is whispered: Witch.

Both Abitha and Slewfoot must swiftly decide who they are, and what they must do to survive in a world intent on hanging any who meddle in the dark arts.

Complete with 8 pages of Brom’s mesmerizing full-color artwork and chapter illustrations throughout, his latest book is sure to delight.]]> 305 Brom 125062200X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.23 2021 Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery
author: Brom
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/25
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]]> Minor Detail 52045757 Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba � the catastrophe that led to the displacement and expulsion of more than 700,000 people � and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers capture and rape a young Palestinian woman, and kill and bury her in the sand. Many years later, a woman in Ramallah becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with this ‘minor detail� of history. A haunting meditation on war, violence and memory, Minor Detail cuts to the heart of the Palestinian experience of dispossession, life under occupation, and the persistent difficulty of piecing together a narrative in the face of ongoing erasure and disempowerment.]]> 144 Adania Shibli 191309717X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.26 2017 Minor Detail
author: Adania Shibli
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/14
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]]> Pale Fire 7805
Nabokov's darkly witty, richly inventive masterpiece is a suspenseful whodunit, a story of one-upmanship and dubious penmanship, and a glorious literary conundrum.

Part of a major new series of the works of Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita and Pale Fire, in Penguin Classics.]]> 246 Vladimir Nabokov Mayssem 0 to-read 4.17 1962 Pale Fire
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
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]]> Seven Gothic Tales 669305 420 Isak Dinesen 0679736417 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.96 1934 Seven Gothic Tales
author: Isak Dinesen
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1934
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
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]]> The Beautiful and Damned 4708 The Beautiful and the Damned followed Fitzgerald's impeccable debut, This Side of Paradise, thus securing his place in the tradition of great American novelists. Embellished with the author's lyrical prose, here is the story of Harvard-educated, aspiring aesthete Anthony Patch and his beautiful wife, Gloria. As they await the inheritance of his grandfather's fortune, their reckless marriage sways under the influence of alcohol and avarice. A devastating look at the nouveau riche, and the New York nightlife, as well as the ruinous effects of wild ambition, The Beautiful and the Damned achieved stature as one of Fitzgerald's most accomplished novels. Its distinction as a classic endures to this day. Pocket Book's Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. Special features include critical perspectives, suggestions for further read, and a unique visual essay composed of period photographs that help bring every word to life.]]> 422 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743451503 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.74 1922 The Beautiful and Damned
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
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]]> Delia's Elevator 16411492 Elena Ferrante 5551454592 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.33 2004 Delia's Elevator
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment]]> 34673467
Varoufakis sparked one of the most spectacular and controversial battles in recent political history when, as finance minister of Greece, he attempted to renegotiate his country’s relationship with the EU. Despite the mass support of the Greek people and the simple logic of his arguments, he succeeded only in provoking the fury of Europe’s political, financial and media elite. But the true story of what happened is almost entirely unknown � not least because so much of the EU’s real business takes place behind closed doors.

In this fearless account, Varoufakis reveals all: an extraordinary tale of brinkmanship, hypocrisy, collusion and betrayal that will shake the deep establishment to its foundations.

As is now clear, the same policies that required the tragic and brutal suppression of Greece’s democratic uprising have led directly to authoritarianism, populist revolt and instability throughout the Western world.

'Adults In The Room' is an urgent wake-up call to renew European democracy before it is too late.]]> 561 Yanis Varoufakis Mayssem 0 to-read 4.31 2017 Adults in the Room: My Battle with Europe's Deep Establishment
author: Yanis Varoufakis
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
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]]> Mary 58724622
But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.

Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.

Then the killings begin again.

Mary’s definitely going to find herself.]]> 405 Nat Cassidy 1250265231 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.78 2022 Mary
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver]]> 34272476
“No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important, the luminous writing provides respite from our crazy world and demonstrates how mindfulness can define and transform a life, moment by moment, poem by poem.� —The Washington Post

“It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.� —Chicago Tribune

Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.

Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.]]> 456 Mary Oliver 0399563245 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.58 2017 Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
author: Mary Oliver
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> Mary Jane 54870208
The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, IMPEACHMENT: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): The doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job—helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.]]> 320 Jessica Anya Blau 0063052296 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.09 2021 Mary Jane
author: Jessica Anya Blau
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/24
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]]> Rouge 157184735 From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.]]> 383 Mona Awad Mayssem 0 to-read 3.54 2023 Rouge
author: Mona Awad
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

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

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> Relentless Melt 62362892
The year is 1909, and Artie Quick—an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian—wants to learn about crime. By day she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA's Evening Institute for Younger Men.

Eager to put theory into practice, Artie sets out in search of something to investigate. She's joined by her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston's occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Together, their journey into mystery begins on Boston Common—where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies—but soon Artie and Theodore uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Will Theodore ever manage to pull off a successful spell? Is Artie really wearing that men's suit just for disguise or is there something more to it? And what chance do two mixed-up young people stand up against the greatest horror Boston has ever known, an ancient, deranged evil that feeds on society's most vulnerable?]]> 343 Jeremy P. Bushnell 1685890326 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.62 2023 Relentless Melt
author: Jeremy P. Bushnell
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/06/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[She Who Became the Sun Sneak Peek]]> 57814919 Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy. Download a FREE sneak peek today!

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…�

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness�

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> Shelley Parker-Chan Mayssem 0 to-read 3.78 She Who Became the Sun Sneak Peek
author: Shelley Parker-Chan
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/06/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence, #1)]]> 61885010 The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko Candon's bold entry into the world of mecha fiction.

WHEN AN AI DIES, ITS CITY DIES WITH IT
WHEN A CITY FALLS, IT LEAVES A CORPSE BEHIND
WHEN THAT CORPSE RUNS OFF, ONLY DEVOTION CAN BRING IT BACK

When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines.

The Archive Undying is the first volume of Emma Mieko Candon's Downworld Sequence, a sci-fi series where AI deities and brutal police states clash, wielding giant robots steered by pilot-priests with corrupted bodies.

Come get in the robot.]]> 496 Emma Mieko Candon 1250821541 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.33 2023 The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence, #1)
author: Emma Mieko Candon
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/06/15
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]]> Ink Blood Sister Scribe 62854842 In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .]]> 416 Emma Törzs 0063253461 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.98 2023 Ink Blood Sister Scribe
author: Emma Törzs
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Mayssem 4 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/05
date added: 2023/06/05
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]]> Comfort Me with Apples 56179382
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?]]> 103 Catherynne M. Valente 1250816211 Mayssem 4 3.57 2021 Comfort Me with Apples
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/04/27
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]]> The Dead Are Gods: A Memoir 63927483 From an exciting new literary voice: a memoir that explores grief, Blackness, and recovery after the death of a dear friend.

After an unexpected phone call on an early morning in 2018, writer and model Eirinie Carson learned of her best friend Larissa’s death. In the wake of her shock, Eirinie attempts to make sense of the events leading up to Larissa’s death and uncovers startling secrets about her life in the process.

THE DEAD ARE GODS is Eirinie’s striking, intimate, and profoundly moving depiction of life after a sudden loss. Amid navigating moments of intense grief, Eirinie is overwhelmed by her love for Larissa. She finds power in pulling moments of joy from the depths of her emotion. Eirinie’s portrayal of what love feels like after death bursts from the page alongside a timely, honest, and personal exploration of Black love and Black life.

Perhaps, Eirinie proposes, “The only way out is through.”]]> 240 Eirinie Carson 1685890458 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.21 2023 The Dead Are Gods: A Memoir
author: Eirinie Carson
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/13
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]]> A Certain Hunger 60901255
But there is something within Dorothy that’s different from everyone else, and having suppressed it long enough, she starts to embrace what makes Dorothy uniquely, terrifyingly herself. Recounting her life from a seemingly idyllic farm-to-table childhood, the heights of her career, to the moment she plunges an ice pick into a man's neck on Fire Island, Dorothy Daniels show us what happens when a woman finally embraces her superiority.

A satire of early foodieism, a critique of how gender is defined, and a showcase of virtuoso storytelling, Chelsea G. Summers� A Certain Hunger introduces us to the food world’s most charming psychopath and an exciting new voice in fiction.]]> 240 Chelsea G. Summers Mayssem 4 3.88 2019 A Certain Hunger
author: Chelsea G. Summers
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/22
date added: 2022/09/25
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (The Road to Nowhere, #1)]]> 30644891 When she fell asleep, the world was doomed. When she awoke, it was dead.

In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth’s population—killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant—the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power—and the strong who possess it.

A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining. To preserve her freedom, she dons men’s clothing, goes by false names, and avoids as many people as possible. But as the world continues to grapple with its terrible circumstances, she’ll discover a role greater than chasing a pale imitation of independence.

After all, if humanity is to be reborn, someone must be its guide.]]> 300 Meg Elison 1503994112 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.19 2014 The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (The Road to Nowhere, #1)
author: Meg Elison
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/06/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> Alone With You in the Ether 54208009
Everything else, however, is slightly different.

Both obsessive, eccentric personalities, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan struggle to be without each other from the moment they meet. The truth—that he is a clinically depressed, anti-social theoretician and she is a manipulative liar with a history of self-sabotage—means the deeper they fall in love, the more troubling their reliance on each other becomes.

An intimate study of time and space, ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER is a fantasy writer's magicless glimpse into the nature of love, what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.]]> 248 Olivie Blake Mayssem 0 to-read 4.00 2020 Alone With You in the Ether
author: Olivie Blake
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/18
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]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)]]> 35036409 My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.]]> 331 Elena Ferrante Mayssem 5 4.08 2011 My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/01
date added: 2022/05/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Your Subconscious Mind]]> 68984 The Power of Your Subconscious Mind has been a bestseller since its first publication in 1963, selling many millions of copies since its original publication. It is one of the most brilliant and beloved spiritual self-help works of all time which can help you heal yourself, banish your fears, sleep better, enjoy better relationships and just feel happier. The techniques are simple and results come quickly. You can improve your relationships, your finances, your physical well-being.

Dr. Joseph Murphy explains that life events are actually the result of the workings of your conscious and subconscious minds. He suggests practical techniques through which one can change one's destiny, principally by focusing and redirecting this miraculous energy. Years of research studying the world's major religions convinced him that some Great Power lay behind all spiritual life and that this power is within each of us.

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind will open a world of success, happiness, prosperity, and peace for you.

]]> 304 Joseph Murphy 0553583182 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.10 1963 The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
author: Joseph Murphy
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/17
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]]> The Law and the Promise 240445 156 Neville Goddard 087516532X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.26 1984 The Law and the Promise
author: Neville Goddard
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> Feeling Is the Secret 11485130 Feeling is The Secretshows readers how they can quickly attain their goals simply by refining their imagination. Your thoughts shape your life, create your reality, and ultimately limit or expand your true potential. The book describes how our thoughts and feelings affect who we become and what we achieve. When we have the power to change them, we gain the power to change our circumstances, our health, and our life's purpose. There is a treasure in it, a clearly defined road to the realization of your dreams.

]]> 108 Neville Goddard 9561000199 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.33 2004 Feeling Is the Secret
author: Neville Goddard
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Woman in the Purple Skirt 55782299 A bestselling, prizewinning novel of obsession and psychological intrigue about two enigmatic unmarried women, one of whom manipulates the other from afar, by one of Japan's most acclaimed young writers

Almost every day, the Woman in the Purple Skirt buys a single cream bun and goes to the park, where she sits on a bench to eat it as the local children taunt her. She is observed at all times by the undetected narrator, the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. From a distance the Woman in the Purple Skirt looks like a schoolgirl, but there are age spots on her face, and her hair is dry and stiff. Like the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, she is single, she lives in a small, run-down apartment, and she is short on money. The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan lures her to a job where she herself works, as a hotel housekeeper; soon the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss. Unfortunately, no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That's the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt.

Studiously deadpan, highly original, and unsettling, The Woman in the Purple Skirt explores the dynamics of envy, the mechanisms of power in the workplace, and the vulnerability of unmarried women in a taut, voyeuristic narrative about the sometimes desperate desire to be seen.]]> 224 Natsuko Imamura 014313602X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.28 2019 The Woman in the Purple Skirt
author: Natsuko Imamura
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/17
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]]> Vladimir 57846324 A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students—a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own...

“When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.�

And so we are introduced to our deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose charismatic husband at the same small liberal arts college is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extra-marital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus, their tinder box world comes dangerously close to exploding.

With this bold, edgy, and uncommonly assured debut, author Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the boundaries of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Propulsive, darkly funny, and wildly entertaining, Vladimir perfectly captures the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the nuances and the grey area between power and desire.]]> 238 Julia May Jonas 1982187638 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.41 2022 Vladimir
author: Julia May Jonas
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/04/20
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]]> Boy Parts 49083140
Placed on sabbatical from her dead-end bar job, she is offered an exhibition at a fashionable London gallery, promising to revive her career in the art world and offering an escape from her rut of drugs, alcohol, and extreme cinema. The news triggers a self-destructive tailspin, centred around Irina’s relationship with her obsessive best friend, and a shy young man from her local supermarket who has attracted her attention�

Boy Parts is the incendiary debut novel from Eliza Clark, a pitch-black comedy both shocking and hilarious, fearlessly exploring the taboo regions of sexuality and gender roles in the twenty-first century.]]> 304 Eliza Clark 1910312649 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.74 2020 Boy Parts
author: Eliza Clark
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/04/19
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]]> In My Dreams I Hold a Knife 50485649 Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.

A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.

Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent—not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather’s murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she’d been closest to since freshman year. Ten years ago, everything fell apart, including the dreams she worked for her whole life—and her relationship with the one person she wasn’t supposed to love.

But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather’s murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years� worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.

Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won’t be able to put down.]]> 345 Ashley Winstead 172822988X Mayssem 0 to-read 3.79 2021 In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/26
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]]> <![CDATA[The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women]]> 56898281
When Anushay Hossain became pregnant in the US, she was so relieved. Growing up in Bangladesh in the 1980s, where the concept of women’s healthcare hardly existed, she understood how lucky she was to access the best in the world. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. Things started to go awry from the minute she stepped in the hospital, and after thirty hours of labor (two of which she spent pushing), Hossain’s epidural slipped. Her pain was so severe that she ran a fever of 104 degrees, and as she shook and trembled uncontrollably, the doctors finally performed an emergency C-section.

Giving birth in the richest country on earth, Hossain never imagined she could die in labor. But she almost did. The experience put her on a journey to explore, understand, and share how women—especially women of color—are dismissed to death by systemic sexism in American healthcare.

Following in the footsteps of feminist manifestos such as The Feminine Mystique and Rage Becomes Her , The Pain Gap is an eye-opening and stirring call to arms that encourages women to flip their “hysteria complex� on its head and use it to revolutionize women’s healthcare. This book tells the story of Hossain’s experiences—from growing up in South Asia surrounded by staggering maternal mortality rates to lobbying for global health legislation on Capitol Hill to nearly becoming a statistic herself. Along the way, she realized that a little fury might be just what the doctor ordered.

Meticulously researched and deeply reported, this book explores real women’s traumatic experiences with America’s healthcare system—and empowers everyone to use their experiences to bring about the healthcare revolution women need.]]> 304 Anushay Hossain 1982177772 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.65 2021 The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women
author: Anushay Hossain
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/26
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]]> The Theater and Its Double 75867 159 Antonin Artaud 0802150306 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.19 1938 The Theater and Its Double
author: Antonin Artaud
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1938
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/06
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]]> Matrix 57185348 Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.

At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough?

Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
]]> 260 Lauren Groff 1594634491 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.64 2021 Matrix
author: Lauren Groff
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/11
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]]> Touch 7629587 Touch centers on a girl, the youngest of nine sisters in a Palestinian family. In the singular world of this novella, this young woman's everyday experiences resonate until they have become as weighty as any national tragedy. The smallest sensations compel, the events of history only lurk at the edges--the question of Palestine, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. In a language that feels at once natural and alienated, Shibli breaks with the traditions of modern Arabic fiction, creating a work that has been and will continue to be hailed across literatures. Here every ordinary word, ordinary action is a small stone dropped into water: of inevitable consequence. We find ourselves mesmerized one quiet ripple at a time.]]> 72 Adania Shibli 1566568072 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.77 2001 Touch
author: Adania Shibli
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/11
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]]> The Wild Geese 143440 128 Ōgai Mori 0804810702 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.68 1911 The Wild Geese
author: Ōgai Mori
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1)]]> 9591398
With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto itself: unforgettable, and so very beautiful.
]]> 247 Catherynne M. Valente 0312649614 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.95 2011 The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Fairyland, #1)
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/11
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review:

]]> The Autobiography of Malcom X 714314
His autobiography is now an established classic of modern America, a book that expresses like none other the crucial truth about our times.]]> 460 Malcolm X 0345294203 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.58 1965 The Autobiography of Malcom X
author: Malcolm X
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1965
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> The Wretched of the Earth 66933 Orientalism or The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it is now available in a new translation that updates its language for a new generation of readers.

The Wretched of the Earth is a brilliant analysis of the psychology of the colonized and their path to liberation. Bearing singular insight into the rage and frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence in effecting historical change, the book incisively attacks the twin perils of post-independence colonial politics: the disenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, and intertribal and interfaith animosities on the other.

Fanon's analysis, a veritable handbook of social reorganization for leaders of emerging nations, has been reflected all too clearly in the corruption and violence that has plagued present-day Africa. The Wretched of the Earth has had a major impact on civil rights, anticolonialism, and black consciousness movements around the world, and this bold new translation by Richard Philcox reaffirms it as a landmark.]]> 251 Frantz Fanon 0802141323 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.35 1961 The Wretched of the Earth
author: Frantz Fanon
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> Poor Things 72355 Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter - a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for Baxter's creation.

The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be "the whole story" in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland's most accomplished authors.]]> 318 Alasdair Gray 0747562288 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.92 1992 Poor Things
author: Alasdair Gray
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> Base Notes 57749094 A lasting impression is worth killing for in this intoxicating novel about memories and murder by the author of the Amberlough Dossier series.

In New York City everybody needs a side hustle, and perfumer Vic Fowler has developed a delicate art that has proved to be very lucrative: creating bespoke scents that evoke immersive memories—memories that, for Vic’s clients, are worth killing for. But the city is expensive, and these days even artisanal murder doesn’t pay the bills. When Joseph Eisner, a former client with deep pockets, offers Vic an opportunity to expand the enterprise, the money is too good to turn down. But the job is too intricate—and too dangerous—to attempt alone.

Manipulating fellow struggling artists into acting as accomplices is easy. Like Vic, they too are on the verge of burnout and bankruptcy. But as relationships become more complicated, Vic’s careful plans start to unravel. Hounded by guilt and a tenacious private investigator, Vic grows increasingly desperate to complete Eisner’s commission. Is there anyone—friends, lovers, coconspirators—that Vic won’t sacrifice for art?]]> 411 Lara Elena Donnelly 1542030706 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.67 2022 Base Notes
author: Lara Elena Donnelly
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> The World's Wife 902792 Be terrified.
It's you I love,
perfect man,
Greek God, my own;
but I know you'll go,
betray me, stray
from home.
So better by far for
me if you were stone.
—from "Medusa"

Stunningly original and haunting, the voices of Mrs. Midas, Queen Kong, and Frau Freud, to say nothing of the Devil's Wife herself, startle us with their wit, imagination, and incisiveness in this collection of poems written from the perspectives of the wives, sisters, or girlfriends of famous—and infamous—male personages. Carol Ann Duffy is a master at drawing on myth and history, then subverting them in a vivid and surprising way to create poems that have the pull of the past and the crack of the contemporary.
]]> 76 Carol Ann Duffy 057119995X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.13 1999 The World's Wife
author: Carol Ann Duffy
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)]]> 13642
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.]]> 183 Ursula K. Le Guin Mayssem 0 to-read 4.02 1968 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> Palimpsest 3973532
Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.]]> 367 Catherynne M. Valente 0553385763 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.66 2009 Palimpsest
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths]]> 51734177 A witty, inspiring reckoning with the ancient Greek and Roman myths and their legacy, from what they can illuminate about #MeToo to the radical imagery of DzԳé.
The picture of classical antiquity most of us learned in school is framed in certain ways -- glossing over misogyny while omitting the seeds of feminist resistance. Many of today's harmful practices, like school dress codes, exploitation of the environment, and rape culture, have their roots in the ancient world.
But in Antigone Rising, classicist Helen Morales reminds us that the myths have subversive power because they are told -- and read -- in different ways. Through these stories, whether it's Antigone's courageous stand against tyranny or the indestructible Caeneus, who inspires trans and gender queer people today, Morales uncovers hidden truths about solidarity, empowerment, and catharsis.

Antigone Rising offers a fresh understanding of the stories we take for granted, showing how we can reclaim them to challenge the status quo, spark resistance, and rail against unjust regimes.]]> 224 Helen Morales 1568589352 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.97 2020 Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths
author: Helen Morales
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/31
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]]> The Witch's Heart 53438195 When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.

Angrboda's story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin's all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she's foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.]]> 359 Genevieve Gornichec 059309994X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.03 2021 The Witch's Heart
author: Genevieve Gornichec
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> Autobiography of Red 61049 Autobiography of Red, a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional re-creation of an ancient Greek myth and a wholly original coming-of-age story set in the present.

Geryon, a young boy who is also a winged red monster, reveals the volcanic terrain of his fragile, tormented soul in an autobiography he begins at the age of five. As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent. By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is.

"A profound love story . . . sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender." -- The New York Times Book Review

"A deeply odd and immensely engaging book. . . . [Carson] exposes with passionate force the mythic underlying the explosive everyday."-- The Village Voice

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR

National book Critics Circle Award Finalist]]> 160 Anne Carson 037570129X Mayssem 0 to-read 4.28 1998 Autobiography of Red
author: Anne Carson
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/31
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]]> One for My Enemy 43795562
After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.

If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.]]> 427 Olivie Blake Mayssem 0 to-read 3.70 2019 One for My Enemy
author: Olivie Blake
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/30
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]]> Play It As It Lays 428 Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil - literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul - it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.
]]> 231 Joan Didion 0374529949 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.94 1970 Play It As It Lays
author: Joan Didion
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/12/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories]]> 49011 126 Angela Carter 014017821X Mayssem 5 3.96 1979 The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
author: Angela Carter
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/27
date added: 2021/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Courtyard House: From Cultural Reference to Universal Relevance]]> 14823795 290 Nasser Rabbat 075463843X Mayssem 0 to-read 5.00 The Courtyard House: From Cultural Reference to Universal Relevance
author: Nasser Rabbat
name: Mayssem
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sealed Nectar | Biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)]]> 432539 Whoever wants to know the whole life style of the Prophet in detail must read this book.]]> 656 Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri 6035001106 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.62 1976 The Sealed Nectar | Biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
author: Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.62
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora]]> 32309068

Ghnaim unravels the stories of each dress and design by illuminating the experiences of her mother, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, in mid-century Syria who learned embroidery in diaspora. Palestinian women have gathered together for generations with their daughters to work collectively on embroidery projects, bonding with one another over a cup of tea. Ghnaim's mother learned these traditions from her mother, and found solace in continuing the tradition with her daughters.


Through sharing her family's al-Nakba story, the experience of her mother becoming a refugee in Syria and then immigrating to the U.S., Ghnaim keenly exposes the necessity of continuing the endangered Palestinian craft of embroidery to reconnect new generations of Palestinians to their homeland and by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative and profound storytelling tool in modern society.


"Today, so much emphasis is placed on writing down the Palestinian experience; defining our identity and defending it, writing down our history and preserving it, and validating our existence in the mainstream. As a Palestinian in diaspora, I feel pressure to consistently and clearly articulate what my position is, who I am and what my people lay claim to. But for those of us who are at a loss of words, yet still have an expressive spirit that longs to practice an act of nonviolent resistance to oppression -- we have an outlet that is not only indigenous, but therapeutic. When my writing doesn't feel like enough, when my words are easily distorted, debated, and criticized, I turn to my art. I turn to my tatreez."


"Tatreez Tea" is far more than a book about traditional Palestinian costume, embroidery and meanings. It’s about tatreez documenting Ghnaim's way into the world; being bullied, finding self acceptance, falling in love, becoming a woman of bicultural identity, and finding the meaning of "home".


"Tatreez Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora" includes:
- 27 design patterns, embellishment ideas and inspirations, as well as, care and preservation tips straight from old Palestine;
- Seven family tea recipes passed on through generations of women in northern Palestine;
- Detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery technique and rare northern Palestinian Arabic craft terminology;
- Complete guide to the meanings and origins of each embroidery thread color;
- Guidance and instructions detailed enough for inexperienced embroiderers, and inspiration ideas for those with needlework experience;
- Design histories and meanings of rare traditional Palestinian embroidery designs, including The Missiles, The Gardens and The Wheat Harvest.


This book was generously funded by the Regional Arts Culture Council, Brooklyn Arts Council and Clackamas County Cultural Coalition in 2016 and is Wafa Ghnaim's debut self-publication.]]> 450 Wafa Ghnaim Mayssem 0 to-read 4.48 Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora
author: Wafa Ghnaim
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Woman in the Polar Night 8266887
This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.

In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to 'read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content', but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.

At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies... But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.]]> 215 Christiane Ritter 1602231001 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.28 1938 A Woman in the Polar Night
author: Christiane Ritter
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1938
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century]]> 48829023
The Dawning of the Apocalypse is a riveting revision of the “creation myth� of settler colonialism and how the United States was formed. Here, Gerald Horne argues forcefully that, in order to understand the arrival of colonists from the British Isles in the early 17th century, one must first understand the “long 16th century”—from 1492 until the arrival of settlers in Virginia in 1607.

During this prolonged century, Horne contends, “whiteness� morphed into “white supremacy.� That allowed England to co-opt not only religious minorities but also various nationalities throughout Europe, forging a muscular bloc that was needed to confront rambunctious Indigenes and Africans.

In retelling the bloodthirsty story of the invasion of the Americas, Horne recounts how the fierce resistance by Africans and their Indigenous allies weakened Spain and enabled London to dispatch settlers to Virginia in 1607. These settlers laid the groundwork for the British Empire and its "revolting spawn" that became the United States of America.]]> 304 Gerald Horne 1583678735 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.19 2020 The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century
author: Gerald Horne
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Book of Disappearance 42921509 What if all Palestinians vanished from their homeland overnight?

Alaa, a young Palestinian, is haunted by his grandmother’s memories of being displaced from Jaffa and becoming a refugee in her homeland. Ariel, Alaa’s neighbour and friend, is a liberal Zionist, critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza yet faithful to the project of Israel. When he wakes up one morning to find that all Palestinians have suddenly vanished, Ariel begins searching for clues to the secret of the collective disappearance; that search, and his reaction to it, intimately reveal the fissures at the heart of the Palestinian question. Between the stories of Alaa and Ariel are the people of Jaffa and Tel Aviv against whose ordinary lives these fissures and questions play out.

Critically acclaimed in Arabic, spare yet evocative, intensely intelligent in its interplay of perspectives, The Book of Disappearance is an unforgettable glimpse into contemporary Palestine.]]> 256 Ibtisam Azem 0815611110 Mayssem 0 to-read 4.13 2014 The Book of Disappearance
author: Ibtisam Azem
name: Mayssem
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Madame Bovary 2175 329 Gustave Flaubert 0192840398 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.70 1856 Madame Bovary
author: Gustave Flaubert
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1856
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Burning Girls and Other Stories]]> 53205891 A Most Anticipated in 2021 Pick for The Independent Buzzfeed The Nerd Daily

When we came to America, we brought anger and socialism and hunger. We also brought our demons.

In Burning Girls and Other Stories, Veronica Schanoes crosses borders and genres with stories of fierce women at the margins of society burning their way toward the center. This debut collection introduces readers to a fantasist in the vein of Karen Russell and Kelly Link, with a voice all her own.

Emma Goldman--yes, that Emma Goldman--takes tea with the Baba Yaga and truths unfold inside of exquisitely crafted lies. In Among the Thorns, a young woman in seventeenth century Germany is intent on avenging the brutal murder of her peddler father, but discovers that vengeance may consume all that it touches. In the showstopping, awards finalist title story, Burning Girls, Schanoes invests the immigrant narrative with a fearsome fairytale quality that tells a story about America we may not want--but need--to hear.

Dreamy, dangerous, and precise, with the weight of the very oldest tales we tell, Burning Girls and Other Stories introduces a writer pushing the boundaries of both fantasy and contemporary fiction.

With a foreword by Jane Yolen]]> 336 Veronica Schanoes 1250781507 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.91 2021 Burning Girls and Other Stories
author: Veronica Schanoes
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> Nightbitch 55835474
At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. She had imagined - what was it she had imagined? Her husband, always travelling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind.

Instead, quite suddenly, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. Sharper canines. Strange new patches of hair. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice...

With its clear eyes on contemporary womanhood and sharp take on structures of power, Nightbitch is an outrageously original, joyfully subversive read that will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. Addictive enough to be devoured in one sitting, this is an unforgettable novel from a blazing new talent.]]> 256 Rachel Yoder 0385546815 Mayssem 0 to-read 3.46 2021 Nightbitch
author: Rachel Yoder
name: Mayssem
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/07/29
shelves: to-read
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]]>