Matt's bookshelf: read en-US Wed, 07 May 2025 12:33:02 -0700 60 Matt's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America]]> 11140803 An illuminating history of North America's eleven rival cultural regions that explodes the red state-blue state myth. North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the eleven distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory.

In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, and the rivalries and alliances between its component nations, which conform to neither state nor international boundaries. He illustrates and explains why "American" values vary sharply from one region to another. Woodard reveals how intranational differences have played a pivotal role at every point in the continent's history, from the American Revolution and the Civil War to the tumultuous sixties and the "blue county/red county" maps of recent presidential elections. American Nations is a revolutionary and revelatory take on America's myriad identities and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and are molding our future.]]>
371 Colin Woodard 0670022969 Matt 0 to-read 4.16 2011 American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
author: Colin Woodard
name: Matt
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist]]> 214151728 With unprecedented access and unsparing analysis, this is the definitive investigation into Spotify, weaving interviews with incisive cultural criticism, and illuminating how streaming has reshaped music for listeners and artists alike.

Flush with testimony from over a hundred industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes us into the inner workings of the highly consolidated modern music business and how it has become personalized, playlisted, autoplayed, and algorithmic.

With an expert’s eye, music journalist Liz Pelly reveals how Spotify’s two-sided marketplace—the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all—has changed music media forever. She also explores how musicians and listeners are coming together to fight this era of musical individualism and advocate for artists� futures.

Amazon Unbound and Weapons of Math Destruction for the music industry, Mood Machine is a timely and unputdownable exploration of a company that has become synonymous with music.]]>
288 Liz Pelly 1668083507 Matt 4 2025-read 3.95 2025 Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
author: Liz Pelly
name: Matt
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: 2025-read
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The Warbler 213454093 From the author of The Lies Among Us comes a magical tale about mothers and daughters, choices and consequences, and the real meaning of home when every place feels like a cage.

Ten months. That’s the longest Elisa has stayed anyplace, constantly propelled by her fear that if she puts down roots, a family curse will turn her into a tree.

But she’s grown tired of flitting from town to town and in and out of relationships. When she discovers a small town in Massachusetts where mysterious forces make it impossible for the residents to leave, she hopes she can change her fate.

As Elisa learns about the town’s history, she understands more about the women in her family, who seem doomed to never get what they want. Now she believes she’s stuck, too—is that a patch of bark on her arm? But her neighbor’s collection of pet birds sings secrets that Elisa can almost understand—secrets she must unravel in order to be truly alive.]]>
335 Sarah Beth Durst 1662524102 Matt 0 currently-reading 4.04 2025 The Warbler
author: Sarah Beth Durst
name: Matt
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: currently-reading
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<![CDATA[Liar, Liar, Vol. 1 (manga) (Volume 1) (Liar, Liar (manga), 1)]]> 218075380 168 Funa Yukina Matt 0 2025-read 3.40 Liar, Liar, Vol. 1 (manga) (Volume 1) (Liar, Liar (manga), 1)
author: Funa Yukina
name: Matt
average rating: 3.40
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
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<![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 23267267 Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before - and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

©2008 Suzanne Collins; (P)2008 Scholastic Inc.]]>
Suzanne Collins Matt 4 2025-read 4.26 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 2025-read
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<![CDATA[Love by Toni Morrison (2003-10-28)]]> 130680591 0 Toni Morrison Matt 4 2025-read 4.00 2003 Love by Toni Morrison (2003-10-28)
author: Toni Morrison
name: Matt
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 2025-read
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One Chance 58284151
Imogen, a beautiful former acquaintance of Paul’s, also coincidently appears outside the factory, down on her luck and clearly full of ulterior motive. The masked truths of the women around him soon threaten to turn Paul’s quiet family life upside down.]]>
Caroline Overington Matt 3 2025-read 3.20 One Chance
author: Caroline Overington
name: Matt
average rating: 3.20
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/04/12
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Prime Meridian 43594374
Note: official publication date is December 2017 but only for IndieGoGo backers. Wide release for everyone else on July 2018. ]]>
0 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Matt 4 2025-read 3.67 2017 Prime Meridian
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Matt
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: 2025-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)]]> 50231825 0 Suzanne Collins Matt 4 currently-reading 4.51 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Matt
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2012/02/20
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Liar, Liar, Vol. 1 (manga) (Liar, Liar (manga))]]> 218077791 Funa Yukina Matt 0 0.0 Liar, Liar, Vol. 1 (manga) (Liar, Liar (manga))
author: Funa Yukina
name: Matt
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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The Sublet 224277538 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Greer Hendricks comes a chilling story about the hidden cost of perfection.

Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client Melody Wells.

Melody paints a picture of serenity and empowerment in the lavender haze of her visualization workshops—however, the one thing she can’t manifest are the pages her publisher is demanding for her new motivational book. Enter Anne.

As Melody invites Anne deeper into her magical world, Anne finds herself working impossibly long days and traveling far beyond her comfort zone.

When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet complete with East River views, built-in closets, and three bedrooms, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.]]>
61 Greer Hendricks 1662528515 Matt 2 3.23 2025 The Sublet
author: Greer Hendricks
name: Matt
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/09
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<![CDATA[The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)]]> 7235533 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.
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1007 Brandon Sanderson 0765326353 Matt 0 currently-reading 4.66 2010 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Matt
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/06
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The Beauty of the End 212034921 In this provocative work of speculative fiction, two sisters navigate the complex moral terrain of reproductive ethics, individual freedoms, and society’s duty to a future facing imminent extinction.

Charlie Tannehill and her twin sister, Maggie, are just eight years old when an unfortunate scientific discovery upends their world—and the world order. The revelation? Extinction, encoded in every creature’s DNA. The expiration date for humans? Only four generations away.

A decade later, unsure of what tomorrow holds, Charlie and Maggie enroll as counselors in a government-run human-husbandry program. By offering cash rewards for reproduction, they hope to forestall humanity’s decline and discover a genetic mutation that might defeat it. While Charlie struggles with the ethical implications of the work, Maggie makes unspeakable sacrifices to improve her odds of success—but such unchecked ambition could come at a greater cost than even she realizes.

Torn between her own morality, her love for her sister, and the pressures of a vanishing civilization, Charlie must search deep within to decide what she’s willing to sacrifice—for herself, for Maggie, and for society—to salvage hope for the whole of humankind.]]>
346 Lauren Stienstra 1662525648 Matt 0 2025-read 3.75 The Beauty of the End
author: Lauren Stienstra
name: Matt
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
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In Cold Blood 5096865 The most famous true crime novel of all time and one of the first non-fiction novels ever written; In Cold Blood is the bestseller that haunted its author long after he finished writing it.

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.Ìý

As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy.ÌýIn Cold BloodÌýis a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.]]>
368 Truman Capote Matt 0 to-read 4.20 1966 In Cold Blood
author: Truman Capote
name: Matt
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
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Bullshit Jobs: A Theory 34466958 From bestselling writer David Graeber, a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.� It went viral. After a million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are millions of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs.

Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation.]]>
335 David Graeber 150114331X Matt 0 2025-read 4.03 2018 Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
author: David Graeber
name: Matt
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
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<![CDATA[The Hobbit, or There and Back Again]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Matt 4 2025-read 4.29 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Matt
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/28
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Anthem 667 Anthem is Ayn Rand's classic tale of a dystopian future of the great "We"—a world that deprives individuals of a name or independence—that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

They existed only to serve the state. They were conceived in controlled Palaces of Mating. They died in the Home of the Useless. From cradle to grave, the crowd was one—the great WE.

In all that was left of humanity, there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I.

"I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities."
 —Ayn Rand
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105 Ayn Rand 0452281253 Matt 0 2025-read 3.59 1938 Anthem
author: Ayn Rand
name: Matt
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1938
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/28
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<![CDATA[Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy (Southern Reach, #1-3)]]> 22752442 From Book 1:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.
The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one anotioner, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

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595 Jeff VanderMeer 0374261172 Matt 0 to-read 3.87 2014 Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy (Southern Reach, #1-3)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Matt
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/26
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Wild Dark Shore 211004089
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.]]>
303 Charlotte McConaghy 1250827957 Matt 0 to-read 4.25 2025 Wild Dark Shore
author: Charlotte McConaghy
name: Matt
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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<![CDATA[What You Are Looking For Is in the Library]]> 91274427 For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life.

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazineÌýeditor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.]]>
304 Michiko Aoyama 1335005625 Matt 0 to-read 4.06 2020 What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
author: Michiko Aoyama
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/11
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<![CDATA[Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives]]> 215805855 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before distills her key insights into simple truths for living with greater satisfaction, clarity, and happiness.

The right idea, invoked at the right time, can change our lives. Drawing from her long studies of happiness, and also from the challenges she’s faced herself, writer Gretchen Rubin has discovered the “Secrets of Adulthood� that can help us manage the complexities of life. To convey her conclusions, she turned to the aphorism—the ancient literary discipline that demands that a writer convey a large truth in a few words.

Perhaps you’re paralyzed by indecision, struggling to navigate a big change, fighting a temptation, or puzzled by the behavior of someone you love; whatever you face, the right aphorism can help. From procrastination to the pursuit of happiness, Secrets of Adulthood is filled with witty and thought-provoking reflections such Ìý

“Recognize that, like sleeping with a big dog in a small bed, things that are uncomfortable can also be comfortingâ€�“Accept yourself, expect more from yourselfâ€�“Easy children raise good parentsâ€Ì� “What can be done at any time is often done at no timeâ€�
For anyone undergoing a major life transition, such as graduation, career switch, marriage, or moving, or for those just encountering everyday dilemmas, these disarmingly brief aphorisms will inspire you by articulating truths that you never before noticed—and instantly recognize.]]>
176 Gretchen Rubin 0593800737 Matt 0 to-read 3.51 Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives
author: Gretchen Rubin
name: Matt
average rating: 3.51
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/21
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Nero (The Nero Trilogy #1) 209205048
ANCIENT ROME, AD 37
It begins with a man’s hand curled around another’s throat.
Emperor Tiberius first dispatches a traitor.
Then his whole family.
Next all his friends. It is as if he never existed.
THIS IS ROMAN JUSTICE.
Into this fevered forum, a child is born.
His mother is Agrippina, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus. But their imperial blood is no protection. The closer you are to the heart of the empire, the closer you are to power, intrigue, and danger.
She faces soldiers, senators, rivals, silver-tongued pretenders, each vying for position. One mistake risks exile, incarceration, execution. Or, worst of all, the loss of her infant son.
For Agrippina knows that opportunity waits, even in your darkest moments. Her son is everything. She can make this boy, shape him into Rome itself � the one all must kneel before.
BUT FIRST, THEY MUST SURVIVE . . .]]>
392 Conn Iggulden 140595311X Matt 0 currently-reading 4.37 2024 Nero (The Nero Trilogy #1)
author: Conn Iggulden
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/16
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The Answer Is No 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]>
68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Matt 4 2024-read 3.94 2024 The Answer Is No
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Matt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/12/15
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Agent 355 202016880 A novella

A fictional portrayal of a real-life Revolutionary spy and her daring deeds, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room.

Agent 355 is a result of author Marie Benedict’s quest to bring history’s most fascinating and courageous women to life for contemporary readers. Known to history only by her alias, this mysterious female spy, able to move freely and unobtrusively in loyalist circles, became a member of George Washington’s New York–based Culper Ring. This thrilling novella depicts who Marie Benedict thinks Agent 355 could have been, though her true identity remains unknown. During the sweltering summer of 1779, eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Morris attends the social events of the British-occupied city, but the forced merriment holds no charm for her.

She finds herself in the company of enemy soldiers, who think nothing of discussing matters of government and war in front of mere women. This invisibility becomes Elizabeth’s greatest asset as she offers her services to Robert Townsend, a Continental sympathizer. Her bravery will bring down one of the most notorious traitors in American history and ultimately seal her fate as a woman willing to sacrifice everything for love and country.]]>
75 Marie Benedict 1504090942 Matt 4 2021-read 3.74 2020 Agent 355
author: Marie Benedict
name: Matt
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/08
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: 2021-read
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<![CDATA[A Song of Hope (Whispered Tales Book 3)]]> 214905299
Fate leads them south to the war-torn city of Alavae, where the imposing threat of Shoma seeks to claim Hestian land and spread their wicked sultan’s influence. Their mission is to free the illusionist Massoud from his imprisonment with the Shoman army. His liberation is of the uttermost importance, for only his magic can aid the Misfits in their attempts to free Rooster’s beloved and his crew from the eldrasi prison on the island of Míradan.

The cults of Vilanthris are unwavering in their quest to resurrect the dragon gods, and with the return of Rhavna, the Misfits' mission seems all but lost. Yet, despite such daunting odds, the Misfits continue to carve a path of hope.

The Whispered Tales is a D&D-inspired fantasy about a group of morally grey heroes called the Misfits. It’s perfect for fans of Skyrim, Baldur’s Gate 3, Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and Six of Crows.]]>
432 Jordan Dugdale Matt 0 to-read 4.78 A Song of Hope (Whispered Tales Book 3)
author: Jordan Dugdale
name: Matt
average rating: 4.78
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/15
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<![CDATA[A Waltz Through Flames (Whispered Tales, #2)]]> 96150860
The Cults that worship the dragons lost to history have renewed their determination to bring back their lost gods and urge on the coming apocalypse. Fresh from danger, the Misfits have no choice but to stand and fight. The soldiers of Gorvayne have laid siege and have their beloved city surrounded. It doesn't take them long to realize that the war on the port city is the start of many worries, for evil does not sleep.

Once again, the Misfits are forced into a race against time. They've stopped the cults before, but the question remains:

Will they be able to stop them again?

The Whispered Tales series is perfect for fans of Six of Crows, Lord of the Rings, Skyrim, and Dungeons & Dragons]]>
Jordan Dugdale Matt 0 to-read 4.47 A Waltz Through Flames (Whispered Tales, #2)
author: Jordan Dugdale
name: Matt
average rating: 4.47
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rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/15
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My Name Is Emilia del Valle 217245557 In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.

In San Francisco 1866, an Irish nun, left pregnant and abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia Del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman.

To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of sixteen, she begins to publish pulp fiction under a man’s pen name. When these fictional worlds can't contain her sense of adventure any longer, she turns to journalism, convincing an editor at the San Francisco Examiner to hire her. There she is paired with another talented reporter, Eric Whelan.

As she proves herself, her restlessness returns, until an opportunity arises to cover a brewing civil war in Chile. She seizes it, along with Eric, and while there, begins to uncover the truth about her father and the country that represents her roots. But as the war escalates, Emilia finds herself in danger and at a crossroads, questioning both her identity and her destiny.

A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let hold of your heart.]]>
287 Isabel Allende 059397509X Matt 0 to-read 3.98 2025 My Name Is Emilia del Valle
author: Isabel Allende
name: Matt
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You]]> 65215684 The secret to productivity isn’t discipline. It’s joy.



We think that productivity is all about hard work. That the road to success is lined with endless frustration and toil. But what if there’s another way?



Dr Ali Abdaal � the world's most-followed productivity expert � has uncovered an easier and happier path to success. Drawing on decades of psychological research, he has found that the secret to productivity and success isn't grind � it's feeling good. If you can make your work feel good, then productivity takes care of itself.



In this revolutionary book, Ali reveals how the science of feel-good productivity can transform your life. He introduces the three hidden 'energisers' that underpin enjoyable productivity, the three 'blockers' we must overcome to beat procrastination, and the three 'sustainers' that prevent burnout and help us achieve lasting fulfillment. He recounts the inspiring stories of founders, Olympians, and Nobel-winning scientists who embody the principles of Feel-Good Productivity. And he introduces the simple, actionable changes that you can use to achieve more and live better, starting today.



Armed with Ali’s insights, you won’t just accomplish more. You’ll feel happier and more fulfilled along the way.

]]>
292 Ali Abdaal Matt 4 2024-read 4.24 2023 Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You
author: Ali Abdaal
name: Matt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[Size: How It Explains the World]]> 63076716 The latest masterwork of “an ambitious and astonishing polymath who swings for fencesâ€� ( Wired) Ìý Size is a mind-bending journey that turns the modern world on its head.Ìý]]> 304 Vaclav Smil 0063324091 Matt 3 2024-read, scribd 3.18 2023 Size: How It Explains the World
author: Vaclav Smil
name: Matt
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024-read, scribd
review:

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Look Back 58580969
Two young artists from a small town inspire each other to improve their art and become manga creators. But as they grow up, a terrible tragedy will change their lives forever.]]>
144 Tatsuki Fujimoto 1974735125 Matt 5 2024-read 4.34 2021 Look Back
author: Tatsuki Fujimoto
name: Matt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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Will 58375739
“It's the best memoir I've ever read.� —Oprah Winfrey

“Will Smith isn't holding back in his bravely inspiring new memoir . . . An ultimately heartwarming read, Will provides a humane glimpse of the man behind the actor, producer and musician, as he bares all his insecurities and trauma.� —USA Today

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale—but it’s only half the story.

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over.

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.]]>
418 Will Smith 1984877925 Matt 4 2024-read 4.24 2021 Will
author: Will Smith
name: Matt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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Fevre Dream 382450
Marsh meant to turn down York’s offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolve—coupled with the terrible force of York’s mesmerizing gaze. Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankind’s most impossible dream.

Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampire’s quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous riverman’s dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river.]]>
334 George R.R. Martin 0553383051 Matt 4 2024-read 3.88 1982 Fevre Dream
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Matt
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/24
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Flower's Fatal Thorn (Rose & Moth Duology, #1)]]> 162706363
Róis, a young human with life magic coursing through her veins, discovers that her destiny is entwined with the ailing heart of the rotting woodland. Determined to unravel the mysteries behind the forest's demise, she ventures into the depths to seek its cure.

Neferíl, queen of the Unseelie faerie court, is adorned in shadows and intrigue. She is destined to kill the human girl with life magic in her blood. However, as they reluctantly join forces, an unforeseen bond begins to blossom between them. Together, they must embark on a perilous quest to reach the Eldertree where the elusive Forest Father resides—a god rumored to hold the power to heal the forest.

As Róis and Neferíl navigate the treacherous journey through the twisted roots and dark secrets of Elvira, their hearts become entangled in the forbidden romance, defying the very destiny that seeks to tear them apart. Will they unlock the secrets of the Sacred Grove in time to save the rotting forest, or will the shadows of fate consume them both in a tragic dance of love and destiny?]]>
Jordan Dugdale Matt 4 2024-read 3.94 2024 A Flower's Fatal Thorn (Rose & Moth Duology, #1)
author: Jordan Dugdale
name: Matt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 3 309 J.K. Rowling 0439554934 Matt 4 4.47 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Matt
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: 2020-read, 2021-read, 2024-read
review:

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Dune (Dune, #1) 44767458
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.]]>
658 Frank Herbert 059309932X Matt 5 2024-read 4.33 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: Matt
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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White Fang 6226721 249 Jack London Matt 5 2024-read 4.30 1906 White Fang
author: Jack London
name: Matt
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1906
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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Dear Evan Hansen 34931840
*This publication includes the book and lyrics to the musical, as well as a foreword by James Lapine. It does not include the musical score.*]]>
144 Steven Levenson 1559368802 Matt 5 2021-read, scribd 4.34 2017 Dear Evan Hansen
author: Steven Levenson
name: Matt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/26
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: 2021-read, scribd
review:

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<![CDATA[The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin Matt 4 2024-read 4.07 2006 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
author: Liu Cixin
name: Matt
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/11
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: 2024-read
review:

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The Last Thing He Told Me 75678377
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]>
306 Laura Dave 1501171356 Matt 0 to-read 3.81 2021 The Last Thing He Told Me
author: Laura Dave
name: Matt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Most Boring Book Ever 207974153 48 Brandon Sanderson 1250843669 Matt 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Most Boring Book Ever
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Matt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)]]> 56179343
The Stormlight Archive saga continues in Rhythm of War , the eagerly awaited sequel to Brandon Sanderson's #1 New York Times bestselling Oathbringer , from an epic fantasy writer at the top of his game.

After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move.

Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength.

At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.

Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

The Cosmere

The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (Novella)
Oathbringer
Rhythm of War

The Mistborn trilogy
The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages

The Wax and Wayne series
Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
Bands of Mourning

Collection
Arcanum Unbounded

Other Cosmere novels
Elantris
Warbreaker

The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener's Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent

The Rithmatist series
The Rithmatist

Other books by Brandon Sanderson

The Reckoners
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity]]>
1231 Brandon Sanderson 1250757304 Matt 0 to-read 4.63 2020 Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Matt
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Lost Gate (Mither Mages, #1)]]> 9265891

Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different, and that he was different from them.Ìý While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an outself.

He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins, and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father.Ìý Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.

There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow.Ìý ÌýThere is a secret library Ìýwith only a few dozen books, and none of them in English â€� but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books. ÌýWhile Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.

Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny Ìýas well. ÌýAnd that will lead to disaster for the North family.

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379 Orson Scott Card 0765326574 Matt 4 2024-read 3.81 2011 The Lost Gate (Mither Mages, #1)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Matt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/17
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: 2024-read
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A Life in Parts 29868612
Now, in his riveting memoir, Cranston maps his zigzag journey from abandoned son to beloved star by recalling the many odd parts he's played in real life - paperboy farmhand, security guards, dating consultant, murder suspect, dock loader, lover, husband, father.

Cranston also chronicles his evolution on camera, from soap opera player trying to master the rules of show business to legendary character actor turning in classic performances as Seinfeld dentist Tim Whatley, "a sadist with newer magazines", and Malcolm in the Middle dad Hal Wilkerson, a loveable bumbler in tighty-whities. He also gives an inspiring account of how he prepared, physically and mentally for the challenging role of President Lyndon Johnson, a tour de force that won him a Tony to go along with his four Emmys.

Of course, Cranston dives deep into the grittiest details of his greatest role, explaining how he searched inward for the personal darkness that would help him create one of the most memorable performances ever captured on screen: Walter White, chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin.

Discussing his life as few men do, describing his art as few actors can, Cranston has much to say about creativity, devotion, and craft, as well as innate talent and its challenges and benefits and proper maintenance. But ultimately "A Life in Parts" is a story about the joy the necessity, and the transformative power of simple hard work]]>
276 Bryan Cranston 1476793859 Matt 4 2024-read 4.19 2016 A Life in Parts
author: Bryan Cranston
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/18
date added: 2024/08/18
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[George Orwell’s 1984: An Audible Original adaptation]]> 214240003 From the age of solitude and doublethink.
From the age of Big Brother.
From me, Winston Smith.
Greetings.
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Starring Andrew Garfield as Winston, Cynthia Erivo as Julia, Andrew Scott as the alluring, mysterious O’Brien, and featuring Tom Hardy as Big Brother, Audible presents a new dramatization of George Orwell’s classic tale. An immersive listening experience like none you’ve heard before, at a time when it has all never felt more chillingly relevant.

Featuring a haunting original score composed by Muse’s lead singer and songwriter Matthew Bellamy and Ilan Eshkeri, recorded by the London Metropolitan Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, the production is directed by BAFTA Award winner Destiny Ekaragha, produced in Dolby Atmos by Granny Eats Wolf, and dramatised by Olivier Award nominated playwright Joe White.

Also starring Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther and Katie Leung.

Featuring Ian Abeysekera, Rachel Atkins, Grace Baker, Joanna Brookes, Clare Corbett, Doug Devaney, Imogen Front, Sam Garioch, Raj Ghatak, Frances Jeater, Mason Moore, Yasmin Mwanza, Harry Myers, Kaelum Nelson, John Sackville, Sienna Sangha, Sam Stafford, Jo Troy, Jenny White, Sarah Whitehouse & Alix Wilton Regan.

This adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 is an immersive listening experience, containing scenes that some may find uncomfortable. Listener discretion is advised.]]>
4 Joe White Matt 4 2024-read 4.21 2024 George Orwell’s 1984: An Audible Original adaptation
author: Joe White
name: Matt
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: 2024-read
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The Art of War 10534 170 Sun Tzu Matt 4 2024-read 3.98 -400 The Art of War
author: Sun Tzu
name: Matt
average rating: 3.98
book published: -400
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change]]> 36072 372 Stephen R. Covey 0743269519 Matt 4 2024-read 4.16 1989 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
author: Stephen R. Covey
name: Matt
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't]]> 16144853 Why do only a few people get to say “I love my job�? It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong.

Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled.

This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.

In his travels around the world since the publication of his bestseller Start with Why, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams were able to trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives were offered, were doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?

The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general.

“Officers eat last,� he said.

Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: great leaders sacrifice their own comfort—even their own survival—for the good of those in their care.

This principle has been true since the earliest tribes of hunters and gatherers. It’s not a management theory; it’s biology. Our brains and bodies evolved to help us find food, shelter, mates and especially safety. We’ve always lived in a dangerous world, facing predators and enemies at every turn. We thrived only when we felt safe among our group.


Our biology hasn’t changed in fifty thousand years, but our environment certainly has. Today’s workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But the best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

The Circle of Safety leads to stable, adaptive, confident teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities.

As he did in Start with Why, Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories from a wide range of examples, from the military to manufacturing, from government to investment banking.

The biology is clear: when it matters most, leaders who are willing to eat last are rewarded with deeply loyal colleagues who will stop at nothing to
advance their leader’s vision and their organization’s interests. It’s amazing how well it works.
]]>
350 Simon Sinek 1591845327 Matt 3 2024-read 4.08 2014 Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
author: Simon Sinek
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering]]> 55333947
Who wouldn’t want a better memory? Dr. Scott Small has dedicated his career to understanding why memory forsakes us. As director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia University, he focuses largely on patients who experience pathological forgetting, and it is in contrast to their suffering that normal forgetting, which we experience every day, appears in sharp relief.
Ìý
Until recently, most everyone—memory scientists included—believed that forgetting served no purpose. But new research in psychology, neurobiology, medicine, and computer science tells a different story. Forgetting is not a failure of our minds. It’s not even a benign glitch. It is, in fact, good for us—and, alongside memory, it is a required function for our minds to work best.
Ìý
Forgetting benefits our cognitive and creative abilities, emotional well-being, and even our personal and societal health. As frustrating as a typical lapse can be, it’s precisely what opens up our minds to making better decisions, experiencing joy and relationships, and flourishing artistically.
Ìý
From studies of bonobos in the wild to visits with the iconic painter Jasper Johns and the renowned decision-making expert Daniel Kahneman, Small looks across disciplines to put new scientific findings into illuminating context while also revealing groundbreaking developments about Alzheimer’s disease. The next time you forget where you left your keys, remember that a little forgetting does a lot of good.]]>
240 Scott A. Small 0593136195 Matt 4 2024-read 3.71 2021 Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering
author: Scott A. Small
name: Matt
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.


When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.


But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

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360 Brynne Weaver Matt 0 to-read 3.99 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Matt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship]]> 60410729 A warm, funny, irresistible book that follows an improbable and life-changing college friendship over the course of forty years--from the best-selling author of The End of Your Life Book Club

A "searching, tender, insightful, and wise memoir...Reading this beautifully written and generous book, you will find yourself thinking of your own friendships" --Dani Shapiro, author of Signal Fires

By the time Will Schwalbe was a junior at college, he had already met everyone he cared to know: the theater people, writers, visual artists and comp lit majors, and various other quirky characters including the handful of students who shared his own major, Latin and Greek. He also knew exactly who he wanted to avoid: the jocks. The jocks wore baseball caps and moved in packs, filling boisterous tables in the dining hall, and on the whole seemed to be another species entirely, one Will might encounter only at his own peril.

All this changed dramatically when Will collided with Chris Maxey, known to just about everyone as Maxey. Maxey was physically imposing, loud, and a star wrestler who was determined to become a Navy SEAL (where he would later serve for six years). Thanks to the strangely liberating circumstances of a little-known secret society at Yale, the two forged a bond that would become a mainstay of each other's lives as they repeatedly lost and found each other and themselves in the years after graduation.

From New Haven to New York City, from Hong Kong and Panama to a remarkable school on an island in the Bahamas--through marriages and a divorce, triumphs and devastating losses--We Should Not Be Friends tracks an extraordinary friendship over decades of challenge and change. Schwalbe's marvelous new work is, at its heart, a joyful testament to the miracle of human connection--and how if we can just get past our preconceptions, we may find some of our greatest friends.]]>
336 Will Schwalbe 0525654933 Matt 0 to-read 3.81 2023 We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship
author: Will Schwalbe
name: Matt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom]]> 24611623 273 Yeonmi Park 1594206791 Matt 3 2024-read 4.45 2015 In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
author: Yeonmi Park
name: Matt
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves: 2024-read
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Presence 60314567 195 Marissa D'Angelo Matt 4 2024-read 4.67 Presence
author: Marissa D'Angelo
name: Matt
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/13
date added: 2024/04/13
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)]]> 123211147 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.

Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory―Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years―and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland's absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own―but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.

Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she's the only one who can bring them together―or unravel it all.]]>
656 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387514 Matt 0 to-read 4.37 2023 The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power, #1)
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/06
shelves: to-read
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Take My Hand 58612817 Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.

Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day, she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten.That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.]]>
368 Dolen Perkins-Valdez 0593337700 Matt 4 2024-read 4.40 2022 Take My Hand
author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
name: Matt
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: 2024-read
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The Hours 11899 The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that became a motion picture starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare.

In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family.

Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.]]>
230 Michael Cunningham 0312305060 Matt 0 to-read 3.95 1998 The Hours
author: Michael Cunningham
name: Matt
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/09
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<![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 63219094 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.]]>
665 Rebecca Yarros Matt 0 to-read 4.74 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Matt
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/08
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The Patron Saint of Liars 38313131
St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth's extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose's past won't be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth's; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving]]>
402 Ann Patchett Matt 0 to-read 4.18 1992 The Patron Saint of Liars
author: Ann Patchett
name: Matt
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)]]> 40333989 Get ready for Samantha Shannon's new novel, A Day of Fallen Night, coming in February 2023!The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle).NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE * AUTOSTRADDLEA world divided.A queendom without an heir.An ancient enemy awakens.The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 849 Samantha Shannon 163557028X Matt 0 to-read 4.22 2019 The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Matt
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/08
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<![CDATA[City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers #1)]]> 65007133
'Endlessly creative... so much invention peeking around every corner' Patrick Ness

Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller Adrian Tchaikovsky's triumphant return to fantasy with a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution.

There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse.

What will be the spark that lights the conflagration?

Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood � that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.

Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places.

Ilmar, City of Long Shadows.

City of Bad Decisions.

City of Last Chances.

'Ilmar is vividly alive with ideas, conflicts, and a sense of its own history � a truly breathtaking fantasy city, down every street a compelling story.' David Towsey
'A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world.' Ian Green
'A wonderful twisty stew of a book with a cast of fascinating characters, set against the brilliantly realized city of Ilmar.' Django Wexler
'A triumph of a wildly imaginative, immediately immersive and hypnotically compelling.' Sharon Emmerichs]]>
545 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1801108455 Matt 0 to-read 4.24 2022 City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Matt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/08
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<![CDATA[The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2)]]> 233649
Rand cannot run for ever. With every passing day the Dark One grows in strength and strives to shatter his ancient prison, to break the Wheel, to bring an end to Time and sunder the weave of the Pattern.

And the Pattern demands the Dragon.]]>
705 Robert Jordan 0812517725 Matt 0 to-read 4.25 1990 The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Matt
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/08
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<![CDATA[Stonefather (Mither Mages, #0.5)]]> 3030779 150 Orson Scott Card 1596061944 Matt 4 2024-read 3.86 2008 Stonefather (Mither Mages, #0.5)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Matt
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/05
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves: 2024-read
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<![CDATA[A Fate of Wrath and Flame (Fate and Flame, #1)]]> 58182763 She would know the world of vengeful gods and monsters, and the lengths one would go for love. And nothing would ever be the same for her again.

Gifted thief Romeria steals jewels under a notorious New York City crime boss. But when an enigmatic woman secures her services at swordpoint, Romeria is wrenched from this world and transported into a realm of opposing thrones, warring elven societies, and elemental magic.

Waking up in the body of a treacherous elven princess, Romeria quickly realizes she's entangled in a deadly plot and must hide her identity at all costs - not least from the princess's betrothed, King Zander, who detests her. Romeria is forced to play the smitten princess as the unwilling pair work together to uncover the danger that surrounds them.

But with their enemies closing in - and as she fights her growing feelings for the king - it's time for Romeria to find out who she truly is.

The first book in the captivating Fate & Flame series]]>
496 K.A. Tucker 1990105157 Matt 0 to-read 3.96 2021 A Fate of Wrath and Flame (Fate and Flame, #1)
author: K.A. Tucker
name: Matt
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/04
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<![CDATA[The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness]]> 496585 The Divided Self is a unique study of the human situation.

Dr. Laing's first purpose is to make madness and the process of going mad comprehensible. In this, with case studies of schizophrenic patients, he succeeds brilliantly, but he does more: through a vision of sanity and madness as 'degrees of conjunction and disjunction between two persons where the one is sane by common consent' he offers a rich existential analysis of personal alienation.

The outsider, estranged from himself and society, cannot experience either himself or others as 'real.' He invents a false self and with it he confronts both the outside world and his own despair. The disintegration of his real self keeps pace with the growing unreality of his false self until, in the extremes of his schizophrenic breakdown, the whole personality disintegrates.]]>
218 R.D. Laing 0140135375 Matt 0 to-read 4.10 1960 The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness
author: R.D. Laing
name: Matt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1960
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/22
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One Day 6280118
So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that?

And every year that follows?
--back cover]]>
435 David Nicholls 0340896965 Matt 0 to-read 3.86 2009 One Day
author: David Nicholls
name: Matt
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves: to-read
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The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]>
353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 Matt 0 to-read 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: Matt
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/17
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<![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 48829708 move.

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

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]>
880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Matt 0 to-read 3.77 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Matt
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/16
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The Seventh Veil of Salome 199927990 A young woman wins the role of a lifetime in a film about a legendary heroine � but the real drama is behind the scenes in this sumptuous historical epic from the author of Mexican Gothic.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.]]>
336 Silvia Moreno-Garcia Matt 0 to-read 3.75 2024 The Seventh Veil of Salome
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Matt
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/13
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<![CDATA[The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)]]> 202101993
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.

The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.]]>
576 Mark Lawrence 0593437926 Matt 0 to-read 3.92 2023 The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (The Library Trilogy, #1)
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Matt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/02/07
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<![CDATA[Some Ways to Retell a Fairy Tale]]> 201086475
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]>
32 Kathleen Jennings 1250330653 Matt 3 2024-read 3.05 2022 Some Ways to Retell a Fairy Tale
author: Kathleen Jennings
name: Matt
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/30
date added: 2024/01/30
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The Canadian Miracle 199786555
A contentious election and radicalized locals interfere with Canadian recovery workers' efforts at the site of a catastrophic flood in near-future Mississippi. This story is set in the same future as Cory Doctorow's novel The Lost Cause.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]>
23 Cory Doctorow 1250348420 Matt 4 2024-read 3.60 2023 The Canadian Miracle
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Matt
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
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Holly 65916344 Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

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

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

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

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

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.]]>
449 Stephen King 1668016133 Matt 3 2024-read 4.01 2023 Holly
author: Stephen King
name: Matt
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
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Trap the Dragon 98178565 There are those who rule and those who are ruled...

Crown Princess Laerdya Caerthynna has been exiled to the Southern Kingdom for murdering a general in cold blood. And even if it was not her fault, her mother still blames her. With the Crown Prince of the Southern Elves as her babysitter, her punishment is to stop the rebels who have been clamoring along the border, entirely too convenient for her mother. But before Laerdya can begin her work in the kingdom she hates, something shakes her world and she is thrust into a dangerous rush against time to save everything she holds dear. Alongside a group of warriors who test her, love her, and push her limits, she must restore order to Edhelraen before it's too late and everything she knows will be destroyed,

Because after all, what's a warrior to do but fight?]]>
385 Nainika Gupta Matt 0 to-read 5.00 Trap the Dragon
author: Nainika Gupta
name: Matt
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/17
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A Thousand Steps into Night 150351835 When a girl who’s never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way is forced to confront her true power within.

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter.

But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again.

With her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her� and perhaps never did.]]>
384 Traci Chee 0063306670 Matt 0 to-read 3.82 2022 A Thousand Steps into Night
author: Traci Chee
name: Matt
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/17
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<![CDATA[The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)]]> 83668117
Only the extraordinary are chosen.

Only the cunning survive.

An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.

Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.

And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them, while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they're willing to betray for limitless power―and who will be destroyed along the way.

Also by Olivie Blake
The Atlas Six
The Atlas Paradox
Alone with You in the Ether
One for My Enemy
Masters of Death]]>
496 Olivie Blake 1250855136 Matt 0 to-read 2.94 2024 The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)
author: Olivie Blake
name: Matt
average rating: 2.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/17
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On the Fox Roads 201152689 29 Nghi Vo Matt 5 2024-read 3.91 2023 On the Fox Roads
author: Nghi Vo
name: Matt
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/14
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<![CDATA[Window of Time (The Stained-glass Legacy Book 4)]]> 203345523 A kingdom in the future, a girl from the past, and a stained-glass window that can’t be found.

Mia Miller just needed a moment to breathe and admire the stained-glass window in the chapel before she had to plaster on a fake smile for her only sister’s wedding reception. Her artist’s eye drew her to the window but something else entirely made her fall through it. Now she’s stuck in a strange land, a different time, mistaken for a princess, and the stained-glass window nowhere to be found.

With Rebels stealing his Kingdom’s low food supplies, Prince Liam Dunne agrees to an Engagement to secure better trading routes. When the princess arrives without a shred of luggage or her entourage but plenty of anxiety, his heart has a hard time staying out of it. Princess Amelia challenges what he believes in—in a world where faith is eradicated. But when the truth comes out about her true identity, will he have the courage to live up to his family’s legacy?]]>
276 Erin R. Howard 1649173512 Matt 4 2024-read 4.53 Window of Time (The Stained-glass Legacy Book 4)
author: Erin R. Howard
name: Matt
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/13
date added: 2024/01/14
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<![CDATA[Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 2]]> 51323358 Erica Slaughter may have slain the monster terrorizing the small Wisconsin town of Archer’s Peak, but now she sets off deeper into the woods -- because the monster she killed was a mother� and now she needs to kill its children.

EVIL NEVER DIES...UNLESS ERICA SLAUGHTER KILLS IT.

Erica Slaughter may have slain the monster terrorizing the small Wisconsin town of Archer’s Peak, but the horror is far from over. As her mysterious handler arrives in town to clean up her mess and quarantine the townsfolk, Erica sets off deeper into the woods -- because the monster she killed was a mother� and now she needs to kill its children.

GLAAD Award-winning writer James Tynion IV (Batman, The Woods) and artist Werther Dell’Edera (Briggs Land) present the next chapter of the critically acclaimed series that showed the world a new kind of horror.

Collects Something is Killing the Children #6-10.]]>
144 James Tynion IV 1684156491 Matt 4 2024-read 4.26 2020 Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 2
author: James Tynion IV
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/13
date added: 2024/01/13
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The Blind Owl 45967 The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, Sadegh Hedayat's masterpiece details a young man's despair after losing a mysterious lover. And as the author gradually drifts into frenzy and madness, the reader becomes caught in the sandstorm of Hedayat's bleak vision of the human condition. The Blind Owl, which has been translated into many foreign languages, has often been compared to the writing of Edgar Allan Poe.]]> 148 Sadegh Hedayat 0802131808 Matt 4 2023-read 4.02 1937 The Blind Owl
author: Sadegh Hedayat
name: Matt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/26
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: 2023-read
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<![CDATA[The Tidings of Misfits (Whispered Tales, #1)]]> 61868737 Five misfits are forced together by fate.

A vampire marked by a shadow woman possessing his blood.
A thief with a price on her head for attempts to assassinate the sultan of Shoma.
A man who lost his name.
And two lizardfolk. One seeks the knowledge of immortality. The other seeks a life that is their own.

When the ground opens up and sends them underground, the five strangers land inside a cavern overrun by rakken � grotesque, mutated rats worshiping a god whose return would bring about the end of days. As they fight their way to the surface, they’re each branded with dark magic that connects them. Now a sudden urge pulls them to Volendam, a city of many secrets.

But when they arrive, will they find a cure for their branded curse or trigger the awakening of the dragons of Vilanthris?]]>
464 Jordan Dugdale Matt 5 2023-read 4.10 2023 The Tidings of Misfits (Whispered Tales, #1)
author: Jordan Dugdale
name: Matt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/22
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves: 2023-read
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The Man in the High Castle 36687102 Alternate Cover Edition can be found here and here.

It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war—and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.
Ìý
This harrowing, Hugo Award–winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.]]>
290 Philip K. Dick Matt 4 2023-read 3.43 1962 The Man in the High Castle
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Matt
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/23
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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The House in the Pines 153747886
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.
Ìý
Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer—the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.
Ìý
At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin. . . .
Ìý
Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.]]>
336 Ana Reyes 0593186737 Matt 0 to-read 3.14 2023 The House in the Pines
author: Ana Reyes
name: Matt
average rating: 3.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[After the Coup (Old Man's War, #4.5)]]> 8627906

In a universe of harsh interstellar conflict, the practice of interspecies diplomacy—when possible—is important. So being a Colonial Union officer attached to an interplanetary diplomatic mission sometimes means taking a fall. Literally.

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26 John Scalzi 1429952121 Matt 4 2023-read 3.89 2008 After the Coup (Old Man's War, #4.5)
author: John Scalzi
name: Matt
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/09
date added: 2023/12/09
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1]]> 53495929 When children begin to go missing in the town of Archer’s Peak, all hope seems lost until a mysterious woman arrives to reveal that terrifying creatures are behind the chaos - and that she alone will destroy them, no matter the cost.

IT’S THE MONSTERS WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID.

When the children of Archer's Peak—a sleepy town in the heart of America—begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see.

Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.

GLAAD Award-winning writer James Tynion IV (The Woods, Batman: Detective Comics) teams with artist Werther Dell’Edera (Briggs Land) for an all-new story about staring into the abyss.

Collects Something is Killing the Children #1-5]]>
128 James Tynion IV 1641447249 Matt 4 2023-read 4.27 2020 Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1
author: James Tynion IV
name: Matt
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/07
date added: 2023/12/07
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[House of Open Wounds (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2)]]> 150254281
Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

Led by 'the Butcher', an ogre of a man who's a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit's motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Their's is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.

Entrusted - for now - with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital's crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yansic's thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.

Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle.]]>
608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901382 Matt 0 to-read 4.42 2023 House of Open Wounds (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Matt
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Cursed Inn: A Tale of Charles Island]]> 61892140
Lady Angeline didn’t seem to follow the path that the other ladies did in her town. In the 1800’s, most would have been married off while Angeline found independence and freedom through working closely with her father at his shop. When the deal of a lifetime seemingly falls into their laps, they are quick to take it and start their own inn on an enchanted island. At first glance, everything was perfectly normal until the truths of the island’s cursed nature is revealed in the night. After repeatedly ignoring the warnings from the land’s natives, she falls in love with someone she would’ve least expected to. As Angeline assists her father in the inn’s grand opening masquerade ball, she struggles to grasp reality and finds that there are very few she can actually trust.

Compelling, spine-chilling, and captivating, this fictional tale of the inn is the third in the Tales of Charles Island series.]]>
374 Marissa D'Angelo Matt 5 2023-read 4.21 The Cursed Inn: A Tale of Charles Island
author: Marissa D'Angelo
name: Matt
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/11
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Passion According to Carmela]]> 40195257 284 Marcos Aguinis 1503960390 Matt 5 2023-read 3.59 2008 The Passion According to Carmela
author: Marcos Aguinis
name: Matt
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/05
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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The Ex Hex (The Ex Hex, #1) 56554626 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.

Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride� scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.

That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.

Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.]]>
308 Erin Sterling 006302747X Matt 4 2023-read 3.46 2021 The Ex Hex (The Ex Hex, #1)
author: Erin Sterling
name: Matt
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/09
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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Black Sheep 69704909
Nobody has a “normal� family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.

Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.]]>
289 Rachel Harrison 0593545850 Matt 0 to-read 3.57 2023 Black Sheep
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Matt
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves: to-read
review:

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Untamed Shore 75665917 In this dark coming-of-age noir, a "Patricia Highsmith-like tale of grifts and con artists" (Crime Time), a young woman becomes embroiled in a web of lies and deceit--with potentially deadly consequences--from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night

"Untamed Shore is a fever dream of a thriller, a coming-of-age tale set amidst disturbing and dangerous circumstances."--Book Page

Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.

When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she's soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners' lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum life. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies--but soon enough, someone's asking questions. It's not long before Viridiana has some of her own questions about the identities of her new acquaintances.

Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a na�ve young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit.]]>
308 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593600525 Matt 0 to-read 3.69 2020 Untamed Shore
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Matt
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/24
shelves: to-read
review:

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Elder Race 56815367
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).

But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon�

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]>
204 Adrian Tchaikovsky Matt 4 2023-read 4.26 2021 Elder Race
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2023/10/19
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)]]> 59365195
All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.]]>
576 Tracy Deonn 1534441638 Matt 0 to-read 4.31 2022 Bloodmarked (The Legendborn Cycle, #2)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Matt
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) 51679954
A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn� students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin� and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.]]>
511 Tracy Deonn Matt 0 to-read 4.44 2020 Legendborn (Legendborn, #1)
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Matt
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)]]> 12000020
But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other—and the power of their friendship—can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.]]>
390 Benjamin Alire Sáenz 1442408928 Matt 0 to-read 4.29 2012 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante, #1)
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: Matt
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Night Swim (Rachel Krall, #1)]]> 51169341
The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation—but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered—and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases—and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?]]>
341 Megan Goldin 125021968X Matt 0 to-read 4.02 2020 The Night Swim (Rachel Krall, #1)
author: Megan Goldin
name: Matt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Dark Corners (Rachel Krall, #2)]]> 61884922
When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems only to exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel Krall goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krell herself. Suddenly a target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed Night Swim returns to search for a popular social media influencer who disappeared after visiting a suspected serial killer.]]>
343 Megan Goldin 1250280680 Matt 0 to-read 3.82 2023 Dark Corners (Rachel Krall, #2)
author: Megan Goldin
name: Matt
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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Idlewild 98653925 James Frankie Thomas’s Idlewild is a darkly funny story of two adults looking back on their intense teenage friendship, in a queer, trans, and early-Internet twist on the Manhattan prep school novel.

Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan. Students call their teachers by their first names, there are no grades, and every day begins with 20 minutes of contemplative silence in the Meetinghouse. It is during one of those meetings that an airplane hits the Twin Towers.

For two Idlewild outcasts, 9/11 serves as the first day of an intense, 18-month friendship. Fay is prickly, aloof, and obsessed with gay men; Nell is shy, sensitive, and obsessed with Fay. The two of them bond fiercely and spend all their waking hours giddily parsing their environment for homoerotic subtext. Then, during rehearsals for the fall play, they notice two sexually ambiguous boys who are potential candidates for their exclusive Invert Society. The pairs become mirrors of one another and drive each other to make choices that they’ll regret for the rest of their lives.

Looking back on these events as adults, the estranged Fay and Nell trace that fateful school year, recalling backstage theater department intrigue, antiwar demonstrations, smutty fanfic written over AIM, a shared dial-up connection—and the spectacular cascade of mistakes, miscommunications, and betrayals that would ultimately tear the two of them apart.]]>
389 James Frankie Thomas 1419769146 Matt 0 to-read 4.05 2023 Idlewild
author: James Frankie Thomas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)]]> 37173847
But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic--the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience--have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.]]>
501 Robert Jackson Bennett 1524760374 Matt 4 2023-read 4.16 2018 Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Matt
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1)]]> 228665
Moiraine Damodred arrives in Emond’s Field on a quest to find the one prophesized to stand against The Dark One, a malicious entity sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction. When a vicious band of half-men, half beasts invade the village seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.]]>
800 Robert Jordan 0812511816 Matt 5 2023-read 4.19 1990 The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/06
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)]]> 36679274
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.

Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.

After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.

As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?]]>
624 Cassandra Clare 0525619992 Matt 0 to-read 3.79 2023 Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane, #1)
author: Cassandra Clare
name: Matt
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/03
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Mortal Fall (Glacier Mystery #2)]]> 25987140
Glacier National Park police officer Monty Harris knows that each summer at least one person—be it a reckless, arrogant climber or a distracted hiker—will meet tragedy in the park. But Paul “Wolfie� Sedgewick’s fatal fall from the sheer cliffs near Going-To-the-Sun Road is incomprehensible. Wolfie was an experienced and highly regarded wildlife biologist who knew all too well the perils that Glacier’s treacherous terrain presents—and how to avoid them.

The case, so close to home, has frayed park employee emotions. Yet calm and methodical lead investigator Monty senses in his gut that something isn’t right. So when whispers of irresponsibility or suicide emerge, tarnishing Wolfie’s reputation, Monty dedicates himself to uncovering the truth, for the sake of the man’s family and to satisfy his own persistent sense of unease.

Monty discovers that Wolfie’s zealous studies of Glacier’s mysterious, embattled wolverine population, so vital to park ecology, had met resistance, both local and federal. To muddy the waters further, a wilderness facility for rehabilitating troubled teens—one that Monty’s older brother attended—may have a disturbing connection to the case. As Monty delves further into an investigation that goes deeper than he ever imagined, he wrestles with the demons of his past, which lead back to harsh betrayals he thought he’d buried long ago.

And then a second body is found.]]>
403 Christine Carbo 1476775478 Matt 4 2023-read 3.73 2016 Mortal Fall (Glacier Mystery #2)
author: Christine Carbo
name: Matt
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/08
date added: 2023/08/08
shelves: 2023-read
review:

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