Jennifer's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:10:16 -0800 60 Jennifer's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Charlie: The Story of a Boy and His Chair]]> 49529761
Reminiscent of Red Meat, the irreverent take on the comic format will simultaneously invigorate those who suffer from ennui while forcing this feeling on those who were previously feeling normal. Actually, I don't think it can do that. Wait, the marketing director says "yes it can."

Suitable for adults of all ages.]]> 111 John Kipling Lewis Jennifer 0 to-read 5.00 Charlie: The Story of a Boy and His Chair
author: John Kipling Lewis
name: Jennifer
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inside Straight (Wild Cards, #18)]]> 1557943 Wild Cards shared-universe series, created and edited since 1987 by New York Times #1 bestseller George R. R. Martin along with Melinda Snodgrass, is the tale of the history of the world since then--and of the heroes among that one percent.

Originally begun in 1986, long before George R. R. Martin became a household name among fantasy readers ("The American Tolkien" --Time magazine), the Wild Cards series earned a reputation among connoisseurs for its smart reimagining of the superhero idea.Now, with Inside Straight, the Wild Cards continuity jumps forward to a new generation of major characters, entirely accessible to Martin's hundreds of thousands of new readers, with all-original stories by Martin himself, along with Daniel Abraham, Michael Cassutt, and Stephen Leigh, among others.]]> 384 George R.R. Martin 0765317818 Jennifer 0 3.78 Inside Straight (Wild Cards, #18)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Divergent Series Complete Box Set (Divergent, #1-3)]]> 17383994
Divergent One choice can transform you. Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling debut is a gripping dystopian tale of electrifying choices, powerful consequences, unexpected romance, and a deeply flawed "perfect society."

Insurgent One choice can destroy you. Veronica Roth's second #1 New York Times bestseller continues the dystopian thrill ride. As war surges in the factions all around her, Tris attempts to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Divergent #3: The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.]]> 1556 Veronica Roth 0062278789 Jennifer 4 4.35 Divergent Series Complete Box Set (Divergent, #1-3)
author: Veronica Roth
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2014/07/14
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: science-fiction, fiction, young-adult
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys]]> 28369597
So began a lifelong friendship that fourteen years later would result in the formation of The Cure, a quintessential post-punk band whose albums-such as Three Imaginary Boys, Pornography , and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me -remain among the best-loved and most influential of all time.

As two of the first punks in the provincial English town of Crawley, Lol Tolhurst and Robert Smith didn't have it easy. Outsiders from the start, theirs was a friendship based initially on proximity and a shared love of music, from the punk that was raging in nearby London to the groundbreaking experimentation of David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy." First known as The Easy Cure, they began playing in pubs and soon developed their own unique style and approach to songwriting, resulting in timeless songs that sparked a deep sense of identification and empathy in listeners, songs like "Boys Don't Cry," "Just Like Heaven," and "Why Can't I Be You?," spearheading a new subculture dubbed "Goth" by the press. The music of The Cure was not only accessible but also deeply subversive, challenging conventional notions of pop music and gender roles while inspiring a generation of devoted fans and a revolution in style.

Cured is not only the first insider account of the early days of the band, it is a revealing look at the artistic evolution of the enigmatic Robert Smith, the iconic lead singer, songwriter, and innovative guitarist at the heart of The Cure. A deeply rebellious, sensitive, tough, and often surprisingly "normal" young man, Smith was from the start destined for stardom, a fearless non-conformist and provocateur who soon found his own musical language through which to express his considerable and unique talent.

But there was also a dark side to The Cure's intense and bewildering success. Tolhurst, on drums and keyboards, was nursing a growing alcoholism that would destroy his place in The Cure and nearly end his life. Cured tells the harrowing and unforgettable story of his crash-and-burn, recovery, and rebirth.

Intensely lyrical and evocative, gripping and unforgettable, Cured is the definitive story of a singular band whose legacy endures many decades hence, told from the point of view of a participant and eyewitness who was there when it happened-and even before it all began.]]> 287 Lol Tolhurst 0306824280 Jennifer 3
While Lol Tolhurst recalls his childhood and early years with the bittersweet nostalgia deserving of the band he'd go on to help form, the book seems to lose itself once that band is actually formed and growing. Admittedly, if you read the notes for the book, and well the book itself you'll understand that part of the reason this middle section (basically from the recoding of Seventeen Seconds to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me) is so vague and has the feeling of a high school book report. Even if you understand the reasons for it, it remains a bit of a slog--seemingly full of name dropping and Robert Smith worship. Likewise though, its clear that its purpose was to explain how much years later Tolhurst appreciated the experiences and friendships he made as a member of The Cure.

Where the book really excels as a memoir is after Tolhurst leaves the band during the recording of Disintegration. Here you can tell that Lol is writing from his soul, a perfect touching memory of the good and bad aspects of recovering from alcoholism. The writing returns to the poetic stream that opened the book, and is all the better for it. It ends on an upbeat, with that touch of melancholy that so encapsulates the spirit of the imaginary boys that founded this iconic band.]]> 4.03 2016 Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
author: Lol Tolhurst
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves:
review:
The Cure basically wrote the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s. Easily one of my all-time favorite bands, I was excited to see a memoir of their early days written by one of the founding members. While The Cure certainly centers the book, I found this memoir to be somewhat inconsistent.

While Lol Tolhurst recalls his childhood and early years with the bittersweet nostalgia deserving of the band he'd go on to help form, the book seems to lose itself once that band is actually formed and growing. Admittedly, if you read the notes for the book, and well the book itself you'll understand that part of the reason this middle section (basically from the recoding of Seventeen Seconds to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me) is so vague and has the feeling of a high school book report. Even if you understand the reasons for it, it remains a bit of a slog--seemingly full of name dropping and Robert Smith worship. Likewise though, its clear that its purpose was to explain how much years later Tolhurst appreciated the experiences and friendships he made as a member of The Cure.

Where the book really excels as a memoir is after Tolhurst leaves the band during the recording of Disintegration. Here you can tell that Lol is writing from his soul, a perfect touching memory of the good and bad aspects of recovering from alcoholism. The writing returns to the poetic stream that opened the book, and is all the better for it. It ends on an upbeat, with that touch of melancholy that so encapsulates the spirit of the imaginary boys that founded this iconic band.
]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)]]> 1232 487 Carlos Ruiz Zafón Jennifer 4 4.26 2001 The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)
author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/10
shelves: histocial-fiction, own, gothic-horror
review:
Some nearly poetic turns of phrases in this book that wraps a love story into the often forgotten horrors of the Spanish civil war. While the characters are sometimes confusing and hard to keep track of, it wraps up nicely in the end. A truly gothic story in scope, it is for anyone who understands how deeply a book can influence one's whole outlook on the world.
]]> <![CDATA[Kinky History: A Rollicking Journey through Our Sexual Past, Present, and Future]]> 199354021
Contrary to popular belief, our predecessors had all sorts of obscene hobbies long before Christian Grey hit the scene. In this enlightening romp, learn about the first instances of homosexuality on record from the ancient world and the diverse history of nonbinary gender; encounter a thousand years� worth of hilarious and horrifying contraceptive methods; consider the positive and negative effects of the widespread availability of pornography in the digital age—and how our relationship to it changed during the pandemic; take a sneaky riffle through centuries of bedside drawers; and discover the dirty little secrets of luminaries such as Julius Caesar, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, and Virginia Woolf.
Author Esmé Louise James also identifies the key tipping points that directly inform current beliefs around sex to place the past in conversation with the present. By educating ourselves about the weird, wonderful, and varied spectrum of human sexuality and experience, we can normalize and destigmatize sex, write people of marginalized sexual identities back into the pages of history, and build toward a more liberated future.]]> 320 Esme Louise James 0593716906 Jennifer 0 to-read 3.90 Kinky History: A Rollicking Journey through Our Sexual Past, Present, and Future
author: Esme Louise James
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision]]> 3073137
But in reality it is not Jack who is the star of the show; it is the over 140 artists and technicians who spent more than two years bringing Jack and all his cohorts to life on the sceen. Every gesture Jack makes was created by a human hand, by an animator who moved the puppet in tiny increments from fram to frame. Every character, every set, every prop - even the candy dances - had to be designed and then actually fabricated by someone. This book tells the true story of the film, highlighting the art and the vision that make the movie so memorable.]]> 192 Frank T. Thompson 078688066X Jennifer 0 4.20 1993 Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, the Art, the Vision
author: Frank T. Thompson
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/03
shelves:
review:

]]> King's Cage (Red Queen, #3) 30226723
Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.]]> 520 Victoria Aveyard 0062310712 Jennifer 0 currently-reading 3.91 2017 King's Cage (Red Queen, #3)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2) 23174274 If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.]]> 444 Victoria Aveyard 0062310666 Jennifer 0 3.79 2016 Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/17
date added: 2023/05/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) 22328546 This is a world divided by blood—red or silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance—Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.]]> 388 Victoria Aveyard 0062310631 Jennifer 0 3.98 2015 Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)
author: Victoria Aveyard
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves:
review:

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

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

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

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

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Jennifer 3
In many ways the book is Prince Harry’s attempt to prove he’s “normal.� That even being born into what many people would think is the bosom of privilege, power, wealth and fame, that he’s just a bloke like the next guy. That he also had a hard childhood, a rough go, that his entire life was controlled and lonely. And finally when forced to choose between all the privilege or true love, he chose love.

This memoir puts forth a good argument on this front. And while many people nit-pick about the coldness of his father (then Prince Charles, now King Charles III), the sibling rivalry with his brother (Prince William, now Prince of Wales). He also paints his grandparents (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip) with the loving brush that many remember their own doting grandparents with, but he also said that while they always were amenable and accepting of his goals and dreams, they also were incredibly hard to even see without getting on a calendar, and at times were even prevented from access to their grandchildren by essentially the “management� of the Windsor Image.

The book for me starts awkwardly; in a child’s voice, that seems jerky and inauthentic, like someone trying to write as a child without actually knowing a child’s words. (I suspect this was a failing of the ghost writer, who likely just couldn’t *be* Harry and therefor couldn’t find the right tone). Barring that awkwardness, the beginning really does paint the picture of a child who has lost their anchor in the world (Harry’s mother, Princess Diana) and who feels the tug of fulfilling the requirements of the adults he has left, and the feelings he’s dealing with due to the loss.

The book covers how this triggers a search for quiet, normalcy, and anonymity that are Harry’s driving forces in life. If he can’t escape physically, he escaped mentally. His goal in life is essentially to not be special, and the driving force is that underneath it all he’s just really an average guy who just happened to be a Prince.

The issue is that as you’re reading you start getting angry at the idea that he’s “trying to be normal.� Do normal people get to go to Africa? Australia? Just to “get away?� No. And at times the idea, as transformational as it is for anyone who experiences it, is still grating at times in its blindness to how absolutely abnormal it is.

There’s one moment in the book that made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion� but I think was written extremely awkwardly� When Harry gets frostbite on his penis after hiking to the the pole with several injured veterans (though he ends up getting flown there because his brother was getting married, which falls under the how many people get that experience—injured veteran or not) he returns home and to soothe his hurting junk, someone recommends Elizabeth Arden moisturizer. When he opens it, he gets a sudden memory of his mother, she wore this too. Then he rubs it on his penis? WEIRD. It was probably the only section of the book that I felt probably wasn’t necessary (either the part about his mom, or the part about rubbing it on his penis).

In the end, without spoiling the rest of the book, we come to realize that mourning, sadness, PTSD and many other common human issues know no rules. It’s just as easy to have depression when you have the things that many people consider miraculous. And how in the end, it’s more about seeking what you need—seeking a peace in your own personal values even within the confines of your station. Prince Harry is trying to spell out how honesty and openness and turning ones back on a birthright, might be the balm one needs (though apparently not for a frost bitten penis).

It is worth mentioning that this is obviously one side of the story. His side. I think a more honest and open Royal Household would be interesting, but at th same time the concept of the Royal Family, at least in modern times, is not as a ruler of the UK, but more as the representative of the ideals of the kingdom—the figurehead, the example that should be followed. And like any it’s always a generation behind what’s really going on. But regardless, this book makes Harry a human being, fallible, seeking, fighting many of the growing pangs we all go through, but on a stage—a brilliantly lit stage with a director and audience he’s expected to perform for, the spare� the understudy� the not worthy. ]]> 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/29
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves:
review:
I have a weakness and it is the history of England and Scotland. It has spilled into a slight obsession with English royalty, from Knute to Charles III, though I do have a particular love for the Tudors. Nonetheless, this was a must read on my list, simply due to its historical significance. Tell-all books from the high-level blood royals are basically non-existent. (Those that have married into the family, or who are far enough removed to not even be a ‘working royal� don’t count). This book being groundbreaking in its “honesty� and insight into the ones born into these roles, is required reading whether you’re a historian, a lookie-loo, or just someone who likes memoirs.

In many ways the book is Prince Harry’s attempt to prove he’s “normal.� That even being born into what many people would think is the bosom of privilege, power, wealth and fame, that he’s just a bloke like the next guy. That he also had a hard childhood, a rough go, that his entire life was controlled and lonely. And finally when forced to choose between all the privilege or true love, he chose love.

This memoir puts forth a good argument on this front. And while many people nit-pick about the coldness of his father (then Prince Charles, now King Charles III), the sibling rivalry with his brother (Prince William, now Prince of Wales). He also paints his grandparents (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip) with the loving brush that many remember their own doting grandparents with, but he also said that while they always were amenable and accepting of his goals and dreams, they also were incredibly hard to even see without getting on a calendar, and at times were even prevented from access to their grandchildren by essentially the “management� of the Windsor Image.

The book for me starts awkwardly; in a child’s voice, that seems jerky and inauthentic, like someone trying to write as a child without actually knowing a child’s words. (I suspect this was a failing of the ghost writer, who likely just couldn’t *be* Harry and therefor couldn’t find the right tone). Barring that awkwardness, the beginning really does paint the picture of a child who has lost their anchor in the world (Harry’s mother, Princess Diana) and who feels the tug of fulfilling the requirements of the adults he has left, and the feelings he’s dealing with due to the loss.

The book covers how this triggers a search for quiet, normalcy, and anonymity that are Harry’s driving forces in life. If he can’t escape physically, he escaped mentally. His goal in life is essentially to not be special, and the driving force is that underneath it all he’s just really an average guy who just happened to be a Prince.

The issue is that as you’re reading you start getting angry at the idea that he’s “trying to be normal.� Do normal people get to go to Africa? Australia? Just to “get away?� No. And at times the idea, as transformational as it is for anyone who experiences it, is still grating at times in its blindness to how absolutely abnormal it is.

There’s one moment in the book that made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion� but I think was written extremely awkwardly� When Harry gets frostbite on his penis after hiking to the the pole with several injured veterans (though he ends up getting flown there because his brother was getting married, which falls under the how many people get that experience—injured veteran or not) he returns home and to soothe his hurting junk, someone recommends Elizabeth Arden moisturizer. When he opens it, he gets a sudden memory of his mother, she wore this too. Then he rubs it on his penis? WEIRD. It was probably the only section of the book that I felt probably wasn’t necessary (either the part about his mom, or the part about rubbing it on his penis).

In the end, without spoiling the rest of the book, we come to realize that mourning, sadness, PTSD and many other common human issues know no rules. It’s just as easy to have depression when you have the things that many people consider miraculous. And how in the end, it’s more about seeking what you need—seeking a peace in your own personal values even within the confines of your station. Prince Harry is trying to spell out how honesty and openness and turning ones back on a birthright, might be the balm one needs (though apparently not for a frost bitten penis).

It is worth mentioning that this is obviously one side of the story. His side. I think a more honest and open Royal Household would be interesting, but at th same time the concept of the Royal Family, at least in modern times, is not as a ruler of the UK, but more as the representative of the ideals of the kingdom—the figurehead, the example that should be followed. And like any it’s always a generation behind what’s really going on. But regardless, this book makes Harry a human being, fallible, seeking, fighting many of the growing pangs we all go through, but on a stage—a brilliantly lit stage with a director and audience he’s expected to perform for, the spare� the understudy� the not worthy.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mommie Dearest Collection: Two Memoirs of Survival]]> 36525213
This volume includes two memoirs by Christina Crawford, recounting the abuse she endured as a child and her journey to recovery as an adult.

Mommie Dearest : An unprecedented memoir of child abuse, Mommie Dearest also chipped away at the façade of Christina Crawford’s alcoholic her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford. What transpired between a seemingly fortunate child of Hollywood and a controlling and desperate woman was an escalating nightmare and, for Christina, a fierce struggle for independence. This ebook features an exclusive new preface by the author, plus rare photographs from her personal collection and a revealing one hundred pages of material not found in the original manuscript.

“A horror story that goes beyond showbiz scandal-mongering ... Delivers an unexpected charge.� � The New York Times

“Probably the most chilling account of a mother-daughter relationship ever to be put on paper.� � Los Angeles Times

Survivor : Mommie Dearest cast a spotlight on the unspoken horrors of family violence, but the years following its publication tested Christina Crawford’s resilience in unexpected a backlash intended to shame her, a film adaptation that compounded the trauma, alcoholism, divorce, and a stroke that left her paralyzed. Staying true to her fighting spirit, the author made a remarkable comeback. Survivor is more than a memoir of triumph over tragedy. For anyone who has suffered challenging despair, it is a spiritual roadmap to recovery, finding peace, and celebrating a fulfilling life.

“One closes this fine, moving read with great respect for Christina Crawford.� � Kirkus Reviews
]]> 858 Christina Crawford 1504049063 Jennifer 4
But� something about this story stayed with me. Deep underneath it was the scene right after where Christina needed to clean the bathroom because it was so awful that haunted me. So one random evening while visiting my favorite weird city of Baltimore, I stopped in a little shop, and found this book staring at me. I needed something to read, and of the stack of books in that corner of the store, this just seemed like something I wanted to sit on the inner harbor reading while enjoying the happy weirdness of Baltimore�

Most of the early parts of this book are well covered in the movie, but with a lot more details. Like anything the book has so much more depth than the movie, and I found myself as I was reading it, wanting to simply give Christina a hug.

This book is honest in that it is told deeply entrenched in the memories and moments that these incidents occurred. For instance the infamous wire hanger incident is told in the voice of a young Christina, but somehow also excellently and subtly shaded with the adult realizations that only come with looking back on it much later. The movie, I feel, didn’t quite get that quite right.

Though, it’s also worth saying, the book took a negative turn for me once Christina found herself on her own. It almost feels like this entire period is just chapter after chapter of whining. But I’ll add honestly that this is my adult self looking back at early adulthood when one is between that parent-dependent and self-independent stages. But the whole period just made me want to scream into the book “yeah, that’s how it is for EVERYONE…� while also thinking “don’t trust your Mom, don’t you know that?�

However, part of what roused that anger is the excellent story-telling in the book. Without it I wouldn’t have felt as I did.

In the end if you’re a memoir lover, if you like stories of working to overcome and/or conquering one’s childhood demons, or even tales about what hides behind the smiles and flashbulbs of ‘perfect family� this is totally worth the investment to read. ]]> 4.02 The Mommie Dearest Collection: Two Memoirs of Survival
author: Christina Crawford
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/25
shelves:
review:
I remember as a young girl seeing the classic “Mommie Dearest� movie—the infamous “Wire Hangers� scene became a running joke between myself and my mother (she didn’t like wire hangers either).

But� something about this story stayed with me. Deep underneath it was the scene right after where Christina needed to clean the bathroom because it was so awful that haunted me. So one random evening while visiting my favorite weird city of Baltimore, I stopped in a little shop, and found this book staring at me. I needed something to read, and of the stack of books in that corner of the store, this just seemed like something I wanted to sit on the inner harbor reading while enjoying the happy weirdness of Baltimore�

Most of the early parts of this book are well covered in the movie, but with a lot more details. Like anything the book has so much more depth than the movie, and I found myself as I was reading it, wanting to simply give Christina a hug.

This book is honest in that it is told deeply entrenched in the memories and moments that these incidents occurred. For instance the infamous wire hanger incident is told in the voice of a young Christina, but somehow also excellently and subtly shaded with the adult realizations that only come with looking back on it much later. The movie, I feel, didn’t quite get that quite right.

Though, it’s also worth saying, the book took a negative turn for me once Christina found herself on her own. It almost feels like this entire period is just chapter after chapter of whining. But I’ll add honestly that this is my adult self looking back at early adulthood when one is between that parent-dependent and self-independent stages. But the whole period just made me want to scream into the book “yeah, that’s how it is for EVERYONE…� while also thinking “don’t trust your Mom, don’t you know that?�

However, part of what roused that anger is the excellent story-telling in the book. Without it I wouldn’t have felt as I did.

In the end if you’re a memoir lover, if you like stories of working to overcome and/or conquering one’s childhood demons, or even tales about what hides behind the smiles and flashbulbs of ‘perfect family� this is totally worth the investment to read.
]]> <![CDATA[Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)]]> 38213061 From a New York Times bestselling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl. Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.]]> 577 James S.A. Corey Jennifer 0 to-read 4.48 2011 Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Secret Language of Symbols: A Visual Key to Symbols and Their Meanings]]> 1122031 192 David Fontana 0811804623 Jennifer 0 3.51 The Secret Language of Symbols: A Visual Key to Symbols and Their Meanings
author: David Fontana
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.51
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll]]> 1415979 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, Sylvie and Bruno, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, "The Hunting of the Snark," and Lewis' poetry, phantasmagoria, stories, miscellany, and "acrostics, inscriptions, and other verse."

The following have also never appeared in print except in their original editions: "Resident Women Students," "Some Popular Fallacies about Vivisection," "Lawn Tennis Tournaments," "Rules for Court Circular," "Croquet Castles," "Mischmasch," "Doublets," "A Postal Problem," "The Alphabet-Cipher," and "Introduction to The Lost Plum Cake."]]> 1181 Lewis Carroll 0831715510 Jennifer 0 3.90 1982 The Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Complete Works of Lewis Carroll]]> 108030 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have entertained readers young and old for more than a century. Their magical worlds, amusing characters, spirited dialogue, and playfully illogical logic have made them landmarks of Victorian fiction that epitomize the wit and whimsy of Carroll's writing. This collection of Carroll's complete works includes, in addition to his best-known fiction, his novels Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, as well as shorter prose works, stories and puzzles. Also featured is Carroll's complete verse, including The Hunting of the Snark� and more than a dozen poems not collected in his life-time. Comprehensive and eclectic, this volume presents the reader with timeless works reflecting the cleverness and ingenuity that were Carroll's unique gifts. It's possible that if Lewis Carroll had never met Alice Liddell, he might have enjoyed a more peaceful lifetime and an obscure legacy. But his whimsical inventiveness touched everything he did, and a story he made up one afternoon for a little girl became one of literature's great classics, Alice in Wonderland.]]> 1165 Lewis Carroll Jennifer 3 4.20 1982 Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
author: Lewis Carroll
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 1992/02/01
date added: 2022/05/12
shelves: british-literature, children-s-literature, classics, fantasy, fiction, poetry, anthology, own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth]]> 464007 469 0915473569 Jennifer 0 3.47 2000 Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth
author: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques]]> 150780 224 Le Cordon Bleu 0688169074 Jennifer 0 4.52 1996 Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques
author: Le Cordon Bleu
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Canterbury Tales 2140621 384 Geoffrey Chaucer 0785823123 Jennifer 0 4.17 1400 Canterbury Tales
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1400
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Annotated Hobbit (Middle-earth Universe)]]> 764872 Newly expanded and completely redesigned, Douglas A. Anderson's The Annotated Hobbit is the definitive explication of the sources, characters, places, and things of J.R.R. Tolkien's timeless classic. Integrated with Anderson's notes and placed alongside the fully restored and corrected text of the original story are more than 150 illustrations showing visual interpretations of The Hobbit specific to many of the cultures that have come to know and love Tolkien's Middle-earth. Tolkien's original line drawings, maps and color paintings are also included, making this the most lavishly informative edition of The Hobbit available.


The Annotated Hobbit shows how Tolkien worked as a writer, what his influences and interests were, and how these relate to the invented world of Middle-earth. It gives a valuable overview of Tolkien's life and the publishing history of The Hobbit, and explains how every feature of The Hobbit fits within the rest of Tolkien's invented world. Here we learn how Gollum's character was revised to accommodate the true nature of the One Ring, and we can read the full text of The Quest of Erebor, Gandalf's explanation of how he came to send Bilbo Baggins on his journey with the dwarves. Anderson also makes meaningful and often surprising connections to our own world and literary history -- from Beowulf to The Marvellous Land of Snergs, from the Brothers Grimm to C. S. Lewis.
(front flap)]]> 399 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618134700 Jennifer 5 4.68 1937 The Annotated Hobbit (Middle-earth Universe)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.68
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/02/01
shelves: british-literature, children-s-literature, classics, fiction, fantasy, own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings]]> 175515 'And much of Madness and more of Sin And Horror the Soul of the Plot'

This selection of Poe's critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates his intense interest in aesthetic issues, and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. 'The Fall of the House of Usher' describes the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In 'Tell-Tale Heart', a murderer's insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Cask of Amontillado' explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate. These works display Poe's startling ability to build suspense with almost nightmarish intensity.

David Galloway's introduction re-examines the myths surrounding Poe's life and reputation. This edition includes a new chronology and suggestions for further reading.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS SELECTED WRITINGS

Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Text
POEMS
Stanzas
Sonnet � To Science
A/ Aaraaf
Romance
TO Helen
Israfel
The City in the Sea
The Sleeper
Lenore
The Valley of Unrest
The Raven
Ulalume
For Annie
A Valentine
Annabel Lee
The Bells
Eldorado
TALES
MS. Found in a Bottle
Ligeia
The Man that was Used Up
The Fall of the House of Usher
William Wilson
The Man of the Crowd
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A Descent into the Maelström
Eleonora
The Oval Portrait
The Masque of the Red Death
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Gold-Bug
The Black Cat
The Purloined Letter
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Cask of Amontillado
Hop-Frog
ESSÄYS AND REVIEWS
Letter to B�
Georgia Scenes
The Drake—Halleck Review (excerpts)
Watkins Tottle
The Philosophy of Furniture
²ⲹԻdzٳé
Music
Time and Space
Twice-Told Tales
The American Drama (excerpts)
Hazlitt
The Philosophy of Composition
Song-Writing
On Imagination
The Veil of the Soul
The Poetic Principle (excerpts)
Notes]]> 488 Edgar Allan Poe 0141439815 Jennifer 4 4.15 1967 The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/02/15
shelves: american-literature, classics, fiction, horror, anthology, own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings]]> 120588 And Horror the Soul of the Plot

The lines from 'Ligeia' epitomize the familiar Poe, the arch-priest of Gothic horror, author of 'The Masque of the Red Death' and 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. That Poe, unquestioned master of 'the Grotesque and Arabesque', is fully represented here, but the volume also includes generous selections from his poetry and critical writings. Together they amount to a portrait Rf a complex personality, that of a conscious aesthete, the most exotic of American writers, who was at the same time keenly engaged in an astonishihg variety of interests. Nor are the 'Grotesque' tales the simple manipulations of terror that they seem; David Galloway's introduction reveals their author as a profoundly serious writer, whose investigations of extreme states of consciousness have a particular relevance for our time.

Originally published under the title Selected Writings

Table of Contents
Introduction
Note on the Text
1. POEMS
Stanzas
Sonnet � To Science
A1 Aaraaf
Romance
To Helen
Israfel
The City in the Sea
The Sleeper
Lenore
The valley of Unrest
The Raven
Ulalume
For Annie
A Valentine
Annabel Lee
The Bells
Eldorado
2. TALES
Manuscript Found in a Bottle
Ligeia
The Man that was Used Up
The Fall of the House of Usher
William Wilson
The Man of the Crowd
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
A Descent into the Maelström
Eleonora
The Oval Portrait
The Masque of the Red Death
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Gold-Bug
The Black Cat
Purloined Letter
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Cask of Amontillado
Hop-Frog
3. ESSAYS AND REVIEWS
Letter to
Georgia Scenes
The Drake—Halleck Review (excerpts)
Watkins Tottie
The Philosophy of Furniture
²ⲹԻdzٳé
Music
Time and Space
Twice-Told Tales
The American Drama (excerpts)
Hazlitt
The Philosophy of Composition
Song-Writing
On Imagination
The Veil of the Soul
The Poetic Principle (excerpts)
Notes]]> 513 Edgar Allan Poe 0140432914 Jennifer 0 4.05 1967 The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital]]> 17925233 333 Eric Manheimer Jennifer 0 to-read 3.96 2012 Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
author: Eric Manheimer
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Selected Poetry 1665741 368 Lord Byron 0140585079 Jennifer 4 3.61 1848 Selected Poetry
author: Lord Byron
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1848
rating: 4
read at: 1994/01/01
date added: 2017/11/01
shelves: poetry, british-literature, own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders]]> 25622838
In Dead Presidents, public radio host Brady Carlson takes readers to presidential gravesites, monuments, and memorials to tell the death stories of our greatest leaders. Mixing biography and travelogue, Carlson explores whether William Henry Harrison really died of a cold, why Zachary Taylor’s remains were exhumed 140 years after his death, and how what killed James A. Garfield wasn’t an assassin’s bullet. He tells the surprising stories of the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, and Grant’s Tomb. And he explains why “Hooverball� is still played in Iowa, why Millard Fillmore’s final resting place is beside that of funk legend Rick James, and why Ohio and Alaska continue to battle over the name of Mt. McKinley.

With an eye for neglected places and offbeat people reminiscent of Tony Horwitz and Sarah Vowell, Carlson shows that the ways we memorialize our presidents reveal as much about us as about the men themselves.]]> 324 Brady Carlson 0393243931 Jennifer 4
Dead Presidents follows in the vein of irreverent travel and history books by the likes of Bill Bryson and Sarah Vowell, and against these heavy weighs Dead Presidents holds its own.

Apparently, the job of being president doesn't end with your earthly demise. I think if anything this book highlights the fact that if you want to make sure you'll be reinterred a few times after your death--become a US President.

We are, if nothing, a nation of can-do, improvisers, and we do an excellent job of making it up as we go along. It's part of being a young nation, I suppose. This book expertly highlights those uncertain wavering steps our nation took to honor its fallen leaders--sometimes with great pomp, and sometimes with complete ineptitude. Kinda like the presidents themselves.

I haven't to give a quick shout out to my favorite home of dead presidents: Hollywood Cemetery, whose history is well covered in this book. I mean it earned a star right there for that.

Dead President excels at giving those weird little stories that never make the history books about our leaders and their demise. How each president seems to be memorialized in a unique individual way that may or may not fit their wishes, but always fits their legacy.

The book does get lost at some points. I was never really sure if all the presents were actually touched on. But that's being overly nit picky. There's a list at the front. If you're really all Richard Nixon about it, you can check off the ones as you go along.

I could not have picked a more perfect book to read while relaxing in a beach cabin on vacation (wow, that sounded far fancier than the bug bites and sunburn I brought home with me). A light, pick up any time and read book for snarky history buffs for sure.]]> 3.90 2016 Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation's Leaders
author: Brady Carlson
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/09/02
shelves:
review:
So, I finally had a chance to actually read a library book cover to cover before it was due. Hooray!

Dead Presidents follows in the vein of irreverent travel and history books by the likes of Bill Bryson and Sarah Vowell, and against these heavy weighs Dead Presidents holds its own.

Apparently, the job of being president doesn't end with your earthly demise. I think if anything this book highlights the fact that if you want to make sure you'll be reinterred a few times after your death--become a US President.

We are, if nothing, a nation of can-do, improvisers, and we do an excellent job of making it up as we go along. It's part of being a young nation, I suppose. This book expertly highlights those uncertain wavering steps our nation took to honor its fallen leaders--sometimes with great pomp, and sometimes with complete ineptitude. Kinda like the presidents themselves.

I haven't to give a quick shout out to my favorite home of dead presidents: Hollywood Cemetery, whose history is well covered in this book. I mean it earned a star right there for that.

Dead President excels at giving those weird little stories that never make the history books about our leaders and their demise. How each president seems to be memorialized in a unique individual way that may or may not fit their wishes, but always fits their legacy.

The book does get lost at some points. I was never really sure if all the presents were actually touched on. But that's being overly nit picky. There's a list at the front. If you're really all Richard Nixon about it, you can check off the ones as you go along.

I could not have picked a more perfect book to read while relaxing in a beach cabin on vacation (wow, that sounded far fancier than the bug bites and sunburn I brought home with me). A light, pick up any time and read book for snarky history buffs for sure.
]]> <![CDATA[Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation]]> 228579 We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the Internet, in e-mail, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species.

In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

]]> 209 Lynne Truss 1592400876 Jennifer 0 3.95 2003 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
author: Lynne Truss
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Essentials of Marketing 3073012 626 Charles W. Lamb Jr. 0324113900 Jennifer 0 3.00 1998 Essentials of Marketing
author: Charles W. Lamb Jr.
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/11/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Law of Public Communication]]> 3073072 625 Kent R. Middleton 0801311888 Jennifer 0 3.00 1988 The Law of Public Communication
author: Kent R. Middleton
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mostly Harmless (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5)]]> 76616 277 Douglas Adams 0517577402 Jennifer 0 3.75 1992 Mostly Harmless (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The First Four Years (Little House, #9)]]> 77765 here

Laura Ingalls Wilder is beginning life with her new husband, Almanzo, in their own little house. Laura is a young pioneer wife now, and must work hard with Almanzo, farming the land around their home on the South Dakota prairie. Soon their baby daughter, Rose, is born, and the young family must face the hardships and triumphs encountered by so many American pioneers.

And so Laura Ingalls Wilder's adventure as a little pioneer girl ends, and her new life as a pioneer wife and mother begins. The nine Little House books have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier past and a heartwarming, unforgettable story.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts]]> 134 Laura Ingalls Wilder 006440031X Jennifer 0 3.78 1971 The First Four Years (Little House, #9)
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/08/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Witch of Blackbird Pond 842292
Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Award–winning novel portrays a heroine whom readers will admire for her unwavering sense of truth as well as her infinite capacity to love.]]> 256 Elizabeth George Speare 0440095778 Jennifer 0 4.05 1958 The Witch of Blackbird Pond
author: Elizabeth George Speare
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1958
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/05/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience]]> 412794 256 Henry David Thoreau 0451523776 Jennifer 0 3.57 1849 Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
author: Henry David Thoreau
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1849
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/05/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Christine 408852 Just Another Lovers� Triangle,Right?

It was love at first sight. From the moment seventeen-year-old Arnie Cunningham saw Christine, he knew he would do anything to possess her.

Arnie’s best friend, Dennis, distrusts her—immediately.

Arnie’s teen-queen girlfriend, Leigh, fears her the moment she senses her power.

Arnie’s parents, teachers, and enemies soon learn what happens when you cross her.

Because Christine is no lady. She is Stephen King’s ultimate, blackly evil vehicle of terror�
]]> 526 Stephen King 0670220264 Jennifer 0 3.84 1983 Christine
author: Stephen King
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth Dominion (Imajica, #1)]]> 52629 Imajica. Transforming every expectation of fantasy fiction with its heady mingling of radical sexuality and spiritual anarchy, it has carried its millions of readers into regions of passion and philosophy that few books have even attempted to map. It's an epic in every way; vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. A book of erotic mysteries and perverse violence. A book of ancient, mythological landscapes and even more ancient magic.]]> 544 Clive Barker 0061094145 Jennifer 0 4.27 1991 The Fifth Dominion (Imajica, #1)
author: Clive Barker
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/02/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void]]> 7237456 The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity.

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour?

To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.]]> 334 Mary Roach 0393068471 Jennifer 4 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, read that, and then come back here.

Packing for Mars is another notch in Roach's hilarious approach to scientific history. The book is supposedly about what it will take for a manned mission to Mars, but really it's just an excuse to delve into the weird world of preparing humans for space travel. Mostly, the book deals with the difficulties of testing our meat suits for interstellar travel when we're literally grounded to this planet. Things you never think about, such as the fact that the bladder relies on gravity to know that it needs to be emptied. Good stuff. And no real spoilers, but you'll never look at moon rocks the same way again.

With her usual personal approach to what is normally the driest of all reading, Roach dissects a scientific peer-reviewed journal study into something satisfyingly edible which, if you read the book is better than what the astronauts eat.

My only criticism might be that the book loses it's focus a few times. But like that time you took the "scenic route," to get somewhere, in the end you really don't mind.
]]> 3.93 2010 Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
author: Mary Roach
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2015/11/15
date added: 2015/11/17
shelves: history, library-book, non-fiction, science
review:
If you haven't had the chance to indulge in one of Mary Roach's previous books, you're missing out. Don't even bother reading this review, go out and get Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, read that, and then come back here.

Packing for Mars is another notch in Roach's hilarious approach to scientific history. The book is supposedly about what it will take for a manned mission to Mars, but really it's just an excuse to delve into the weird world of preparing humans for space travel. Mostly, the book deals with the difficulties of testing our meat suits for interstellar travel when we're literally grounded to this planet. Things you never think about, such as the fact that the bladder relies on gravity to know that it needs to be emptied. Good stuff. And no real spoilers, but you'll never look at moon rocks the same way again.

With her usual personal approach to what is normally the driest of all reading, Roach dissects a scientific peer-reviewed journal study into something satisfyingly edible which, if you read the book is better than what the astronauts eat.

My only criticism might be that the book loses it's focus a few times. But like that time you took the "scenic route," to get somewhere, in the end you really don't mind.

]]> The Leftovers 10762469
Kevin Garvey, Mapleton's new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin's own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne. Only Kevin's teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she's definitely not the sweet "A" student she used to be. Kevin wants to help her, but he's distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.

With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.]]> 355 Tom Perrotta 0312358342 Jennifer 0 to-read 3.41 2011 The Leftovers
author: Tom Perrotta
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Uncle Tom’s Cabin 46787 438 Harriet Beecher Stowe Jennifer 0 to-read 3.88 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin
author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1852
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wuthering Heights 507157 am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure... but as my own being." Wuthering Heights is the only novel of Emily Bronte, who died a year after its publication, at the age of thirty. A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of metaphysical passion, in which heaven and hell, nature and society, are powerfully juxtaposed. Unique, mystical, with a timeless appeal, it has become a classic of English literature.]]> 324 Emily Brontë 0553212583 Jennifer 4 3.80 1847 Wuthering Heights
author: Emily Brontë
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1847
rating: 4
read at: 1992/01/01
date added: 2015/08/12
shelves: fiction, own, classics, british-literature
review:

]]> Dune 53747 
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 044100590X.

Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family - and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, share the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science-fiction.]]> 517 Frank Herbert Jennifer 4 to-review 4.32 1965 Dune
author: Frank Herbert
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2010/12/06
date added: 2015/05/17
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Encyclopedia of Mythology: Classical, Celtic, Norse]]> 2749272 The Encyclopedia of Mythology 256 Arthur Cotterell 1840388005 Jennifer 0 4.00 1997 The Encyclopedia of Mythology: Classical, Celtic, Norse
author: Arthur Cotterell
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower #2)]]> 995123
Here he links forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean and the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, in a savage struggle against underworld evil and otherworldly enemies.

Once again, Stephen King has masterfully interwoven dark, evocative fantasy and icy realism.]]> 399 Stephen King 0452262143 Jennifer 0 4.17 1987 The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower #2)
author: Stephen King
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone]]> 834606
In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.]]> 79 Seamus Heaney 0374117217 Jennifer 0 4.14 2004 The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
author: Seamus Heaney
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone]]> 130405
In this outstanding new translation, commissioned by Ireland's renowned Abbey Theatre to commemorate its centenary, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.]]> 96 Seamus Heaney 0374530076 Jennifer 0 to-read, own 3.92 2004 The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
author: Seamus Heaney
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/18
shelves: to-read, own
review:

]]> The Best of H.P. Lovecraft 1813915 “H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”—Stephen King

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”—H.P. Lovecraft

This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction must have: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s most horrifying visions, including:

The Call of Cthulu: The first story in the infamous Cthulhu mythos—a creature spawned in the stars brings a menace of unimaginable evil to threaten all mankind.

The Dunwich Horror: An evil man’s desire to perform an unspeakable ritual leads him in search of the fabled text of The Necronomicon.

The Colour Out of Space: A horror from the skies—far worse than any nuclear fallout—transforms a man into a monster.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Rising from the depths of the sea, an unspeakable horror engulfs a quiet New England town.

Plus twelve more terrifying tales!]]> 1000 H.P. Lovecraft 0345294688 Jennifer 3 4.19 1963 The Best of H.P. Lovecraft
author: H.P. Lovecraft
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 1990/11/01
date added: 2014/07/23
shelves: american-literature, books-i-ve-named-pets-after, fiction, short-stories, anthology, own, horror, science-fiction
review:

]]> Steve Jobs 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Jennifer 4 4.15 2011 Steve Jobs
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2014/07/14
date added: 2014/07/14
shelves: non-fiction, biography, own, apple
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)]]> 535758 alternate cover for ISBN 0553106635

Rarely has there been a tale as gripping, or one as likely to seize the minds and hearts of a generation, as George R.R. Martin's epic high fantasy series. In A Game of Thrones, an ancient kingdom was torn by the ambitions of ruthless men and women; in A Clash of Kings, war, sorcery, and madness swept over the kingdom like a voracious beast of prey. Now, as the brutal struggle for power nears its tumultuous climax, the battered and divided kingdom faces its most terrifying invasion � one that is being spearheaded from beyond the grave...

A STORM OF SWORDS

Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King's Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne.

Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. Filled with the stench of death and decay from the destructive dynastic war, Daenerys is gathering allies and strength for an assault on King's Landing, hoping to win back the crown she believes is rightfully hers.

But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings bent on overwhelming the Seven Kingdoms arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. And as the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest in the quest for victory until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...

Brilliantly conceived and grand in scope, A Storm of Swords is the incredible tale of a world of harsh beauty and powerful magic, torn by treachery, ravaged by brutality, and consumed by greed and ambition. It portrays a war-torn landscape in which nobles and commoners, heroes and villains, the freeborn and the enslaved, all struggle to survive and to find their destinies... along with the dazzling bounty and wondrous enchantment that was once their birthright in the Seven Kingdoms.

]]> 973 George R.R. Martin Jennifer 0 4.54 2000 A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 49852
And yet �

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate, and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort - and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.]]> 652 J.K. Rowling 0439784549 Jennifer 0 4.64 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/06/22
shelves:
review:

]]> CSS Pocket Reference 1822159 163 Eric A. Meyer 0596515057 Jennifer 0 3.77 2001 CSS Pocket Reference
author: Eric A. Meyer
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/06/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Complete Guide to Sewing 34226 Guide to sewing 528 Virginia Colton 0895770261 Jennifer 0 4.37 1976 Complete Guide to Sewing
author: Virginia Colton
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/05/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Jennifer 5 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/04/28
shelves: british-literature, children-s-literature, classics, fantasy, fiction, own
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)]]> 402045 884 Marion Zimmer Bradley 0345350499 Jennifer 3 to-review 4.12 1982 The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)
author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2014/03/31
date added: 2014/03/31
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> The Great Gatsby 431447
The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career. T.S. Eliot read it three times and saw it as the "first step" American fiction had taken since Henry James; H.L. Mencken praised "the charm and beauty of the writing," as well as Fitzgerald's sharp social sense; and Thomas Wolfe hailed it as Fitzgerald'd "best work" thus far. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when, The New York Times remarked, "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale America in the 1920s that resonates with the power of myth. A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of magic, romance, and mysticism, The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth century literature.

This is the definitive, textually accurate edition of The Great Gatsby, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and authorized by the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The first edition of The Great Gatsby contained many errors resulting from Fitzgerald's extensive revisions and a rushed production schedule, and subsequent editions introduced further departures from the author's intentions. This critical edition draws on the manuscript and surviving proofs of the novel, along with Fitzgerald's later revisions and corrections, to restore the text to its original form. It is The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald intended it.
--jacket]]> 172 F. Scott Fitzgerald Jennifer 0 3.99 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1925
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/02/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols]]> 1094368 Miranda Bruce-Mitford 0751354287 Jennifer 0 3.67 1996 The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols
author: Miranda Bruce-Mitford
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/01/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols: Thousands of Signs and Symbols from around the World]]> 2944771 128 Miranda Bruce-Mitford 0888505450 Jennifer 0 3.20 1996 The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols: Thousands of Signs and Symbols from around the World
author: Miranda Bruce-Mitford
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/01/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)]]> 38447
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.]]> 311 Margaret Atwood 038549081X Jennifer 4
In 1986, when Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale, Ronald Regan had declared “Morning in America,� and society was going to renew itself by returning to the old values. The Christian right, in its infancy at the time, was rising in reaction to the Free Love, and the horrors of AIDs. The 1984 election gave us Willie Horton, and a reminder about how violent and evil society had become. Finally, even though Chernobyl happened shortly after the book was published, the Union Carbide disaster in Bopal, India was still fresh in the headlines—a reminder that even the air is not safe. It was not hard at the time to extrapolate the ultimate end that this cocktail of fundamentalism, conservatism, violence, disease, and disaster would bring, but what Atwood could not know, is how much of her novel would become reality in the world.

Amazingly, twenty years after it was written, there are elements of the story that have become true—perhaps not in the United States, where the story takes place, but throughout the world. The most obvious first connection is with many of the issues regarding women’s rights and religious fundamentalism that are taking place in the Middle East. It was shocking to read in the book that the initial attack on the US Government was blamed on Islamic Fundamentalists, though the story was written after the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing, and the massacre at the Rome airport. While this kind of terrorism was only in its infancy, Atwood’s insight is almost prophetic in the book. When the Murrah building in Oklahoma City was bombed, the initial reaction by the media was to blame Islamic terrorists, when in fact—like the novel—the terrorism was homegrown. The scale of the attack that took out the US Government in the novel is also eerily similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Reading this novel in the post-9/11 world can send chills down one’s spine: the novel includes suicide bombings at checkpoints, restrictions of rights in the name of safety, blind patriotism, and an overwhelming belief that there is only one true religion, and deviants from this should be killed.

While George Orwell’s 1984 is often referred to as an insightful perspective on modern society whenever someone puts a video camera on a street lamp, or the government begins referring to negative events with positive doublespeak. Orwell’s world never materialized in full, and likely never will materialize to the degree he created. Instead it is Atwood’s distopia, seemingly outrageous at the time it was written, that became reality. This novel should serve as a cautionary warning about the result of any extremist view taken to its logical conclusion—the Taliban is proof that society cannot dismiss the notions of this book as outrageous and extreme. They have proven in the last decade, a plausible end to the error of letting fundamentalism in any form guide one’s society.

]]> 4.15 1985 The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2005/08/01
date added: 2014/01/12
shelves: classics, science-fiction, fiction
review:
(edited from a paper I wrote in college about the book)

In 1986, when Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale, Ronald Regan had declared “Morning in America,� and society was going to renew itself by returning to the old values. The Christian right, in its infancy at the time, was rising in reaction to the Free Love, and the horrors of AIDs. The 1984 election gave us Willie Horton, and a reminder about how violent and evil society had become. Finally, even though Chernobyl happened shortly after the book was published, the Union Carbide disaster in Bopal, India was still fresh in the headlines—a reminder that even the air is not safe. It was not hard at the time to extrapolate the ultimate end that this cocktail of fundamentalism, conservatism, violence, disease, and disaster would bring, but what Atwood could not know, is how much of her novel would become reality in the world.

Amazingly, twenty years after it was written, there are elements of the story that have become true—perhaps not in the United States, where the story takes place, but throughout the world. The most obvious first connection is with many of the issues regarding women’s rights and religious fundamentalism that are taking place in the Middle East. It was shocking to read in the book that the initial attack on the US Government was blamed on Islamic Fundamentalists, though the story was written after the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing, and the massacre at the Rome airport. While this kind of terrorism was only in its infancy, Atwood’s insight is almost prophetic in the book. When the Murrah building in Oklahoma City was bombed, the initial reaction by the media was to blame Islamic terrorists, when in fact—like the novel—the terrorism was homegrown. The scale of the attack that took out the US Government in the novel is also eerily similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Reading this novel in the post-9/11 world can send chills down one’s spine: the novel includes suicide bombings at checkpoints, restrictions of rights in the name of safety, blind patriotism, and an overwhelming belief that there is only one true religion, and deviants from this should be killed.

While George Orwell’s 1984 is often referred to as an insightful perspective on modern society whenever someone puts a video camera on a street lamp, or the government begins referring to negative events with positive doublespeak. Orwell’s world never materialized in full, and likely never will materialize to the degree he created. Instead it is Atwood’s distopia, seemingly outrageous at the time it was written, that became reality. This novel should serve as a cautionary warning about the result of any extremist view taken to its logical conclusion—the Taliban is proof that society cannot dismiss the notions of this book as outrageous and extreme. They have proven in the last decade, a plausible end to the error of letting fundamentalism in any form guide one’s society.


]]> <![CDATA[The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)]]> 11129 Librarian Note: An alternate cover for this edition can be found here: 2005.

Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battle between good and evil - what more could any reader ask for in one book? The book that has it all is THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, written in 1919 by C.S. Lewis. But Lewis did not stop there. Six more books followed and together they became known as The Chronicles of Narnia.

For the past fifty years, The Chronicles of Narnia has transcended the fantasy genre to become part of the canon of classic literature. Each of the seven books is a masterpiece, drawing the reader into a world where magic meets reality, and the result is a fictional world whose scope has fascinated generations.

This edition presents all seven books - unabridged - in one impressive volume. The books are presented here according to Lewis's preferred order, each chapter graced with an illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes. This edition also contains C. S. Lewis's essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," in which he explains precisely how the magic of Narnia and the realm of fantasy appeal not only to children but to discerning readers of all ages. Deceptively simple and direct, The Chronicles of Narnia continue to captivate fans with adventures, characters, and truths that speak to all readers, even fifty years after the books were first published.]]> 778 C.S. Lewis 0060598247 Jennifer 0 4.33 1956 The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia, #1-7)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/12/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Florence: Art & Architecture 2874021 599 Rolf C. Wirtz 0760722331 Jennifer 0 4.05 1999 Florence: Art & Architecture
author: Rolf C. Wirtz
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/12/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fundamental Accounting Principles]]> 2423002 1 Kermit D. Larson 0072512431 Jennifer 0 2.67 1975 Fundamental Accounting Principles
author: Kermit D. Larson
name: Jennifer
average rating: 2.67
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ariel: The Restored Edition: A Facsimile of Plath's Manuscript, Reinstating Her Original Selection and Arrangement]]> 1281459 Sylvia Plath's famous collection, as she intended it.

When Sylvia Plath died, she not only left behind a prolific life but also her unpublished literary masterpiece, Ariel. When her husband, Ted Hughes, first brought this collection to life, it garnered worldwide acclaim, though it wasn't the draft Sylvia had wanted her readers to see. This facsimile edition restores, for the first time, Plath's original manuscript—including handwritten notes—and her own selection and arrangement of poems. This edition also includes in facsimile the complete working drafts of her poem "Ariel," which provide a rare glimpse into the creative process of a beloved writer. This publication introduces a truer version of Plath's works, and will no doubt alter her legacy forever.]]> 211 Sylvia Plath 0060732598 Jennifer 0 4.12 2004 Ariel: The Restored Edition: A Facsimile of Plath's Manuscript, Reinstating Her Original Selection and Arrangement
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/11/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The Riverside Shakespeare 1036552 Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Love's Labour's Lost
Midsummer Night's Dream
Merchant of Venice
Merry Wives of Windsor
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Troilus and Cressida
All's Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
King Henry VI. Part 1
King Henry VI. Part 2
King Henry VI. Part 3
King Richard III
King John
King Henry IV. Part 1
King Henry IV. Part 2
King Henry V
King Henry VIII
Titus Andronicus
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Timon of Athens
Pericles
Cymbeline
Winter's Tale
Tempest
Two Noble Kinsmen
Sir Thomas More
Venus and Adonis
Rape of Lucrece
Sonnets
Lover's Complaint
Passionate Pilgrim
Phoenix and the Turtle]]> 1923 William Shakespeare 0395044022 Jennifer 0 4.73 1974 The Riverside Shakespeare
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.73
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The Riverside Shakespeare 1414 2057 William Shakespeare 0395754909 Jennifer 5 4.50 1974 The Riverside Shakespeare
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2013/09/27
shelves: drama, poetry, books-i-ve-named-pets-after, british-literature, anthology, classics, own, textbooks
review:

]]> I Am Legend 2370696 THE LAST MAN ON EARTH IS NOT ALONE

Robert Neville may well be the only survivor of an incurable plague that has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him.

By day, he scavenges for food and supplies, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But all the while the infected lurk in the shadows, watching his every move, waiting for him to make a mistake....]]> 320 Richard Matheson 0765318741 Jennifer 0 3.68 1954 I Am Legend
author: Richard Matheson
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Horizon History of China 2VOL 3073066 0 C.P. Fitzgerald 828100276X Jennifer 0 3.00 1969 Horizon History of China 2VOL
author: C.P. Fitzgerald
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Magician: Apprentice, Volume 1 (Graphic Novel)]]> 1017160 168 Raymond E. Feist 0785125892 Jennifer 0 4.48 2007 Magician: Apprentice, Volume 1 (Graphic Novel)
author: Raymond E. Feist
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Systems Analysis Design 3073135 In a field as exciting and dynamic as System Analysis and Design (SAD), there will always be new techniques and approaches to develop systems more effectively and efficiently. But if you want to succeed in SAD, you'll need a solid foundation of skills you can rely on--no matter what the approach or methodology.
That's why Alan Dennis and Barb Wixom's SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN focuses on the core set of skills that all analysis must possess--from gathering rewuirements and modeling business needs to creating blueprints for how the system should be built. Now updated and revised, the new edition features reorganized chapters, new topics, and expanded detail.

* Focus on doing SAD. This text encourages you to do SAD. After presenting the how and what of each major technique, the text guides you through practice problems and then invites you to use the technique in a project.
* New and expanded coverage. The Second Edition presents a new half chapter about the project selection process, as well as more detailed coverage of economic feasibility, process modeling, data modeling, and IT architecture.
* New real-life examples, cases, and skills. The book includes a running case, which serves as a template that you can apply to your own work. Chapters also include "Concepts in Action" boxes, which describe how real companies succeeded (and failed) in performing the activities in that chapter.
* Object-oriented concepts and techniques. Object-oriented concepts are included throughout the book, and a final chapter focuses on the major elements of UML.
* Project-based approach. Topics are presented in the order in which an analyst would encounter them in a typical project.
* Tips from the pros. Interviews of seven CIOs on about project selection and management are integrated throughout the book.
* Student Web Site. Includes hands-on exercises, Word and RTF templates for project deliverables, PowerPoint slides, and relevant internet links.]]> 544 Alan Dennis 0471073229 Jennifer 0 3.00 2002 Systems Analysis Design
author: Alan Dennis
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> The Secret Cave 2272878
A shiver runs through the class. Ten refugee children are in terrible danger-hunted by the German soldiers. Can the class save these children? What will happen if the Germans find out?

Set in occupied France during WWII. The story of 20 French 5th graders who are asked to hide 10 Jewish children.]]> 80 Claire Huchet Bishop Jennifer 5 4.07 1952 The Secret Cave
author: Claire Huchet Bishop
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 1984/01/01
date added: 2013/02/15
shelves: memoirs, history, classics, children-s-literature
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)]]> 10664113 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B004XISI4A

In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance—beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the queen, with an entirely different goal in mind.

Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the rag-tag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who could undo Daenerys’s claim to Westeros forever.

Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone—a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice.

From all corners, bitter conflicts reignite, intimate betrayals are perpetrated, and a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, will face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some will fail, others will grow in the strength of darkness. But in a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics will lead inevitably to the greatest dance of all.]]> 1125 George R.R. Martin Jennifer 4 4.33 2011 A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire, #5)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/07
date added: 2012/12/07
shelves: books-i-ve-named-pets-after, fantasy, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)]]> 409207 here and here.

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.

Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Unparalleled in scope and execution, A Game of Thrones is one of those rare reading experiences that catch you up from the opening pages, won’t let you go until the end, and leave you yearning for more.

Alternate cover edition here.]]> 835 George R.R. Martin Jennifer 0 4.41 1996 A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[XML in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference (Nutshell Handbook)]]> 1718099 496 Elliotte Rusty Harold 0596000588 Jennifer 0 3.38 2001 XML in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference (Nutshell Handbook)
author: Elliotte Rusty Harold
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/10/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Handy Weather Answer Lyons, Walter A (1997) Paperback]]> 3073064 397 Walter A. Lyons 157859054X Jennifer 0 4.00 1996 Handy Weather Answer Lyons, Walter A (1997) Paperback
author: Walter A. Lyons
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Four Seasons for Charlotte 13510906 Four Seasons For Charlotte: A Parent's Year With Pediatric Cancer is a memoir chronicling one family's journey as their daughter battled a brain tumor. As Rachel documents the year of Charlotte's diagnosis, treatment, and eventual death, she shares her family's experiences with courage, humor, and honesty. Four Seasons for Charlotte is a heartfelt memoir that takes the reader on a journey not soon forgotten. Along the way, Rachel shares some of the lessons she learned about hospitals and doctors; however, the enduring message of the book is the importance of living each moment in life to its fullest.]]> 154 Rachel Reynolds 1928662250 Jennifer 4 memoirs, own, biography The Network. I followed Charlotte's story from the beginning. Although I never had a chance to meet Charlotte in person, her amazing grace and charm reached across the pixels and affected everyone who knew her. My fellow Mommy friends invited me to follow Charlotte's story and I was always touched by the honesty, humor and eloquence with which Roger and Rachel chronicled Charlotte's story on her Caring Bridge site.

This book is no different. Rachel's writing style makes you feel as if you're sitting down with a friend chatting about things. The style is breezy, but honest, sometimes heartbreakingly so. By laying herself bare, holding back nothing: good or bad, Rachel has written something that should be a textbook in any social work class.

They have turned a tragedy into something good, turning around and helping others who are going through similar life circumstances. They are extending a hand, if just to say, we know it sucks, friend, which after reading this book made me realize that's sometimes what someone needs most.
]]> 4.72 2012 Four Seasons for Charlotte
author: Rachel Reynolds
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.72
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2012/07/06
date added: 2012/07/06
shelves: memoirs, own, biography
review:
I am a tertiary member of The Network. I followed Charlotte's story from the beginning. Although I never had a chance to meet Charlotte in person, her amazing grace and charm reached across the pixels and affected everyone who knew her. My fellow Mommy friends invited me to follow Charlotte's story and I was always touched by the honesty, humor and eloquence with which Roger and Rachel chronicled Charlotte's story on her Caring Bridge site.

This book is no different. Rachel's writing style makes you feel as if you're sitting down with a friend chatting about things. The style is breezy, but honest, sometimes heartbreakingly so. By laying herself bare, holding back nothing: good or bad, Rachel has written something that should be a textbook in any social work class.

They have turned a tragedy into something good, turning around and helping others who are going through similar life circumstances. They are extending a hand, if just to say, we know it sucks, friend, which after reading this book made me realize that's sometimes what someone needs most.

]]> HTML5 for Web Designers 8148515 Book by Jeremy Keith 87 Jeremy Keith 0984442502 Jennifer 0 3.98 2010 HTML5 for Web Designers
author: Jeremy Keith
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2012/07/02
date added: 2012/07/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Scleroderma Book: A Guide for Patients and Families]]> 2561913 Writing specifically for patients and their families, Dr. Mayes draws on her extensive experience treating scleroderma to provide up-to-date, practical information that will help patients manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life. Dr. Mayes begins with an easily accessible description of the basic facts, distinguishing between the many manifestations of the disease, ranging from localized scleroderma (small patches of hardened skin, most common in children, which tend to clear up over time) to systemic scleroderma, which can attack the lungs, the kidneys, and the blood vessels, and can be life threatening. Equally important, she offers sympathetic and reassuring advice on matters that often concern patients, such as the best course of action for those who want children, what to do if the disease affects your sex life, and what you can do to help your doctor treat your illness more effectively. The book concludes with a good humored, frank discussion about how to
cope, day in and day out, with an uncertain future--how to be a "person living with" scleroderma, not a "victim suffering from" it. The new edition has updated chapters on the genetics of scleroderma and on new treatments for complications of this disease.
Touching on virtually every aspect of this disorder, The Scleroderma Book provides a reliable source of information and reassurance for patients of any age and no matter how severe their form of the disease.
Endorsed by the leading national advocate group, The Scleroderma Foundation]]> 224 Maureen D. Mayes 0195169409 Jennifer 0 to-review 4.11 1999 The Scleroderma Book: A Guide for Patients and Families
author: Maureen D. Mayes
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2012/07/02
date added: 2012/07/02
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Holy Bible: NIV Gift & Award Bible]]> 3073107 736 Anonymous 0310936543 Jennifer 0 3.50 Holy Bible: NIV Gift & Award Bible
author: Anonymous
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/03/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Handy Space Answer Book 1513894
Information-hungry kids are sure to find The Handy Bug Answer Book and The Handy Dinosaur Answer Book delicious, especially on wheat. The new Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents), is devoted to more than 700 kid-specific questions and answers, including why is the sky blue and what is this thing hanging from my nose? It has range. Like kids.

Science readers of any age will find the Handy titles on physics, weather, geography, the ocean, and space (outer) the cat's pajamas or, better yet, the parakeet's sweater, tiny though it may be.

The very helpful Handy History Answer Book surveys, in nearly 700 pages, several thousand years of big events -- wars, inventions, religion, disasters, art, epidemics, exploration, catastrophes, philosophy, and many other things that seem to have happened mostly in the past. Find out who did what and why they did it. It's a wonderful book,and we're thinking we'd really like to sell more.

With astronomers able to peer ever deeper into space, discoveries that fundamentally change our understanding of the universe continue to accelerate. Dark energy is the new anti-gravity, and strange cosmic explosions don't behave according to theory. The future is now. Find out why, in spite of gravity, the universe appears to be expanding, what happened during the big bang, why Pluto is maybe not a bona-fide planet (particularly in Manhattan), and answers to 1,200 other very interesting questions in The Handy Space Answer Book. Just what is a light year? Why is gazing across the universe like looking back into time? An easy-to-use general reference for anyone seeking to satisfy their heavenly curiosity or improve their space literacy, it tackles hundreds of technical concepts -- space-time continuum, quasars, pulsars, neutron stars, black holes, white dwarfs, dark matter, red giants, super-novas, cosmic strings, bright nebula, neutrinos, interstellar gas, spiral galaxies, planetary motion, solar flares -- in everyday language accompanied by a bevy of illustrations. Handy Space also covers cosmology through the ages, profiles major astronomers and physicists, describes major observatories, tours the local solar system and galaxy, and details the history of space exploration.]]> 576 Phillis Engelbert 1578590175 Jennifer 0 3.68 1997 The Handy Space Answer Book
author: Phillis Engelbert
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ruby in the Smoke (Sally Lockhart, #1)]]> 64428 211 Philip Pullman 0439977789 Jennifer 0 3.75 1985 The Ruby in the Smoke (Sally Lockhart, #1)
author: Philip Pullman
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/01/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)]]> 91973 alternate cover for ISBN 0553108034

George R.R. Martin, a writer of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination, has created a landmark of fantasy fiction. In his widely acclaimed A Game of Thrones, he introduced us to an extraordinary world of wonder, intrigue, and adventure. Now, in the eagerly awaited second volume in this epic saga, he once again proves himself a master myth-maker, setting a standard against which all other fantasy novels will be measured for years to come.

A CLASH OF KINGS

Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders � Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon � who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead... victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky � a comet the color of blood and flame � six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard's son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King's Landing. Robert's two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.

A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside.

Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel... and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.

Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment � a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.

]]> 761 George R.R. Martin Jennifer 0 4.34 1998 A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/12/05
shelves:
review:

]]> SQL 1804764 424 Chris Fehily 0321118030 Jennifer 0 3.33 2002 SQL
author: Chris Fehily
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/12/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction]]> 518428
Cheeky, irreverent and playfully ingenuous, this abbreviated history of democracy is everything one would expect from the writers of Comedy Central's fake news program, which recently (and somewhat scandalously) won the Television Critics Association's award for outstanding news and public affairs series. The book is laid out like a textbook, with "Discussion Questions" ("Why do you think the Framers made the Constitution so soul-crushingly boring?"), "Classroom Activities" ("Using felt and yarn, make a hand puppet of Clarence Thomas. Ta-da! You're Antonin Scalia!") and plenty of amusing graphics, including a board game that resembles the game Life but which follows a presidential term: "Optimistic press release on economy ineffective. Spin again." No one evades the authors' scrutiny, not even the Pilgrims, who came to America "to escape religious persecution... create a society where they could worship as they pleased and one day, God willing, even do some persecuting of their own." The media fares the worst, however. An entire chapter is devoted to telling the "inspirational" story of how the media "transformed itself from a mere public necessity into an entertaining profit center for ever-expanding corporate empires." But if this and other criticisms kindle a few unpatriotic feelings, a section describing how worse off the rest of the world is should buoy spirits. From its dedication ("To the huddled masses—Keep yearnin'!") to its final chapter, which lampoons the 2004 presidential candidates, this humorous sendup of American politics never fails to entertain, poke fun and provoke thought.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.]]> 227 Jon Stewart 0446532681 Jennifer 0 4.08 2004 America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
author: Jon Stewart
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/08/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense]]> 141603 But if you probe deeper, you find that we behave the way we do because we live under the spell of paradise. We are the inheritors of a sense of limitless possibilities, raised to think in the future tense and to strive toward the happiness we naturally accept.
On Paradise Drive, at once serious and comic, describes this distinct American future-mindedness that shapes our personalities and underlies our beliefs.]]> 320 David Brooks 0743227395 Jennifer 3 3.56 2004 On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense
author: David Brooks
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2011/06/21
date added: 2011/07/06
shelves: humor, library-book, non-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uffizi: Art, History, Reflections]]> 2838600 638 Gloria Fossi 0715327186 Jennifer 0 4.57 2001 Uffizi: Art, History, Reflections
author: Gloria Fossi
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2011/05/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4)]]> 147917 A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn asunder finds itself at last on the brink of peace . . . only to be launched on an even more terrifying course of destruction.

A FEAST FOR CROWS

It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. . . . With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.

But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.

It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.]]> 753 George R.R. Martin 0553801503 Jennifer 4 4.09 2005 A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2011/03/29
date added: 2011/04/10
shelves: fantasy, books-i-ve-named-pets-after, fiction, histocial-fiction, to-review, own
review:

]]> The Red Tent 4989 The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.]]> 324 Anita Diamant 0312353766 Jennifer 2 4.21 1997 The Red Tent
author: Anita Diamant
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at: 2011/04/10
date added: 2011/04/10
shelves: fiction, histocial-fiction, i-can-t-believe-i-read-this, library-book, to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife]]> 14990 311 Mary Roach 0393329127 Jennifer 3 3.60 2005 Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
author: Mary Roach
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2011/03/29
date added: 2011/03/29
shelves: history, library-book, humor, non-fiction, to-review, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Home Made Simple: Fresh Ideas to Make Your Own]]> 8856070

Look inside and discover:


* Organized Life
* Easy-to-achieve home-management ideas, including how to make the most of your space
* Celebrate Living
* Great new ways to entertain in your home, including heartwarming gift ideas
* Clever Kitchen
* Simple recipe favorites and helpful tips for kitchen storage and cleaning
* Outside Pleasures
* Unique outdoor projects for the family, plus advice for the garden, porch, and patio
* Easy Décor
* Stylish and realistic decorating ideas, plus dozens of DIY home improvements
]]> 336 Home Made Simple 0312641478 Jennifer 3 non-fiction, library-book 3.24 2010 Home Made Simple: Fresh Ideas to Make Your Own
author: Home Made Simple
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/03/29
date added: 2011/03/29
shelves: non-fiction, library-book
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers]]> 32145 Stiff an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.]]> 304 Mary Roach 0393324826 Jennifer 4 Mary Roach regarding her new book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void where everyone referenced this book as one of the funniest, most irreverent books about death out there. So I figured I'd start at the beginning, with her first book, and maybe work my way up, if I liked them.

Oh yeah, I liked this book. A lot. Rarely does a book discussing what happens to your meat parts when you die make you giggle as much as this one. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers does not really delve into the spiritual aspect of death, with the exception of a few flawed experiments to find out if the soul leaves the body upon death, but it does deal with what happens with all the stuff (by that, I mean our corporeal remains) after we expire.

An interesting thing happened because I read this book. A while ago, I asked my husband what he'd like when he died. He told me that he wanted to donate his body to science. Ick I thought, and told him I wouldn't do it. Why? Because, well, the thought of a bunch of first year med students dissecting the love of my life seemed upsetting. "Why can't you just get cremated like everyone else?" I said.

Then I read this book, and donating your body can mean everything from crash test dummies, to compost and even educational art exhibits, suddenly, hanging out in a coffin six feet under, pumped full of formaldehyde seems, well, quaint. So with a hearty chuckle, I'm convinced that my meat suit will go on to science as well. Hopefully, though, not to end up in the FBI decomposition farm. That's still a little too icky for me.]]> 4.06 2003 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
author: Mary Roach
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2010/12/22
date added: 2010/12/22
shelves: history, humor, non-fiction, library-book, science
review:
I kept on seeing interview with Mary Roach regarding her new book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void where everyone referenced this book as one of the funniest, most irreverent books about death out there. So I figured I'd start at the beginning, with her first book, and maybe work my way up, if I liked them.

Oh yeah, I liked this book. A lot. Rarely does a book discussing what happens to your meat parts when you die make you giggle as much as this one. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers does not really delve into the spiritual aspect of death, with the exception of a few flawed experiments to find out if the soul leaves the body upon death, but it does deal with what happens with all the stuff (by that, I mean our corporeal remains) after we expire.

An interesting thing happened because I read this book. A while ago, I asked my husband what he'd like when he died. He told me that he wanted to donate his body to science. Ick I thought, and told him I wouldn't do it. Why? Because, well, the thought of a bunch of first year med students dissecting the love of my life seemed upsetting. "Why can't you just get cremated like everyone else?" I said.

Then I read this book, and donating your body can mean everything from crash test dummies, to compost and even educational art exhibits, suddenly, hanging out in a coffin six feet under, pumped full of formaldehyde seems, well, quaint. So with a hearty chuckle, I'm convinced that my meat suit will go on to science as well. Hopefully, though, not to end up in the FBI decomposition farm. That's still a little too icky for me.
]]> <![CDATA[The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (The Twilight Saga, #3.5)]]> 7937462 FANS OF THE TWILIGHT SAGA WILL BE ENTHRALLED BY THIS RIVETING STORY OF BREE TANNER, A CHARACTER FIRST INTRODUCED IN ECLIPSE, AND THE DARKER SIDE OF THE NEWBORN VAMPIRE WORLD SHE INHABITS.

BREE TANNER CAN BARELY REMEMBER LIFE before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes, and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood... life before she became a vampire.

ALL BREE KNOWS IS THAT LIVING WITH HER fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself, and above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

THEN BREE FINDS AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they only know as her. As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a lie, how do you find the truth?

IN ANOTHER IRRESISTIBLE COMBINATION of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.]]> 178 Stephenie Meyer 031612558X Jennifer 3 library-book, to-review 3.52 2009 The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (The Twilight Saga, #3.5)
author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2010/09/10
date added: 2010/12/06
shelves: library-book, to-review
review:

]]> The Poisonwood Bible 7244 The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.]]> 546 Barbara Kingsolver 0060786507 Jennifer 4 to-review 4.10 1998 The Poisonwood Bible
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2010/10/14
date added: 2010/10/14
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]> 386187
The story is peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproarious black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.]]> 386 John Berendt 0679751521 Jennifer 0 to-review 3.91 1994 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
author: John Berendt
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/09/10
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I'm Just Here for the Food: Kitchen User's Manual]]> 751102 I'm Just Here For the Food.Designed to be a constant kitchen companion, the Kitchen User's Manual has eight separate sections for your recipes, notes, and other cooking essentials. Each section includes a durable full-page plastic pocket to hold clippings, equipment manuals and warranties, and other kitchen paperwork. Blank pages have plenty of space for clippings or handwritten recipes—plus notes on the side. And it's the place for all that cooking information that's rarely gathered in one place: temperature and measurement conversion charts, ingredient substitutions, guides to cuts of meat, cutting and carving diagrams, sanitation and safety information, and much more.

Author Bio: Alton Brown is the host of the Food Network's Good Eats. He began his TV career as a cameraman and commercial director, but when e wasn't shooting he was cooking and watching cooking shows, which he thought were dull and uninformative. Tired of the griping, Brown's wife, DeAnna, suggested they do something about it. They moved to Vermont, where Brown attended the New England Culinary Institute. During the years that followed, he concocted a new kind of food show, one that blends wit with wisdom, history with pop culture, and science with common cooking sense. Alton and DeAnna live in the southern United States with their daughter, Zoey, one worthless hound dog, and an iguana named Spike.

]]> 160 Alton Brown 1584792981 Jennifer 0 4.10 2002 I'm Just Here for the Food: Kitchen User's Manual
author: Alton Brown
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Halloween Decorating (Arts & Crafts for Home Decorating)]]> 3073063 128 Unknown 0865734143 Jennifer 0 3.33 1998 Halloween Decorating (Arts & Crafts for Home Decorating)
author: Unknown
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Rx: A Practical Guide to Harnessing Our Innate Capacity for Health and Healing]]> 6514865 A revolutionary-yet simple and practical-guide to staying fit and healthy based on evolutionary medicine.

Countless books and nutrition experts have advised modern readers to adopt the best of the "cave-man diet" that avoids processed foods and refined carbohydrates. But how and what people eat is only the beginning of what the study of human evolution can teach us about overall health and well-being. Based on the latest research in the burgeoning field of evolutionary medicine, Evolution Rx provides readers with not only an understanding of the underlying science of this discipline but with a practical means to making nutritional and lifestyle changes that address a wide range of topics from exercise and injury prevention to allergies, heart health, cancer, Alzheimer's, and more:

� Why eating more fat, not less, can fuel weight loss
� Why human bodies can't register fullness when eating carbohydrates-and what to do about it
� Why getting more sun leads to better health
� Why stretching before exercise-or after an injury- is a bad idea
� Why children should be encouraged to get dirty

Provocative, science-based, and practical, Evolution Rx presents a new and powerful way to understand the human body and how to promote vibrant health.]]> 336 William Meller 0399534954 Jennifer 3
That being said, I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much if I hadn't heard the interview. I strongly suggest if you read the book to also find that interview. The book itself is more of an overview of Dr. Meller's hypothesis. The interview went far more in death into some of the topics that the book only touches on. However, there is a good reason for this, the book is written in such a way that it is approachable for non-medical, non-science and more typical background. it is written for the common man.

The book reads as a how-to guide of sorts, where Dr. Meller tackles such subjects as the caveman diet and why we crave the foods we do, how to give your immune system a good healthy workout, aches and pains and what they mean, and why the sun might be more beneficial than originally thought. He traces everything back to thinking about how our ancient ancestors evolved to adapt to a world that was constantly trying to kill them. he justifies his arguments with more anecdotal than scientific proof, but as I said before this is a book for a layperson. If you want more on the science, look for additional interviews and material to find out what is going on behind the pages.

A few things from the book have made me completely rethink some of y positions on healthcare. For instance, when my kids have a fever, Instead of rushing to give them fever reducing medicine, I only do so if the fever is uncomfortable, or their pediatrician (who also support this idea) recommends it. What else stuck out to me was the idea that pain means you need to slow down and let your body heal. I try to remember and pay attention to that.


In all, it's an easy and quick read, and it will make you think. when my kid hangs out with a kid with a cold, I'm helping build his immune system. ]]> 3.84 2009 Evolution Rx: A Practical Guide to Harnessing Our Innate Capacity for Health and Healing
author: William Meller
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2010/05/18
date added: 2010/07/30
shelves: non-fiction, own, potty-reading, science, self-help
review:
I heard an interview with Dr.Meller on the Skepticality podcast and knew for sure I needed to read this book. The interview was fascinating, and the concept that our bodies have evolved to take care of itself, and looking at how and why our ancestors adapted reveals insights into how to improve our own health.

That being said, I don't think I would have enjoyed the book as much if I hadn't heard the interview. I strongly suggest if you read the book to also find that interview. The book itself is more of an overview of Dr. Meller's hypothesis. The interview went far more in death into some of the topics that the book only touches on. However, there is a good reason for this, the book is written in such a way that it is approachable for non-medical, non-science and more typical background. it is written for the common man.

The book reads as a how-to guide of sorts, where Dr. Meller tackles such subjects as the caveman diet and why we crave the foods we do, how to give your immune system a good healthy workout, aches and pains and what they mean, and why the sun might be more beneficial than originally thought. He traces everything back to thinking about how our ancient ancestors evolved to adapt to a world that was constantly trying to kill them. he justifies his arguments with more anecdotal than scientific proof, but as I said before this is a book for a layperson. If you want more on the science, look for additional interviews and material to find out what is going on behind the pages.

A few things from the book have made me completely rethink some of y positions on healthcare. For instance, when my kids have a fever, Instead of rushing to give them fever reducing medicine, I only do so if the fever is uncomfortable, or their pediatrician (who also support this idea) recommends it. What else stuck out to me was the idea that pain means you need to slow down and let your body heal. I try to remember and pay attention to that.


In all, it's an easy and quick read, and it will make you think. when my kid hangs out with a kid with a cold, I'm helping build his immune system.
]]> <![CDATA[Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief]]> 3420416 269 Dale McGowan 0814410960 Jennifer 0 to-review 4.19 2009 Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief
author: Dale McGowan
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at: 2010/07/30
date added: 2010/07/30
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Little Green Book of Absinthe: An Essential Companion with Lore, Trivia, and Classic and Contemporary Cocktails]]> 7554967
A celebration of "the green goddess"-this is the first book to share absinthe recipes since it was recently legalized in the U.S.

This enticing little volume presents a collection of more than 100 absinthe cocktail recipes that draw upon the classic roots of the drink as well as its new iterations. Readers will be entertained with nuggets of absinthe history and trivia, including the tradition of the green fairy, famous devotees of the drink, and the myths (or facts) of its hallucinatory properties.

Readers will learn
•America's most famous early cocktail, the sazerac, was a New Orleans creation that called for a dash of absinthe

•When the absinthe backlash started in the 1890s, Edgar Degas' masterpiece L'Absinthe was booed off the auction block at Christie's in London

•An experienced absintheur can identify a brand from across the room just by watching how it louches-the way the herbs' oils cloud the drink as the bartender adds water]]> 176 Paul Owens 0399535632 Jennifer 0 to-review 3.31 2010 The Little Green Book of Absinthe: An Essential Companion with Lore, Trivia, and Classic and Contemporary Cocktails
author: Paul Owens
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/07/30
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> Groom Falconer: Poems 498207 Hard cover 61 Norman Dubie 0393305708 Jennifer 0 own, poetry 4.44 1989 Groom Falconer: Poems
author: Norman Dubie
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at: 1994/10/01
date added: 2010/07/30
shelves: own, poetry
review:
one of my all-time favorite poems "Groom Falconer" is in this book
]]> <![CDATA[Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless]]> 91322
Based on the author’s extensive reporting—and the inside look at the industry he got while working at a leading “lifestyle� publisher� SHAM shows how thinly credentialed “experts� now dispense advice on everything from mental health to relationships to diet to personal finance to business strategy. Americans spend upward of $8 billion every year on self-help programs and products. And those staggering financial costs are actually the least of our worries.

SHAM demonstrates how the self-help movement’s core philosophies have infected virtually every aspect of American life—the home, the workplace, the schools, and more. And Salerno exposes the downside of being uplifted, showing how the “empowering� message that dominates self-help today proves just as damaging as the blame-shifting rhetoric of self-help’s “Recovery� movement.

SHAM also

� How self-help gurus conduct extensive market research to reach the same customers over and over—without ever helping them

� The inside story on the most notorious gurus—from Dr. Phil to Dr. Laura, from Tony Robbins to John Gray

� How your company might be wasting money on motivational speakers, “executive coaches,� and other quick fixes that often hurt quality, productivity, and morale

� How the Recovery movement has eradicated notions of personal responsibility by labeling just about anything—from drug abuse to “sex addiction� to shoplifting—a dysfunction or disease

� How Americans blindly accept that twelve-step programs offer the only hope of treating addiction, when in fact these programs can do more harm than good

� How the self-help movement inspired the disastrous emphasis on self-esteem in our schools

� How self-help rhetoric has pushed people away from proven medical treatments by persuading them that they can cure themselves through sheer application of will

As Salerno shows, to describe self-help as a waste of time and money vastly understates its collateral damage. And with SHAM , the self-help industry has finally been called to account for the damage it has done.


Also available as an eBook]]> 288 Steve Salerno 1400054109 Jennifer 0 to-read 3.41 2005 Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
author: Steve Salerno
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/07/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion]]> 54170 304 Dale McGowan 0814474268 Jennifer 0 to-review 4.07 2007 Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion
author: Dale McGowan
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/07/18
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life]]> 25460
"As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain.

"Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel..."

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

"This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."]]> 370 Barbara Kingsolver 0060852550 Jennifer 0 to-review 4.03 2007 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2010/07/18
date added: 2010/07/18
shelves: to-review
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1)]]> 43889
His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In a dark age it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the best of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing so much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his own soul. Falling in love would destroy them—for reasons Richard can't imagine and Kahlan dare not say.

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword—to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed . . . or that their time has run out.

This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.]]> 836 Terry Goodkind 0765346524 Jennifer 0 library-book, to-read 4.12 1994 Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1)
author: Terry Goodkind
name: Jennifer
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/05/17
shelves: library-book, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Landscape Planning: Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener]]> 3073071 240 Judith Adam 1552096181 Jennifer 0 3.40 2002 Landscape Planning: Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener
author: Judith Adam
name: Jennifer
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/05/07
shelves:
review:

]]>