Remy's bookshelf: currently-reading en-US Tue, 06 May 2025 06:29:01 -0700 60 Remy's bookshelf: currently-reading 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Traces of Love 29600147 34 Eileen Chang Remy 0 yknow, currently-reading 3.52 Traces of Love
author: Eileen Chang
name: Remy
average rating: 3.52
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/06
shelves: yknow, currently-reading
review:

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Gunk Baby 60645693 A black comedy workplace thriller set in a sprawling indoor shopping mall about a cabal of low-wage workers who plot violent acts of “resistance” against their managers.

In the suburb of Par Mars stand a pair of identical shopping centers, each with the same harsh, fluorescent lights, climate-controlled environment, and monotonous encounters between employees and shoppers.

Reviving an ancient Chinese ritual passed down by her mother, twenty-four-year-old Leen has opened an ear-cleaning and massage studio in the Topic Heights Shopping Center. But the social fabric of Par Mars is coming loose, and a quiet unrest is growing among the mall’s low-wage workers as store managers begin to fall victim to increasingly brutal and spontaneous attacks. When Leen befriends Jean Paul, a pharmacist enmeshed in a cryptic online community, she finds herself embroiled in a troubling plot to disrupt the routines of the town’s banal consumer culture.

With fierce intellect, sharp wit, and original prose, Jamie Marina Lau interprets and vividly portrays the everyday violence and toil of contemporary working life. Encapsulating millennial ennui and middle-class boredom, Gunk Baby is an inventive and deliberate novel from a fresh, new, exciting voice.]]>
327 Jamie Marina Lau 1662601468 Remy 0 3.05 2021 Gunk Baby
author: Jamie Marina Lau
name: Remy
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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Owlish 86539674 215 Dorothy Tse 1804270350 Remy 0 currently-reading, yknow 3.29 2020 Owlish
author: Dorothy Tse
name: Remy
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: currently-reading, yknow
review:

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Bread and Butter 22172323 ?
But when their dilettante younger brother, Harry, opens his own restaurant, Britt and Leo find their lives thrown off-kilter. Important employees quit and reappear in Harry’s kitchen, their “classic” menu starts to seem overly safe, and romance threatens to bubble up in the most inconvenient of places. As the brothers struggle to find a new family dynamic, Bread and Butter proves to be a dazzling novel that’s as much about siblinghood as it is about the mysterious world behind the kitchen door.?
?]]>
336 Michelle Wildgen 0345805437 Remy 0 3.29 2014 Bread and Butter
author: Michelle Wildgen
name: Remy
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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Under the Influence 60290773 The Devil Wears Prada meets The Assistants in this compulsively readable debut following a young woman who takes a job working for an enigmatic influencer and quickly discovers there’s a dark side to being a #girlboss.

After a series of go-nowhere jobs in the New York publishing world, Harper Cruz is broke, lonely, and desperate for a salary that won’t leave her scrambling to make rent each month. So when she stumbles across a job posting from an influencer offering triple her last paycheck, she automatically submits her résumé.

Harper may not be familiar with self-help guru Charlotte Green, but her relentless optimism and charismatic can-do spirit has created a cult-like following of women across the country. When she selects Harper among thousands of other applicants in less than twenty-four hours, it’s obvious she sees something she likes. Despite the pressure to accept the offer just as quickly as she’s been given it, Harper decides to take a leap of faith and become the newest member of The Greenhouse.

Accepting the job means a move to Nashville, and Harper is quickly dazzled by the glamorous world Charlotte has built in Music City. The Greenhouse is more than a workplace—it’s a family—and Harper soon finds herself swept into its inner circle. At first, she loves working in such an inspirational environment, where mandatory dance parties, daily intentions, and group bonding activities make up for long hours and Charlotte’s persistent demands for loyalty. But the deeper Harper is pulled into Charlotte’s world, the more she realizes that having it all and being it all comes with a price.]]>
320 Noelle Crooks Remy 0 3.39 2023 Under the Influence
author: Noelle Crooks
name: Remy
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: seduced-by-cover, external-rec, currently-reading, yknow
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<![CDATA[DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)]]> 216458248
For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at the store is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including DallerGut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.

A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, this is the first book in a bestselling duology for anyone exhausted from the reality of their daily life.]]>
246 Lee Mi-ye 1035412764 Remy 0 3.65 2020 DallerGut Dream Department Store (DallerGut Dream Department Store, #1)
author: Lee Mi-ye
name: Remy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Out 18365043
The ringleader of this cover-up, Masako Katori, emerges as the emotional heart of Out and as one of the shrewdest, most clear-eyed creations in recent fiction. Masako's own search for a way out of the straitjacket of a dead-end life leads her, too, to take drastic action.

The complex yet riveting narrative seamlessly combines a convincing glimpse into the grimy world of Japan's yakuza with a brilliant portrayal of the psychology of a violent crime and the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse between seasoned detectives and a group of determined but inexperienced criminals. Kirino has mastered a Thelma and Louise kind of graveyard humor that illuminates her stunning evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendship that bolsters them in the aftermath.]]>
416 Natsuo Kirino Remy 0 currently-reading, yknow 3.28 1997 Out
author: Natsuo Kirino
name: Remy
average rating: 3.28
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
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Y/N 58523626 Y/Na novel about a Korean American woman living in Berlin whose obsession with a K-pop idol sends her to Seoul on a journey of literary self-destruction.

It’s as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert, where Moon dances as if his movements are creating their own gravitational field; on live streams, as fans from around the world comment in dozens of languages; even on skincare products endorsed by the wildly popular Korean boyband, of which Moon is the youngest, most luminous member. Seized by ineffable desire, our unnamed narrator begins writing Y/N fanfic—in which you, the reader, insert [Your/Name] and play out an intimate relationship with the unattainable star.

Then Moon suddenly retires, vanishing from the public eye. As Y/N flies from Berlin to Seoul to be with Moon, our narrator, too, journeys to Korea in search of the object of her love. An escalating series of mistranslations and misidentifications lands her at the headquarters of the Kafkaesque entertainment company that manages the boyband until, at a secret location, together with Moon at last, art and real life approach their final convergence.

Surreal, hilarious, and shrewdly poignant, Y/N is a provocative literary debut about the universal longing for transcendence and the tragic struggle to assert one’s singular story amidst the amnesiac effects of globalization. Esther Yi’s prose unsettles the boundary between high and mass art, exploding our expectations of a novel about “identity” and offering in its place a sui generis picture of the loneliness that afflicts modern life.]]>
204 Esther Yi 1662601549 Remy 0 2.92 2023 Y/N
author: Esther Yi
name: Remy
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: external-rec, seduced-by-cover, yknow, currently-reading
review:

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Ballet Shoes (Shoes #1) 26496387 325 Noel Streatfeild 0141359803 Remy 0 4.10 1936 Ballet Shoes (Shoes #1)
author: Noel Streatfeild
name: Remy
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: i-own, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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How to Build a Girl 18657622 What do you do in your teenage years when you realise what your parents taught you wasn’t enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes - and build yourself.

It’s 1990. Johanna Morrigan, 14, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there’s no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde – fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer! She will save her poverty stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer – like Jo in Little Women, or the Brontes - but without the dying young bit.

By 16, she’s smoking cigarettes, getting drunk and working for a music paper. She’s writing pornographic letters to rock-stars, having all the kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less.

But what happens when Johanna realises she’s built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters and a head full of paperbacks, enough to build a girl after all?

Imagine The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease, with a soundtrack by My Bloody Valentine and Happy Mondays. As beautiful as it is funny, How To Build a Girl is a brilliant coming-of-age novel in DMs and ripped tights, that captures perfectly the terror and joy of trying to discover exactly who it is you are going to be.]]>
352 Caitlin Moran 0091949009 Remy 0 3.76 2014 How to Build a Girl
author: Caitlin Moran
name: Remy
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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Dead Relatives 58471994
Dead Relatives is the highly anticipated, no-holds-barred short story collection from Lucie McKnight Hardy, and readers can expect more of the suspense and trepidation evident in her debut novel, Water Shall Refuse Them.

Not for the faint-hearted, Dead Relatives invites you behind closed doors, and will leave you wondering if it’s better that they’re kept shut and firmly locked.]]>
213 Lucie McKnight Hardy 1911585827 Remy 0 3.90 2021 Dead Relatives
author: Lucie McKnight Hardy
name: Remy
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: seduced-by-cover, external-rec, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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Sunrise: Radiant Stories 120999267 "A knockout."?—Publishers Weekly (Starred?review)

"A remarkable collection." —Kirkus Reviews

A collection of contemplative, lyrical stories examining the visible and invisible consequences of atomic power on Japanese society

Sunrise is a collection of interconnected stories continuing Erika Kobayashi’s examination of the effects of nuclear power on generations of women. Connecting changes to everyday life to the development of the atomic bomb, Sunrise shows us how the discovery of radioactive power has shaped our history and continues to shape our future.

In the opening, eponymous story “Sunrise,” Yoko, born exactly two years and one day after Nagasaki was decimated, mirrors her life to the development of nuclear power in Japan. In “Precious Stones,” four daughters take their elderly mother to the restorative waters of a radium spring, exchanging tales of immortality. In “Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey,” a woman goes into labor during the final days of WWII. And finally, “The Forest of Wild Birds” shows Erika visiting the site of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, touring grounds that were once covered in green.

Translator Brian Bergstrom returns in this collection, bringing to life Kobayashi’s unsettling, lasting, and striking prose. The stories in Sunrise force a reckoning with the lasting effects of known and unknown histories and asks how much of modern life is influenced by forces outside of our control.]]>
242 Erika Kobayashi 1662601123 Remy 0 3.20 Sunrise: Radiant Stories
author: Erika Kobayashi
name: Remy
average rating: 3.20
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Thirst for Love (Vintage Classics)]]> 19905331 182 Yukio Mishima Remy 0 3.67 1950 Thirst for Love (Vintage Classics)
author: Yukio Mishima
name: Remy
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1950
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories]]> 38507516
Kat Howard has already been called a “remarkable writer” by Neil Gaiman and her “dark and enticing” ( Publishers Weekly ) debut novel, Roses and Rot , was beloved by critics and fans alike.

Now, you can experience her collected shorter works, including two new stories, in A Cathedral of Myth and Bone . In these stories, equally as beguiling and spellbinding as her novels, Howard expands into the enchanted territory of myths and saints, as well as an Arthurian novella set upon a college campus, “Once, Future,” which retells the story of King Arthur—through the women’s eyes.

Captivating and engrossing, and adorned in gorgeous prose, Kat Howard’s stories are a fresh and stylish take on fantasy. “Kat Howard seems to possess a magic of her own, of making characters come alive and scenery so vivid, you forget it exists only on the page” (Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose).]]>
352 Kat Howard 1481492160 Remy 0 3.70 2019 A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories
author: Kat Howard
name: Remy
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: seduced-by-cover, external-rec, i-own, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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<![CDATA[The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)]]> 12048049
There's no lack of suspects: his wife, whose dagger served as the weapon; his embittered son, who would have killed for independence; and his mistress, who refused to be ignored - and each felt deserving of the dead man's fortune. The police think they've found the culprit. But Poirot has his doubts. Why is the dead man wearing an overcoat that is too big for him? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse...]]>
195 Agatha Christie Remy 0 currently-reading, yknow 4.15 1923 The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot, #2)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Remy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1923
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: currently-reading, yknow
review:

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<![CDATA[Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies]]> 43512398
With black-and-white drawings throughout
Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library]]>
288 Moss Roberts 0394739949 Remy 0 currently-reading
The Cricket: an official goes through several life-stopping crises including getting whipped and having his son stay unconscious for a whole year because of said cricket. a cricket

The Waiting Maid's Parrot: a parrot plays matchmaker. it's also a reincarnated girl trying to help her sister.

Sea Prince: this gives off the vibes of the Assia Wevill hair dye commercial

A Girl in Green: Alexa play Thnks Fr th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy

Butterfly Dreams: you either are a butterfly or you aren't

Suited to Be a Fish: fish-kinning episode goes horribly wrong (not clickbait)

Li Ching and the Rain God: also known as the importance of following someone's god damn instructions

Jade Leaves: an artisan is famed for making leaves out of jade that are so perfect and look so real but the moral is how this is ultimately a waste of time. anyway this is how people talk to me after they find out I'm in uni for an arts degree

The Wizard's Lesson: strangely epic and tragic. But also love can and WILL stop you from achieving everything you want

The Priest of Hardwork Mountains: this is the perfect allegory for what I feel is going to happen after going to uni for an arts degree and then trying to apply it in the real world

White Lotus Magic: always have a contingency plan. Even if the plan is to get you and your whole family eaten by a giant

The Peach Thief: Alexa play 魔术先生 by Jay Chou]]>
4.03 1980 Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies
author: Moss Roberts
name: Remy
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:
You know I love a good story.

The Cricket: an official goes through several life-stopping crises including getting whipped and having his son stay unconscious for a whole year because of said cricket. a cricket

The Waiting Maid's Parrot: a parrot plays matchmaker. it's also a reincarnated girl trying to help her sister.

Sea Prince: this gives off the vibes of the Assia Wevill hair dye commercial

A Girl in Green: Alexa play Thnks Fr th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy

Butterfly Dreams: you either are a butterfly or you aren't

Suited to Be a Fish: fish-kinning episode goes horribly wrong (not clickbait)

Li Ching and the Rain God: also known as the importance of following someone's god damn instructions

Jade Leaves: an artisan is famed for making leaves out of jade that are so perfect and look so real but the moral is how this is ultimately a waste of time. anyway this is how people talk to me after they find out I'm in uni for an arts degree

The Wizard's Lesson: strangely epic and tragic. But also love can and WILL stop you from achieving everything you want

The Priest of Hardwork Mountains: this is the perfect allegory for what I feel is going to happen after going to uni for an arts degree and then trying to apply it in the real world

White Lotus Magic: always have a contingency plan. Even if the plan is to get you and your whole family eaten by a giant

The Peach Thief: Alexa play 魔术先生 by Jay Chou
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Big Swiss 50361265 A brilliantly original and funny novel about a sex therapist’s transcriptionist who falls in love with a client while listening to her sessions. When they accidentally meet in real life, an explosive affair ensues.

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house, built in 1737, is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss, since she’s tall, stoic, and originally from Switzerland. Greta is fascinated by Big Swiss’s refreshing attitude toward trauma. They both have dark histories, but Big Swiss chooses to remain unattached to her suffering while Greta continues to be tortured by her past.

One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice at the dog park. In a panic, she introduces herself with a fake name and they quickly become enmeshed. Although Big Swiss is unaware of Greta’s true identity, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…

Bold, outlandish, and filled with irresistible characters, Big Swiss is both a love story and also a deft examination of infidelity, mental health, sexual stereotypes, and more—from an amazingly talented, one-of-a-kind voice in contemporary fiction.]]>
333 Jen Beagin 1982153105 Remy 0 3.62 2023 Big Swiss
author: Jen Beagin
name: Remy
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: external-rec, seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge]]> 10412660 320 Eleanor Herman 0061751553 Remy 0 yknow, currently-reading 3.71 2004 Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
author: Eleanor Herman
name: Remy
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: yknow, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[My Uncle Oswald (Expect the Unexpected)]]> 18972176 Meet Oswald Hendryks Cornelius, Roald Dahl's most disgraceful and extraordinary character . . . Aside from being thoroughly debauched, strikingly attractive and astonishingly wealthy, Uncle Oswald was the greatest bounder, bon vivant and fornicator of all time. In this instalment of his scorchingly frank memoirs he tells of his early career and erotic education at the hands of a number of enthusiastic teachers, of discovering the invigorating properties of the Sudanese Blister Beetle, and of the gorgeous Yasmin Howcomely, his electrifying partner in a most unusual series of thefts . . .'Raunchy and cheeky entertainment' Sunday Express'Immense fun' Daily TelegraphRoald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.]]> 210 Roald Dahl 0141941995 Remy 0 currently-reading, yknow 3.95 1979 My Uncle Oswald (Expect the Unexpected)
author: Roald Dahl
name: Remy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves: currently-reading, yknow
review:

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<![CDATA[Burning Your Boats: Collected Stories]]> 81019 Burning your Boats they are gathered for the first time; this is a key collection and a major event for Angela Carter aficionados.]]> 576 Angela Carter 0099592916 Remy 0 currently-reading 4.16 1995 Burning Your Boats: Collected Stories
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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White Cat, Black Dog: Stories 68754567
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers - characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge, or their own sense of purpose.

In 'The White Cat's Divorce', an aging billionaire sends his three sons on a series of absurd goose chases to decide which will become his heir. In 'The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear', a professor with a delicate health condition becomes stranded for days in an airport hotel after a conference, desperate to get home to her wife and young daughter, and in acute danger of being late for an appointment that cannot be missed. In 'Skinder's Veil', a young man agrees to take over a remote house-sitting gig for a friend. But what should be a chance to focus on his long-avoided dissertation instead becomes a wildly unexpected journey, as the house seems to be a portal for otherworldly travelers - or perhaps a door into his own mysterious psyche.

Twisting and winding in astonishing ways, expertly blending realism and the speculative, witty, empathetic, and never predictable - these stories remind us once again of why Kelly Link is incomparable in the art of short fiction.]]>
260 Kelly Link 1804548413 Remy 0 3.53 2023 White Cat, Black Dog: Stories
author: Kelly Link
name: Remy
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: external-rec, seduced-by-cover, currently-reading, i-own
review:

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<![CDATA[Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses]]> 56044775 A “comprehensive and enjoyable” guide to the centuries-long history of dolls’ houses and how they illuminate our past (Books Monthly).Dolls’ houses are tiny slices of social history that give us a fascinating glimpse into domestic life over the last three hundred years. Through text and photos, Nicola Lisle explores the origins and history of dolls’ houses and their furnishings, from the earliest known dolls’ house in sixteenth-century Bavaria to the present, and looks at how they reflect the architecture, fashions, social attitudes, innovations, and craftsmanship of their day. She discusses the changing role of dolls’ houses and highlights significant events and people to give historical context, as well as taking a look at some of the leading dolls’ house manufacturers such as Silber & Fleming and Lines Brothers Ltd (later Triang).Included are numerous examples of interesting dolls’ houses, the stories behind them, and where to see them—including famous models such as Queen Mary’s spectacular 1920s dolls’ house at Windsor Castle. There is also a chapter on model towns and villages, which became popular in the twentieth century and also give us a window on the past by replicating real places or capturing scenes typical of a bygone era, plus advice for dolls’ house collectors, a detailed directory of places to visit, a timeline of dolls’ house history, and recommended further reading.]]> 225 Nicola Lisle 1526751836 Remy 0 currently-reading 3.60 Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses
author: Nicola Lisle
name: Remy
average rating: 3.60
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Roaming 62207006 443 Jillian Tamaki Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.75 2023 Roaming
author: Jillian Tamaki
name: Remy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Thirteenth Tale 864037
Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past--and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic author Vida Winter? And what is it in Margaret's own troubled past that causes her to fall so powerfully under Angelfilds spell?]]>
456 Diane Setterfield 0752881671 Remy 0 3.98 2006 The Thirteenth Tale
author: Diane Setterfield
name: Remy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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Breasts and Eggs 57034991
Eight years later, we meet Natsuko again. She is now a writer and find herself on a journey back to her native city, returning to memories of that summer and her family’s past as she faces her own uncertain future.]]>
430 Mieko Kawakami 152907441X Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.88 2008 Breasts and Eggs
author: Mieko Kawakami
name: Remy
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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CLOVER MOON 32491699 "My mother chose Clover because she wanted me to have a lucky name. Four-leaved clovers are considered very lucky, I believe."

Clover Moon lives in poverty-stricken Victorian London, and her brilliant imagination is her best escape. Until tragedy plunges her into a world of grief.

Clover soon realises that everything she loved about home is gone. She hears of a place she could run to, but where will she find the courage - and the chance - to break free?

Could leaving her family be what she needs to find a place that really feels like home?

Clover Moon is a brilliant and brave heroine from the wonderful world of Hetty Feather, brought to us by the bestselling Jacqueline Wilson.]]>
400 Jacqueline Wilson 0440870259 Remy 0 currently-reading, yknow 4.29 2016 CLOVER MOON
author: Jacqueline Wilson
name: Remy
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: currently-reading, yknow
review:

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A Little Life 25334922 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ? MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST ? WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE ?

A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.]]>
720 Hanya Yanagihara 1447294823 Remy 0 4.28 2015 A Little Life
author: Hanya Yanagihara
name: Remy
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)]]> 28434662 The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel. It was first published in 1958, and is mostly a composite of earlier works written between 1938 and 1941. The central theme is an exploration of human nature regarding power and justice, as the boy Arthur becomes king and attempts to quell the prevalent "might makes right" attitude with his idea of chivalry.

Includes:
The Sword in the Stone
The Queen of Air and Darkness
The Ill-Made Knight
The Candle in the Wind]]>
864 T.H. White Remy 0 3.89 1958 The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)
author: T.H. White
name: Remy
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1958
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Stargirl (Stargirl, #1) 6567038
But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her.

In a celebration of nonconformity, Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love.]]>
200 Jerry Spinelli Remy 0 currently-reading 4.12 2000 Stargirl (Stargirl, #1)
author: Jerry Spinelli
name: Remy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Memorial Drive 57400291
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores this profound experience of pain, loss, and grief as an entry point into understanding the tragic course of her mother’s life and the way her own life has been shaped by a legacy of fierce love and resilience. Moving through her mother’s history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a “child of miscegenation” in Mississippi, Trethewey plumbs her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.]]>
214 Natasha Trethewey 1408840022 Remy 0 4.22 2020 Memorial Drive
author: Natasha Trethewey
name: Remy
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading
review:

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Sleepwalking 18722771 The debut novel from New York Times–bestselling author Meg Wolitzer, a story of three college students’ shared fascination with poetry and death, and how one of them must face difficult truths in order to leave her obsession behind.

Published when she was only twenty-three and written while she was a student at Brown, Sleepwalking marks the beginning of Meg Wolitzer’s acclaimed career.? Filled with her usual wisdom, compassion and insight, Sleepwalking tells the story of the three notorious “death girls,” so called on the Swarthmore campus because they dress in black and are each absorbed in the work and suicide of a different poet: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Wolitzer’s creation Lucy Asher, a gifted writer who drowned herself at twenty-four.? At night the death girls gather in a candlelit room to read their heroines’ work aloud.

But an affair with Julian, an upperclassman, pushes sensitive , struggling Claire Danziger—she of the Lucy Asher obsession-–to consider to what degree her “death girl” identity is really who she is.? As she grapples with her feelings for Julian, her own understanding of herself and her past begins to shift uncomfortably and even disturbingly. Finally, Claire takes drastic measures to confront the facts about herself that she has been avoiding for years.]]>
245 Meg Wolitzer 1594633134 Remy 0 3.43 1982 Sleepwalking
author: Meg Wolitzer
name: Remy
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves: external-rec, yknow, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal)]]> 56769529 The Flowers of Evil is a gritty, often perverse, exploration of the underbelly of urban modernity.

Acclaimed translator and poet Aaron Poochigian tackles this revolutionary text, one of the most challenging to translate in all of modern poetry, with an ear exquisitely attuned to Baudelaire’s lyrical innovations and an intuitive feel for the work’s dark and brooding mood. Poochigian’s version captures the incantatory, almost magical, effect of the original—reanimating for today’s reader Baudelaire’s “unfailing vision” that “trumpeted the space and light of the future” (Patti Smith).

An introduction by Dana Gioia offers a probing reassessment of the supreme artistry of Baudelaire’s masterpiece, and an afterword by Daniel Handler explores its continued relevance and appeal. This deluxe, dual-language edition allows readers to commune with the original poems and their electric, revelatory translations.]]>
400 Charles Baudelaire 1631498592 Remy 0 yknow, currently-reading 4.00 1857 The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal)
author: Charles Baudelaire
name: Remy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1857
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/30
shelves: yknow, currently-reading
review:

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Heroes and Villains 8867582 Heroes and Villains includes an introduction by Robert Coover in Penguin Modern Classics.

Sharp-eyed Marianne lives in a white tower made of steel and concrete with her father and the other Professors. Outside, where the land is thickly wooded and wild beasts roam, live the Barbarians, who raid and pillage in order to survive. Marianne is strictly forbidden to leave her civilized world but, fascinated by these savage outsiders, decides to escape. There, beyond the wire fences, she will discover a decaying paradise, encounter the tattooed Barbarian boy Jewel and go beyond the darkest limits of her imagination. Playful, sensuous, violent and gripping, Heroes and Villains is an ambiguous and deliriously rich blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, gothic fantasy, literary allusion and twisted romance.

Angela Carter (1940-92) was born in Eastbourne and later evacuated to live with her grandmother in Yorkshire. She read English at Bristol University, and after escaping an early marriage went to live in Japan for a number of years. She wrote nine novels, which blend fantasy, science fiction and gothic, and is often referred to as a writer of magical realism.

If you enjoyed Heroes and Villains, you might like Carter's The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'Angela Carter is a genius'
Victoria Glendinning

'An unashamed fantasist, a fabulist of daemonic energy'
The Times]]>
164 Angela Carter 0141192380 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.37 1969 Heroes and Villains
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 3.37
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/06
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[House of Salt and Sorrows (SISTERS OF THE SALT)]]> 61984852
"Step inside a fairy tale." —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last--the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge--and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who--or what--are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family--before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with...

And don't miss Erin Craig's Small Favors , a mesmerizing and chilling novel about dark wishes and even darker dreams.]]>
416 Erin A. Craig 059370357X Remy 2 currently-reading How many people were fated to die today?

I feel rather terrible giving this rating. It's got so many things I absolutely love: a fairy tale retelling, large families, dark mystery, AND it's ocean-themed! Plus the writing was actually quite good! Seeing all the actual spellings of the character's names, however, has my head spinning after only listening the audiobook. On to the review—

This story was meant to be very lush and enriched in its own history right from the very start. And it does this perfectly by introducing us to our protag Annaleigh Thaumas, the middle sister of what used to be a dozen of a majestic island duchy, sending off their fourth sister Eulalie to the brine (her grave) after she's found dead at the bottom of a cliff. We learn that the three oldest girls have also died from plague, another fall, and an apparent suicide respectively. The remaining eight girls have to begin their mourning process all over again, but this is all halted because their new stepmother Morella announces she is pregnant shortly after, and their father is determined to make it a good year and shed all traces of grief. Ouch. Annaleigh begins to suspect that Eulalie was actually pushed off the cliff, and the story starts with her determined to find her sister's murderer. One thing leads to another, Eulalie's boyfriend is also murdered to Annaleigh and her love interest Cassius' witness, youngest sister Verity starts sketching the very graphic death scenes of her sisters, and they all find a magic door that leads to splendid dress balls every night. Cool stuff! The story had me enraptured! But then after that was where it all started sinking.

So Annaleigh has a love interest in the form of Cassius, a mysterious boy who's the son of recently deceased captain. When Annaleigh injures herself running from the supposed ghosts of her sisters, Cassius tends to her injuries in a beautifully described abbey dedicated to the Star Goddess.... [spoilers removed].

Now, I can't explain the next bit without getting a bit into the mythology/religious system of the story. The important ones are People of the Salt (The Thaumases), People of the Stars and People of the Bones. They all worship different gods. And homeboy Cassius is really the son of the [spoilers removed]. And in another shocking twist, he is also related to [spoilers removed]. And in the final reveal, we learn that of all people, [spoilers removed]. Oh my god. No pun intended.

My issue is that there isn't any mention or foreshadowing of [spoilers removed] at ALL. Despite how effectively it raised the stakes of the climax, I felt that the whole mythology aspect felt very sloppily thrown in after the reveal that [spoilers removed]. But the climax's a whole other thing on it's own. When [spoilers removed].

Not only did it feel epically rushed, I was personally beyond disappointed that [spoilers removed] turned out to be the villain. I was sincerely hoping for an honest to god good female friendship between her and Annaleigh. But then, how foolish am I to expect that from a YA novel??

All in all, I feel that the execution could've been better. I also lowkey wished that [spoilers removed]. It just seemed so flippant how [spoilers removed]. Though it does succeed in terms of building atmosphere and mystery, I'm sorry to say the beauty is shallow water at best. Pun intended.
]]>
3.96 2019 House of Salt and Sorrows (SISTERS OF THE SALT)
author: Erin A. Craig
name: Remy
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2020/10/05
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:
How many people were fated to die today?

I feel rather terrible giving this rating. It's got so many things I absolutely love: a fairy tale retelling, large families, dark mystery, AND it's ocean-themed! Plus the writing was actually quite good! Seeing all the actual spellings of the character's names, however, has my head spinning after only listening the audiobook. On to the review—

This story was meant to be very lush and enriched in its own history right from the very start. And it does this perfectly by introducing us to our protag Annaleigh Thaumas, the middle sister of what used to be a dozen of a majestic island duchy, sending off their fourth sister Eulalie to the brine (her grave) after she's found dead at the bottom of a cliff. We learn that the three oldest girls have also died from plague, another fall, and an apparent suicide respectively. The remaining eight girls have to begin their mourning process all over again, but this is all halted because their new stepmother Morella announces she is pregnant shortly after, and their father is determined to make it a good year and shed all traces of grief. Ouch. Annaleigh begins to suspect that Eulalie was actually pushed off the cliff, and the story starts with her determined to find her sister's murderer. One thing leads to another, Eulalie's boyfriend is also murdered to Annaleigh and her love interest Cassius' witness, youngest sister Verity starts sketching the very graphic death scenes of her sisters, and they all find a magic door that leads to splendid dress balls every night. Cool stuff! The story had me enraptured! But then after that was where it all started sinking.

So Annaleigh has a love interest in the form of Cassius, a mysterious boy who's the son of recently deceased captain. When Annaleigh injures herself running from the supposed ghosts of her sisters, Cassius tends to her injuries in a beautifully described abbey dedicated to the Star Goddess.... [spoilers removed].

Now, I can't explain the next bit without getting a bit into the mythology/religious system of the story. The important ones are People of the Salt (The Thaumases), People of the Stars and People of the Bones. They all worship different gods. And homeboy Cassius is really the son of the [spoilers removed]. And in another shocking twist, he is also related to [spoilers removed]. And in the final reveal, we learn that of all people, [spoilers removed]. Oh my god. No pun intended.

My issue is that there isn't any mention or foreshadowing of [spoilers removed] at ALL. Despite how effectively it raised the stakes of the climax, I felt that the whole mythology aspect felt very sloppily thrown in after the reveal that [spoilers removed]. But the climax's a whole other thing on it's own. When [spoilers removed].

Not only did it feel epically rushed, I was personally beyond disappointed that [spoilers removed] turned out to be the villain. I was sincerely hoping for an honest to god good female friendship between her and Annaleigh. But then, how foolish am I to expect that from a YA novel??

All in all, I feel that the execution could've been better. I also lowkey wished that [spoilers removed]. It just seemed so flippant how [spoilers removed]. Though it does succeed in terms of building atmosphere and mystery, I'm sorry to say the beauty is shallow water at best. Pun intended.

]]>
<![CDATA[Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)]]> 7826803 604 Hilary Mantel 0312429983 Remy 0 3.97 2009 Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Remy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Shmutz 62919811 In this witty, provocative, and “compulsively readable coming-of-age story” (Cosmopolitan), a young Hasidic woman on a quest to get married fears she will never find a groom because of her secret addiction to porn.

Like the other women in her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community, Raizl expects to find a husband through an arranged marriage. Unlike the other women, Raizl has a secret.

With a hidden computer to help her complete her college degree, she falls down the slippery slope of online pornography. As Raizl dives deeper into the world of porn at night, her daytime life begins to unravel. Between combative visits with her shrink to complicated arranged dates, Raizl must balance her growing understanding of her sexuality with the expectations of the family she loves.

“Clever, subversive, juicy, and surprising” (Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies), Shmutz explores what it means to be a fully realized sexual and spiritual being caught between the traditional and modern worlds.]]>
288 Felicia Berliner 1982177632 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.63 2022 Shmutz
author: Felicia Berliner
name: Remy
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/02
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Hobbit 56085874 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…

The prelude to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century.
--back cover]]>
314 J.R.R. Tolkien 0261103342 Remy 0 4.29 1937 The Hobbit
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Remy
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them]]> 173494459 A spellbinding tour, filled with stories and photographs, of some of the world’s most fascinating architectural mysteries.

This wondrous guide for the curious and the intrepid takes readers on a lushly photographed and lyrically written tour of eighteen of the world’s most captivating architectural mysteries. Delve into both the secretive places themselves and the eccentric and obsessive minds that created them. Visit a chamber of skulls high in the Swiss Alps, a Japanese temple full of traps, a Parisian apartment locked and untouched since World War II, a Prohibition-era speakeasy in Washington, DC, and a spooky “initiation” well in Portugal built by a secret society. How far down can you climb before losing your nerve?]]>
303 Stefan Bachmann 1523527226 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 4.00 2024 The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them
author: Stefan Bachmann
name: Remy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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The Buried Giant 60808012 An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here.

The Romans have long since departed, and Britain is steadily declining into ruin. But at least the wars that once ravaged the country have ceased. The Buried Giant begins as a couple, Axl and Beatrice, set off across a troubled land of mist and rain in the hope of finding a son they have not seen for years. They expect to face many hazards - some strange and other-worldly - but they cannot yet foresee how their journey will reveal to them dark and forgotten corners of their love for one another. Sometimes savage, often intensely moving, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel in a decade is about lost memories, love, revenge and war.]]>
362 Kazuo Ishiguro 0571315070 Remy 0 3.56 2015 The Buried Giant
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Remy
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/08
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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Good Omens 59338996 'Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don't let you go around again until you get it right.'

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – the world's only totally reliable guide to the future, written in 1655, before she exploded – the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea...

People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it's only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...

Cover illustration by Douglas Smith.

]]>
405 Terry Pratchett 0552171891 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 4.11 1990 Good Omens
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Remy
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Nutcracker 61335034 Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.

The gift of a handsomely decorated, enigmatic nutcracker sets the stage for a Christmas like no other: there will be legends of ancient curses, battles with the dreaded Mouse King, and a visit to the wonderful Kingdom of Dolls. The inspiration for the classic ballet, E. T. A. Hoffmann's irresistible tale of magic and mystery continues to be the perfect encapsulation of a child's wonder at Christmas.]]>
208 E.T.A. Hoffmann 0241597064 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.45 1816 The Nutcracker
author: E.T.A. Hoffmann
name: Remy
average rating: 3.45
book published: 1816
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels]]> 60113 "Magnificent! The best how-to manual ever published." — Kevin Kelly, Cool Tools

Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture in 1993 with Understanding Comics, a massive comic book about comics, linking the medium to such diverse fields as media theory, movie criticism, and web design. In Reinventing Comics, McCloud took this to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are generated, read, and perceived today. Now, in Making Comics, McCloud focuses his analysis on the art form itself, exploring the creation of comics, from the broadest principles to the sharpest details (like how to accentuate a character's facial muscles in order to form the emotion of disgust rather than the emotion of surprise.) And he does all of it in his inimitable voice and through his cartoon stand–in narrator, mixing dry humor and legitimate instruction. McCloud shows his reader how to master the human condition through word and image in a brilliantly minimalistic way.?Both comic book devotees and the?uninitiated will marvel at this journey into a once–underappreciated art form.]]>
264 Scott McCloud Remy 0 4.34 2006 Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
author: Scott McCloud
name: Remy
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/16
shelves: assigned-reading, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Welcome to St Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure]]> 61135109
Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this... but she's refusing to listen.

In WELCOME TO ST. HELL, author-illustrator Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be. It's a remarkable, groundbreaking graphic memoir from an unmistakably bold new voice in comics.]]>
304 Lewis Hancox 0702313904 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 4.28 2022 Welcome to St Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure
author: Lewis Hancox
name: Remy
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/11
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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<![CDATA[The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition]]> 29452577 Children's and Household Tales in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as "Rapunzel," "Hansel and Gretel," and "Cinderella" would become the most celebrated in the world. Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style. For the very first time, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm makes available in English all 156 stories from the 1812 and 1815 editions. These narrative gems, newly translated and brought together in one beautiful book, are accompanied by sumptuous new illustrations from award-winning artist Andrea Dezso.

From "The Frog King" to "The Golden Key," wondrous worlds unfold--heroes and heroines are rewarded, weaker animals triumph over the strong, and simple bumpkins prove themselves not so simple after all. Esteemed fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes offers accessible translations that retain the spare description and engaging storytelling style of the originals. Indeed, this is what makes the tales from the 1812 and 1815 editions unique--they reflect diverse voices, rooted in oral traditions, that are absent from the Grimms' later, more embellished collections of tales. Zipes's introduction gives important historical context, and the book includes the Grimms' prefaces and notes.

A delight to read, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm presents these peerless stories to a whole new generation of readers.

"]]>
568 Jacob Grimm 0691173222 Remy 0
The Frog King, or Iron Henry: wrapping three iron bands around your heart to keep it from bursting with grief is unironically the most metal thing I've ever heard of (pun not intended)

The Companionship of the Cat and Mouse: Hanna-Barbera called they want their studio back

The Virgin Mary's Child: this is The Bloody Chamber meets Rumpelstiltskin. And the Virgin Mary is both the Marquis and Rumpelstiltskin.

Good Bowling and Card Playing: this started out simple enough but then morphed into a psychedelic clump with loads of animal death. Huh.

The Wolf and the Seven Kids: worst game of Hide and Seek ever

The Nightingale and the Blindworm: never underestimate the blind

The Stolen Pennies: a super chill ghost story. Hardly an inconvenience. Don't worry about it.

The Hand With the Knife: sometimes I forget that fairy tales were never actually *meant* to have morals and the reminder straight up cuts off my arm

The Twelve Brothers: men will literally kill their 12 perfectly healthy sons if their 13th child is a girl instead of going to therapy

Riffraff: an origin story of why people love eating chickens <3

Little Brother and Little Sister: starting to see a pattern: all you gotta do to become a queen in a fairy tale is be a mute maiden in the forest until a king comes along

Rapunzel: a much more believable outcome than Rapunzel suddenly blurting that the witch is heavier than the prince tbh

The Three Little Men in the Forest: beautiful girl good, ugly girl bad. We get it.

Nasty Flax Spinning: BUT WHAT BECAME OF THE SPINSTERS WHO HAD TO IMPERSONATE THE PRINCESSES WITH GREVIOUS WORK-RELATED INJURIES?

Hansel and Gretel: iconic except for how "God inspired Gretel" to murder the witch. God?? The guy who loves everyone???

Herr Fix-It-Up: everyday we hustlin'. Shocking unicorn decapitation scene.

The White Snake: there was a white snake

The Journey of the Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: tfw alternate ending unlocked but nothing actually changes

The Fisherman and His Wife: girlbossing too close to the sun. Or in this case, the water.

A Story about a Brave Tailor: everyone will believe in you so long as you say and do everything with confidence. Especially if you put [The rest of this tale is missing] at the end.

Cinderella: the fairy godmother is a tree growing over a grave and some pigeons.

How Some Children Played at Slaughtering: reasons to never eat pork (or have children)

The Little Mouse, The Little Bird, and the Sausage: well y'know what they say, "if it ain't broke..."

Mother Holle: being covered completely in gold is actually a rather horrifying concept. I'm assuming she can't take it off, so how does that make her rich exactly?

The Three Ravens: East of the Sun and West of the Moon but on a budget

Little Red Cap: iconic but the fact that I learnt how this was originally written as erotica now makes every other version of it dreadfully lame

Death and the Goose Boy: Depression??

The Singing Bone: snitching on your older sibling even after death is peak younger sibling behaviour tbh

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs: SO HIS WIFE????

Little Louse and Little Flea: worst dance challenge ever

Maiden Without Hands: damn, this was hardcore. But is proof that tears are a woman's most powerful weapon <3

Clever Hans: this feels like a Monty Python skit ]]>
4.09 1812 The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Remy
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1812
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/19
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:
Discovering this was like discovering some sort of Holy Grail. Fairy tales continue to be a continuing obsession of mine, and the Grimms know exactly what I mean. Let us begin.

The Frog King, or Iron Henry: wrapping three iron bands around your heart to keep it from bursting with grief is unironically the most metal thing I've ever heard of (pun not intended)

The Companionship of the Cat and Mouse: Hanna-Barbera called they want their studio back

The Virgin Mary's Child: this is The Bloody Chamber meets Rumpelstiltskin. And the Virgin Mary is both the Marquis and Rumpelstiltskin.

Good Bowling and Card Playing: this started out simple enough but then morphed into a psychedelic clump with loads of animal death. Huh.

The Wolf and the Seven Kids: worst game of Hide and Seek ever

The Nightingale and the Blindworm: never underestimate the blind

The Stolen Pennies: a super chill ghost story. Hardly an inconvenience. Don't worry about it.

The Hand With the Knife: sometimes I forget that fairy tales were never actually *meant* to have morals and the reminder straight up cuts off my arm

The Twelve Brothers: men will literally kill their 12 perfectly healthy sons if their 13th child is a girl instead of going to therapy

Riffraff: an origin story of why people love eating chickens <3

Little Brother and Little Sister: starting to see a pattern: all you gotta do to become a queen in a fairy tale is be a mute maiden in the forest until a king comes along

Rapunzel: a much more believable outcome than Rapunzel suddenly blurting that the witch is heavier than the prince tbh

The Three Little Men in the Forest: beautiful girl good, ugly girl bad. We get it.

Nasty Flax Spinning: BUT WHAT BECAME OF THE SPINSTERS WHO HAD TO IMPERSONATE THE PRINCESSES WITH GREVIOUS WORK-RELATED INJURIES?

Hansel and Gretel: iconic except for how "God inspired Gretel" to murder the witch. God?? The guy who loves everyone???

Herr Fix-It-Up: everyday we hustlin'. Shocking unicorn decapitation scene.

The White Snake: there was a white snake

The Journey of the Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: tfw alternate ending unlocked but nothing actually changes

The Fisherman and His Wife: girlbossing too close to the sun. Or in this case, the water.

A Story about a Brave Tailor: everyone will believe in you so long as you say and do everything with confidence. Especially if you put [The rest of this tale is missing] at the end.

Cinderella: the fairy godmother is a tree growing over a grave and some pigeons.

How Some Children Played at Slaughtering: reasons to never eat pork (or have children)

The Little Mouse, The Little Bird, and the Sausage: well y'know what they say, "if it ain't broke..."

Mother Holle: being covered completely in gold is actually a rather horrifying concept. I'm assuming she can't take it off, so how does that make her rich exactly?

The Three Ravens: East of the Sun and West of the Moon but on a budget

Little Red Cap: iconic but the fact that I learnt how this was originally written as erotica now makes every other version of it dreadfully lame

Death and the Goose Boy: Depression??

The Singing Bone: snitching on your older sibling even after death is peak younger sibling behaviour tbh

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs: SO HIS WIFE????

Little Louse and Little Flea: worst dance challenge ever

Maiden Without Hands: damn, this was hardcore. But is proof that tears are a woman's most powerful weapon <3

Clever Hans: this feels like a Monty Python skit
]]>
The Book of Longings 52424781
In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.]]>
13 Sue Monk Kidd Remy 0 currently-reading 3.97 2020 The Book of Longings
author: Sue Monk Kidd
name: Remy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Boy, Snow, Bird 18079683 Boy, Snow, Bird is a deeply moving novel about three women and the strange connection between them. It confirms Helen Oyeyemi’s place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of her generation.]]> 308 Helen Oyeyemi 1594631395 Remy 0 3.33 2013 Boy, Snow, Bird
author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Remy
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/11
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George]]> 60115060 104 Olivia Harrison 1905662734 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 4.56 Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George
author: Olivia Harrison
name: Remy
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/01
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Ayako (Ayako, #1-3) 15797051 704 Osamu Tezuka 1935654780 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.97 2010 Ayako (Ayako, #1-3)
author: Osamu Tezuka
name: Remy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/20
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[We Have Always Lived in the Castle]]> 26852229
"Her greatest book ...at once whimsical and harrowing, a miniaturist's charmingly detailed fantasy sketched inside a mausoleum...Through depths and depths and bloodwarm depths we fall, until the surface is only an eerie gleam high above, nearly forgotten; and the deeper we sink, the deeper we want to go". (Donna Tartt, author of The Goldfinch).

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family. This Penguin edition includes an afterword by the acclaimed novelist Joyce Carol Oates.

Alternate cover edition here.]]>
158 Shirley Jackson Remy 0 4.06 1962 We Have Always Lived in the Castle
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Remy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/13
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The Giant Dark 59915488
Aida and Ehsan reconnect after a decade apart, hoping to recapture the innocent, lost love of their youth. Before long, their connection is strained by secrets and jealousies and the past begins to blur with their present as they follow in the footsteps of mythic lovers before them.

The Giant Dark is an award-winning debut novel about love and fame. Inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it explores the consuming and devastating effects of using a lover as a muse.]]>
368 Sarvat Hasin 0349701733 Remy 0 3.45 2021 The Giant Dark
author: Sarvat Hasin
name: Remy
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/24
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading, yknow
review:

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<![CDATA[I Was the President's Mistress!!]]> 57693562 I Was the President's Mistress!! is an unflinching satire about power, corruption, sex, and all the other topics you were told never to discuss in polite company.

First came the Sexy-Sexygate scandal. Then an impeachment trial. Finally, a battle royale for the presidency. At the center of this political typhoon is Vita Nova, the most famous movie star in the Philippines and a former paramour of the country’s most powerful man. Now, for the first time ever, she bares herself completely in a tell-all memoir that puts the sensational in sensationalistic.

The setting: a sweating, heaving country. The time: right now. The plot: a drug war rages, an assassin brandishes a pistol, a damsel rises from ashes to power, and a government teeters on the brink. Among the players: a dreamer who boxed and acted his way to the presidency, his Koran-toting nemesis in the senate, a horny bishop, a cowboy turned warlord, a poor little rich boy dying with his dynasty, a washed-up reporter redeemed by one last scoop, a high-school sweetheart driven mad by decades of disappointment, and an American naval officer tempting our heroine with a way out. As Vita warns, viewer discretion is advised.

In this masterful and audacious novel, Miguel Syjuco’s signature style—hilarious, insightful, playful, provocative—animates thirteen indelible voices whose stories present a cross-section of a complicated society. I Was the President’s Mistress!! hurtles headlong into love, politics, faith, history, memory, and the ongoing war over who will tell the stories the world shall know as truth.]]>
384 Miguel Syjuco 0374174059 Remy 0 3.08 2022 I Was the President's Mistress!!
author: Miguel Syjuco
name: Remy
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/09/22
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The Night Circus 14785910
The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:

Opens at Nightfalll
Closes at Dawn


As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.

Le Cirque des Rêves

The Circus of Dreams.

Now the circus is open.

Now you may enter.]]>
502 Erin Morgenstern 0099570297 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 4.10 2011 The Night Circus
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Remy
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/13
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Mantel Pieces 57006651 335 Hilary Mantel 0008430004 Remy 0 3.65 2020 Mantel Pieces
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Remy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/10
shelves: external-rec, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Little 51791240 "An amazing achievement. . . A compulsively readable novel, so canny and weird and surfeited with the reality of human capacity and ingenuity that I am stymied for comparison. Dickens and David Lynch? Defoe meets Margaret Atwood? Judge for yourself." --Gregory Maguire, New York Times-bestselling author of Wicked

The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.

In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Switzerland. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son. Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation. As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called to Versailles, where she tutors a princess and saves Marie Antoinette in childbirth. But outside the palace walls, Paris is roiling: The revolutionary mob is demanding heads, and . . . at the wax museum, heads are what they do.

In the tradition of Gregory Maguire's Wicked and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Edward Carey's Little is a darkly endearing cavalcade of a novel--a story of art, class, determination, and how we hold on to what we love.]]>
448 Edward Carey 0525534334 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 4.09 2018 Little
author: Edward Carey
name: Remy
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/30
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review:

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Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc 60761066
1412. France is mired in a losing war against England. Its people are starving. Its king is in hiding. From this chaos emerges a teenage girl who will turn the tide of battle and lead the French to victory, an unlikely hero whose name will echo across the centuries.

In Katherine J. Chen's hands, the myth and legend of Joan of Arc is transformed into a flesh-and-blood young woman: reckless, steel-willed, and brilliant. This deeply researched novel is a sweeping narrative of her life, from a childhood steeped in both joy and violence to her meteoric rise to fame at the head of the French army, where she navigates both the perils of the battlefield and the equally treacherous politics of the royal court. Many are threatened by a woman who leads, and Joan draws wrath and suspicion from all corners, even as her first taste of fame and glory leave her vulnerable to her own powerful ambition.

With unforgettably vivid characters, transporting settings, and action-packed storytelling, Joan is a thrilling epic, a triumph of historical fiction, as well as a feminist celebration of one remarkable—and remarkably real—woman who left an indelible mark on history.]]>
Katherine J. Chen Remy 0 3.98 2022 Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc
author: Katherine J. Chen
name: Remy
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/09
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<![CDATA[And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir]]> 54619012
Using old diary entries, hospital records, home videos, and other archives, Margaret pieces together a narrative map of her childhood—her mother's bipolar disorder, her grandmother's institutionalization, and her brother's increasing struggles—in an attempt to understand what no one likes to talk about: the fractures in her family.]]>
288 Margaret Kimball 0063007444 Remy 0 3.65 2021 And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An Illustrated Memoir
author: Margaret Kimball
name: Remy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/01
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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Skim 53132572
Skim is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth stuck in a private girls' school in Toronto. When a classmate's boyfriend kills himself because he was rumoured to be gay, the school goes into mourning overdrive, each clique trying to find something to hold on to and something to believe in. It's a weird time to fall in love, but that's high school, and that's what happens to Skim when she starts to meet in secret with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. But when Ms. Archer abruptly leaves, Skim struggles to cope with her confusion and isolation, armed with her trusty journal and a desire to shed old friendships while cautiously approaching new ones.

Depression, love, sexual identity, crushes, manipulative peers --teen life in all its dramatic complexities is explored in this touching, pitch-perfect, literary graphic masterpiece. Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki collaborate brilliantly in this poignant glimpse into the heartache of being sixteen.



Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7

Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.]]>
144 Mariko Tamaki 1554980690 Remy 0 currently-reading 3.30 2008 Skim
author: Mariko Tamaki
name: Remy
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/07/26
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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The Miniaturist 22428098
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . .

Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall?

Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.

~from the back cover]]>
435 Jessie Burton 1447250923 Remy 0 3.57 2014 The Miniaturist
author: Jessie Burton
name: Remy
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/12
shelves: i-own, currently-reading, holiday-books
review:

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The Toymakers 37639723 The Emporium opens with the first frost of winter.

While the Great War wages across Europe, there is a place of hope and enchantment in the heart of London. The Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own.

Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. But Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own...

If there was a toyshop on Diagon Alley, it would be The Toymakers - a dark, enchanting novel for the fans of The Night Circus and The Miniaturist]]>
468 Robert Dinsdale 1785036351 Remy 0 3.94 2018 The Toymakers
author: Robert Dinsdale
name: Remy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/10
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review:

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<![CDATA[The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories]]> 32295221 Ken Liu is one of the most original, thought-provoking and award-winning short-story writers of his generation. This is the first collection of his work – sixteen stories that invoke the magical within the mundane, by turns profound, beguiling and heartbreaking.

Contents:
Preface ? essay
The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species ? (2012) ? short story
State Change ? (2004) ? short story
The Perfect Match ? (2012) ? short story
Good Hunting ? (2012) ? short story
The Literomancer ? (2010) ? novelette
Simulacrum ? (2011) ? short story
The Regular ? (2014) ? novella
The Paper Menagerie ? (2011) ? short story
An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition ? short story
The Waves ? (2012) ? novelette
Mono no Aware ? (2012) ? short story
All the Flavors ? (2012) ? novella
A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel ? (2012) ? short story
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King ? (2013) ? novelette
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary ? (2011) ? novella]]>
437 Ken Liu 1784975699 Remy 0 4.39 2016 The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
author: Ken Liu
name: Remy
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/10
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading, holiday-books
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The Ghost Bride 17741066
Drawing on traditional Malayan folklore and superstition, THE GHOST BRIDE is a haunting, exotic and romantic read perfect for fans of EMPRESS ORCHID and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.]]>
390 Yangsze Choo 1471400794 Remy 0 3.73 2013 The Ghost Bride
author: Yangsze Choo
name: Remy
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/10
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading, i-own, holiday-books
review:

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Middlesex 2187 Middlesex tells the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City and the race riots of 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.]]> 529 Jeffrey Eugenides 0312422156 Remy 0 4.03 2002 Middlesex
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: Remy
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/10
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The Power of the Dog 58864267 The Power of the Dog: SOON TO BE A NETFLIX FILM STARRING BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th century American that inspired the new Jane Campion film.

Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley.

Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly, and devotes himself to the business. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for forty years.

When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.

From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip.

WITH AN AFTERWORD BY ANNIE PROULX

'With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration' Guardian
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304 Thomas Savage 1784877840 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.97 1967 The Power of the Dog
author: Thomas Savage
name: Remy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1967
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/04/22
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Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 52380731 Kim Ji-young is representative of her generation:

At home, she is an unfavoured sister to her princeling little brother.
In primary school, she is a girl who has to line up behind the boys at lunchtime.
In high school, she is a daughter whose father blames her for being harassed late at night.
In university, she is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships by her professor.
In the office, she is an exemplary employee who is overlooked for promotion by her manager.
At home, she is a wife who has given up her career to take care of her husband and her baby.

Kim Ji-young is depressed.
Kim Ji-young has started acting out.
Kim Ji-young is her own woman.
Kim Ji-young is insane.

Kim Ji-young is sent by her husband to a psychiatrist.
This is his clinical assessment of the everywoman in contemporary Korea.]]>
163 Cho Nam-Joo 1487006993 Remy 0 currently-reading 4.12 2016 Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
author: Cho Nam-Joo
name: Remy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Shantih Shantih Shantih 58704824
In this novella by Daryl Qilin Yam, a dozen lonely individuals in Singapore witness a freakish instance of snowfall, lasting for exactly four minutes and twenty-six seconds. Shantih Shantih Shantih is a heady mix of desire and dauntlessness that revels in its interconnections, pulling together a community that is at once together and apart.

“I loved Shantih Shantih Shantih’s combination of beautifully precise language with the contemplative, yearning, dreamy looseness of that hinterland time between late night and early morning. In twelve unassumingly luminous vignettes, we’re given snapshots of a small group of sleepless people around Singapore, whose lives just happen to intersect and resonate at the moment of the strange almost-miracle of a few minutes of snowfall, just after half-past four in the morning. I found myself captivated by the book’s particular blend of melancholy, tenderness and idealism, and also found myself reminded – in the absolute best of ways – of one of my all-time favourite films, Jim Jarmusch’s Night On Earth.”

– Naomi Ishiguro, author of Escape Routes and Common Ground]]>
124 Daryl Qilin Yam 9811813485 Remy 0 4.01 Shantih Shantih Shantih
author: Daryl Qilin Yam
name: Remy
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/19
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading
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Little Fires Everywhere 36232831
Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood--and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, 欧宝娱乐, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more...


Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more. ]]>
336 Celeste Ng 0525522565 Remy 0 4.08 2017 Little Fires Everywhere
author: Celeste Ng
name: Remy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/09
shelves: i-own, seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
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People Like Her 60172221 A razor-sharp, wickedly smart suspense debut about an ambitious influencer mom whose soaring success threatens her marriage, her morals, and her family’s safety.

Followed by Millions, Watched by One

To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka?@the_mamabare, is the honest “Instamum” who always tells it like it is.?

To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life.

To one of Emmy’s dangerously obsessive followers, she’s the woman that has everything—but deserves none of it.??

As Emmy’s marriage begins to crack under the strain of her growing success and her moral compass veers wildly off course, the more vulnerable she becomes to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.

In this deeply addictive tale of psychological suspense, Ellery Lloyd raises important questions about technology, social media celebrity, and the way we live today. Probing the dark side of influencer culture and the perils of parenting online, People Like Her explores our desperate need to be seen and the lengths we’ll go to be liked by strangers. It asks what—and who—we sacrifice when make our private lives public, and ultimately lose control of who we let in. . . .]]>
Ellery Lloyd 0063065835 Remy 0 currently-reading 3.52 2021 People Like Her
author: Ellery Lloyd
name: Remy
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)]]> 45046769 No one believes in them. But soon no one will forget them.

It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.

Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history--but only if they can stay alive.

From New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi comes The Gilded Wolves, a novel set in Paris during a time of extraordinary change--one that is full of mystery, decadence, and dangerous desires...]]>
398 Roshani Chokshi 1250144558 Remy 0 3.80 2019 The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)
author: Roshani Chokshi
name: Remy
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/03
shelves: seduced-by-cover, currently-reading
review:

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Circe 42420227
When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, wrathful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia. There she learns to harness her occult craft, drawing strength from nature. But she will not always be alone; many are destined to pass through Circe's place of exile, entwining their fates with hers. The messenger god, Hermes. The craftsman, Daedalus. A ship bearing a golden fleece. And wily Odysseus, on his epic voyage home.

There is danger for a solitary woman in this world, and Circe's independence draws the wrath of men and gods alike. To protect what she holds dear, Circe must decide whether she belongs with the deities she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.]]>
333 Madeline Miller 1526610140 Remy 0 4.15 2018 Circe
author: Madeline Miller
name: Remy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/29
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review:

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Matrix 49198598 Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies. Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease. At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie's vision be bulwark enough? Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff's new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
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288 Lauren Groff 1785151916 Remy 0 3.51 2021 Matrix
author: Lauren Groff
name: Remy
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Blue Fairy Book (Fairy Books)]]> 17738908 The first in a series of 12?fairy tale anthologies beloved of children in the last century, each a veritable treasure trove of stories for children and adults alike, spellbinding and special

Once upon a time there lived a king who was deeply in love with a princess, but she could not marry anyone, because she was under an enchantment. So the King set out to seek a fairy, and asked what he could do to win the Princess's love . . .

This very special anthology?includes wonderful renditions of the old favorites such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, as well as some intriguing fairy tales that modern audiences have yet to discover such as Why the Sea is Salt, Prince Hyacinth, and The Dear Little Princess. Andrew Lang collected stories from communities and traditions all over the world for his fairy books: from the Arabian Nights, China, and the Brothers Grimm. Many of the tales were translated into English for the first time for these anthologies, from languages as far afield as Russian, Norse, and Japanese. The book is republished here with a stunning blue jacket, accompanied throughout by the original illustrations.]]>
384 Andrew Lang 1843914778 Remy 0 currently-reading
The Bronze Ring: pretty decent fairytale-fare until the whole part with the mice. not that i have anything against mice, i just think it would've been perfect to end with the gardener's son having returned with his trickery and triumph.

Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess: a prince with an abnormally huge nose is paid compliments all his life and has to learn.... that it's not good to love yourself??? fuck off

East of the Sun and West of the Moon: despite the terrible grab-ass at religious connotations, HELL YES. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS ICONIC

The Yellow Dwarf: this was the most detailed tale yet; i loved how lush it was. but nothing about this can beat out the fact that it sounds like a ridiculous DND campaign created by a party who never read the rulebook.

Little Red Riding Hood: fun fact, the earliest known version of Little Red Riding Hood was written was the famous Charles Perrault,,,, as an erotica to entertain the party at Versailles. In this, Little Red gets into bed with the wolf and then he eats her all up. all in the span of 3 pages. i have to appreciate them not beating round the bush, actually.]]>
3.76 1889 The Blue Fairy Book (Fairy Books)
author: Andrew Lang
name: Remy
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1889
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:
i love fairy tales. in fact, i always will, and since that i am always growing older and more verbose and increasingly annoying, i shall now undertake the massive rite of passage of reading this iconic tome and rating every tale in this. pack a bag as red as blood and let's journey into the woods:

The Bronze Ring: pretty decent fairytale-fare until the whole part with the mice. not that i have anything against mice, i just think it would've been perfect to end with the gardener's son having returned with his trickery and triumph.

Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess: a prince with an abnormally huge nose is paid compliments all his life and has to learn.... that it's not good to love yourself??? fuck off

East of the Sun and West of the Moon: despite the terrible grab-ass at religious connotations, HELL YES. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS ICONIC

The Yellow Dwarf: this was the most detailed tale yet; i loved how lush it was. but nothing about this can beat out the fact that it sounds like a ridiculous DND campaign created by a party who never read the rulebook.

Little Red Riding Hood: fun fact, the earliest known version of Little Red Riding Hood was written was the famous Charles Perrault,,,, as an erotica to entertain the party at Versailles. In this, Little Red gets into bed with the wolf and then he eats her all up. all in the span of 3 pages. i have to appreciate them not beating round the bush, actually.
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<![CDATA[Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer]]> 38203195
But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .

Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.]]>
292 Katie Alender Remy 0 currently-reading 3.57 2013 Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
author: Katie Alender
name: Remy
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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All the Feels 29222548
Tired of sitting in her room sobbing, Liv decides to launch an online campaign to bring her beloved hero back to life. With the help of her best friend, Xander, actor and steampunk cosplayer extraordinaire, she creates #SpartanSurvived, a campaign to ignite the fandom. But as her online life succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, Liv is forced to balance that with the pressures of school, her mother’s disapproval, and her (mostly nonexistent and entirely traumatic) romantic life. A trip to DragonCon with Xander might be exactly what she needs to figure out what she really wants.]]>
336 Danika Stone 1250084091 Remy 0 3.48 2016 All the Feels
author: Danika Stone
name: Remy
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/29
shelves: external-rec, currently-reading
review:

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All the Light We Cannot See 51829190 Librarian note: Older covers for this edition can be found here: Dec-2015; 15-Jan-2015.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.]]>
531 Anthony Doerr 0007548699 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 4.25 2014 All the Light We Cannot See
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Remy
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/09
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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<![CDATA[The Girl Who Was Saturday Night]]> 25341828 Girl Who Was Saturday Night 416 Heather O'Neill 1784290165 Remy 4 i-own, currently-reading 4 stars as some parts where a little confusing- but other than that, strikingly beautiful, stylistic, awesome characters too. ]]> 3.79 2014 The Girl Who Was Saturday Night
author: Heather O'Neill
name: Remy
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/01
date added: 2021/06/07
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:
Unlike her latest Lonely Hearts Hotel and Daydreams of Angels- it’s still got that Lullabies for Little Criminals vibe, but it’s clearly different and very distinguished. An excellent story, equally colourful metaphors! I read for her metaphors and similes alone.
4 stars as some parts where a little confusing- but other than that, strikingly beautiful, stylistic, awesome characters too.
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Plain Bad Heroines 56486166
Our story begins in 1902, at The Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, The Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period illustrations, Plain Bad Heroines is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding, and wonderfully luxuriant read.]]>
619 Emily M. Danforth Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.57 2020 Plain Bad Heroines
author: Emily M. Danforth
name: Remy
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/25
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Sundial 17349743 (Chicago Tribune): When an aging heiress learns of an impending apocalypse while on a garden walk, her family becomes fixated on preparing for the imminent doom. “One of the premiere gothic horror writers of the 20th century’s funniest and strangest endeavors… Think P. G. Wodehouse meets The Twilight Zone” (AudioFile).

Before there was Hill House, there was the Halloran mansion of Jackson’s stunningly creepy fourth novel, The Sundial. Aunt Fanny has always been somewhat peculiar. When the Halloran clan gathers at the family home for a funeral, no one is surprised when she wanders off into the secret garden. But then Aunt Fanny returns to report an astonishing vision of an apocalypse from which only the Hallorans and their hangers-on will be spared, and the family finds itself engulfed in growing madness, fear, and violence as they prepare for a terrible new world. For Aunt Fanny's long-dead father has given her the precise date of the final cataclysm!]]>
222 Shirley Jackson 0141391960 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.77 1958 The Sundial
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Remy
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1958
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/17
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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The Late Hector Kipling 2481981 352 Thewlis David 0330373382 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.81 2007 The Late Hector Kipling
author: Thewlis David
name: Remy
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/18
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Black Venus 26825664 This is an alternate cover edition for isbn: 9780099480716

Black Venus (also published as Saints and Strangers), is an anthology of short fiction. Angela Carter takes real people and literary legends - most often women - who have been mythologized or marginalized and recasts them in a new light. In a style that is sensual, cerebral, almost hypnotic, "The Fall River Axe-Murders" portrays the last hours before Lizzie Borden's infamous act: the sweltering heat, the weight of flannel and corsets, the clanging of the factory bells, the food reheated and reserved despite the lack of adequate refrigeration, the house "full of locked doors that open only into other rooms with other locked doors." In "Our Lady of the Massacre" the no-nonsense voice of an eighteenth-century prostitute/runaway slave questions who is civilized - the Indians or the white men? "Black Venus" gives voice to Charles Baudelaire's Creole mistress, Jeanne Duval: "you could say, not so much that Jeanne did not understand the lapidary, troubled serenity of her lover's poetry but, that it was a perpetual affront to her. He recited it to her by the hour and she ached, raged and chafed under it because his eloquence denied her language." "The Kiss" takes the traditional story of Tamburlaine's wife and gives it a new and refreshing ending. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes funny, always thought-provoking, Angela Carter's stories offer a feminist revision of images that lie deep in the public psyche.]]>
131 Angela Carter Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.75 1985 Black Venus
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/13
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Swan Song 40718346 496 Greenberg-Jephcott 178609018X Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.63 2018 Swan Song
author: Greenberg-Jephcott
name: Remy
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/27
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Court Dancer 43811301 New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mom brilliantly images the life of Yi Jin, an orphan who would fall under the affections of the Empress and become a jewel in the late Joseon Court.

When a novice French diplomat arrives for an audience with the Emperor, he is enraptured by the Joseon Dynasty’s magnificent culture, then at its zenith. But all fades away when he sees Yi Jin perform the delicate traditional Dance of the Spring Oriole. Though well aware that women of the court belong to the palace, the young diplomat confesses his love to the Emperor, and gains permission for Yi Jin to accompany him back to France.

A world away in Belle Epoque Paris, Yi Jin lives a free, independent life, away from the gilded cage of the court, and begins translating and publishing Joseon literature into French with another Korean student. But even in this new world, great sorrow awaits her. Yi Jin’s grieving and suffering is only amplified by homesickness and a longing for her oldest friend. But her homecoming was not a happy one. Betrayal, jealousy, and intrigue abound, culminating with the tragic assassination of the last Joseon empress—and the poisoned pages of a book.

Rich with historic detail and filled with luminous characters, Korea’s most beloved novelist brings a lost era to life in a story that will resonate long after the final page.]]>
336 Kyung-Sook Shin 1643132520 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.96 2007 The Court Dancer
author: Kyung-Sook Shin
name: Remy
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/16
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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High-Rise 25394500
Within the walls of a high-tech forty-storey high-rise, the residents are hell-bent on an orgy of sex and destruction, answering to primal urges that their utopian surroundings can’t satisfy. The high-rise is a would-be paradise turned dystopia, ruled by intimidation and violence, and, as the residents organize themselves for war, floor against floor, no one wants it to stop …]]>
248 J.G. Ballard 0008134898 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.40 1975 High-Rise
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Remy
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/15
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography]]> 35996371
With brilliance and wit, Angela Carter takes on these outrageous figments of de Sade's extreme imagination and transforms them into symbols of our time: The Hollywood sex goddesses, mothers and daughters, pornography, even the sacred shrines of sex and marriage lie devastatingly exposed before our eyes.

Author Bio: Angela Carter (1940-1992) was best known for her subversive short stories, including her most famous collection, The Bloody Chamber. Carter translated the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, and wrote the screenplay for Neil Jordan's 1984 film, The Company of Wolves, based on her short story.

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192 Angela Carter 1844083772 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.95 1979 The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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The Little Friend 36614401
The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard. Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robin’s sister Harriet—unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town’s rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family’s history of loss.]]>
555 Donna Tartt Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.40 2002 The Little Friend
author: Donna Tartt
name: Remy
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Putney 41222762 A bold, thought-provoking novel that will compel and disquiet in equal measure, about the moral lines we tread, the stories we tell ourselves and the secrets we bury; 'a really important book' (Esther Freud)

1970s London. Ralph, an up-and-coming composer, has gone to visit Edmund Greenslay in his riverside home. At the heart of the house's wild bliss he finds Edmund's nine-year-old daughter Daphne, flitting, sprite-like, through the house's colourful rooms and unruly garden. From the moment their lives collide Ralph is consumed by an obsession to make Daphne his.

Decades later, Daphne watches her own daughter come of age and is confronted with the truth of her own childhood – and a devastating act of violence that has lain hidden for decades.]]>
384 Sofka Zinovieff 1408895749 Remy 0 3.96 2018 Putney
author: Sofka Zinovieff
name: Remy
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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The Secret History 70897
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement - both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.]]>
629 Donna Tartt 0140167773 Remy 0 4.25 1992 The Secret History
author: Donna Tartt
name: Remy
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/21
shelves: favourites, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Wise Children 873921 234 Angela Carter 0099981106 Remy 0 3.87 1991 Wise Children
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/05/01
shelves: i-own, currently-reading, favourites
review:

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The Perfect Nanny 38330854 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780143132172.

When Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer, decides to return to work after having children, she and her husband look for the perfect nanny for their two young children. They never dreamed they would find Louise: a quiet, polite, devoted woman who sings to the children, cleans the family's chic apartment in Paris's upscale tenth arrondissement, stays late without complaint, and hosts enviable kiddie parties. But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.]]>
228 Le?la Slimani Remy 5 3.24 2016 The Perfect Nanny
author: Le?la Slimani
name: Remy
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/03
date added: 2020/04/18
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:
Amazingly dark under its bright Parisian fa?ade. The issues about racism, social hierarchy, and gender in this book were portrayed excellently.
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The Goldfinch 27886778 WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE

"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review

Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love--and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.]]>
962 Donna Tartt 0316055425 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 3.97 2013 The Goldfinch
author: Donna Tartt
name: Remy
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/29
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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Daisy Jones and The Six 40554141 Nobody ever knew why. Until now.

They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn't believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently.

The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin.

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362 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1786331500 Remy 0 4.24 2019 Daisy Jones and The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Remy
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/03
shelves: seduced-by-cover, i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders]]> 105992 687 Vincent Bugliosi 0393322238 Remy 0 i-own, currently-reading 4.05 1974 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
author: Vincent Bugliosi
name: Remy
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/02
shelves: i-own, currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)]]> 15743650
But this is the year that everything will change for Blue.

This is the year that she will be drawn into the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys. And the year Blue will discover that magic does exist.

This is the year she will fall in love.]]>
420 Maggie Stiefvater 1407134612 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 4.15 2012 The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: Remy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/07
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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<![CDATA[No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon]]> 34964852
“A beautiful book about family and finding a way to achieve more than you ever thought possible.” ―Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author

Erik Weihenmayer is the first and only blind person to summit Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Descending carefully, he and his team picked their way across deep crevasses and through the deadly Khumbu Icefall; when the mountain was finally behind him, Erik knew he was going to live. His expedition leader slapped him on the back and said something that would affect the course of Erik’s “Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do.”

No Barriers is Erik’s response to that challenge. It is the moving story of his journey since descending Mount from leading expeditions around the world with blind Tibetan teenagers to helping injured soldiers climb their way home from war, from adopting a son from Nepal to facing the most terrifying reach of his to solo kayak the thunderous whitewater of the Grand Canyon.

Along the course of Erik’s journey, he meets other trailblazers―adventurers, scientists, artists, and activists―who, despite trauma, hardship, and loss, have broken through barriers of their own. These pioneers show Erik surprising ways forward that surpass logic and defy traditional thinking.

Like the rapids of the Grand Canyon, created by inexorable forces far beneath the surface, No Barriers is a dive into the heart and mind at the core of the turbulent human experience. It is an exploration of the light that burns in all of us, the obstacles that threaten to extinguish that light, and the treacherous ascent towards growth and rebirth.]]>
480 Erik Weihenmayer 1250088798 Remy 0 4.19 2017 No Barriers: A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon
author: Erik Weihenmayer
name: Remy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/07
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review:

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<![CDATA[The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories]]> 20493679 149 Angela Carter 0099593882 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.68 1979 The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
author: Angela Carter
name: Remy
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/07
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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The Bell Jar 12478803 I was supposed to be having the time of my life.

When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.


The Bell Jar
, Sylvia Plath's only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath's own life and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and a razor sharp portrait of 1950s society and has sold millions of copies worldwide.]]>
234 Sylvia Plath Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.95 1963 The Bell Jar
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Remy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/07
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review:

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Lolita 10244169
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged, frustrated college professor. In love with his landlady's twelve-year-old daughter Lolita, he'll do anything to possess her. Unable and unwilling to stop himself, he is prepared to commit any crime to get what he wants.

Is he in love or insane? A silver-tongued poet or a pervert? A tortured soul or a monster? Or is he all of these?]]>
361 Vladimir Nabokov 024195164X Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.83 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Remy
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/07
shelves: currently-reading, i-own
review:

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Mrs. Dalloway 13697019
On a June morning in 1923, Clarissa Dalloway, the glittering wife of a Member of Parliament, is preparing for a party she is giving that evening. As she walks through London, buying flowers, observing life, her thoughts are of the past and she remembers the time when she was as young as her own daughter Elizabeth, her romance with Peter Walsh, now recently returned from India; and the friends of her youth. Elsewhere in London Septimus Smith is being driven mad by shell shock. As the day draws to its end, his world and Clarissa's collide in unexpected ways.]]>
198 Virginia Woolf 024195679X Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.63 1925 Mrs. Dalloway
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Remy
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1925
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The Elephant Vanishes 17181679 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

When a man's favourite elephant vanishes, the balance of his whole life is subtly upset. A couple's midnight hunger pangs drive them to hold up a McDonald's. A woman finds she is irresistible to a small green monster that burrows through her front garden. An insomniac wife wakes up in a twilight world of semi-consciousness in which anything seems possible - even death. In every one of these stories Murakami makes a determined assault on the normal.]]>
327 Haruki Murakami 0099448750 Remy 0 currently-reading, i-own 3.65 1993 The Elephant Vanishes
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Remy
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/07
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