Madison's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:11:41 -0700 60 Madison's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer]]> 55271288
This book is Steven Johnson's attempt to understand where that progress came from. How many of those extra twenty thousand days came from vaccines, or the decrease in famines, or seatbelts? What are the forces that now keep us alive longer? Behind each breakthrough lies an inspiring story of cooperative innovation, of brilliant thinkers bolstered by strong systems of public support and collaborative networks.

But it is not enough simply to remind ourselves that progress is possible. How do we avoid decreases in life expectancy as our public health systems face unprecedented challenges? What current technologies or interventions that could reduce the impact of future crises are we somehow ignoring?]]> 320 Steven Johnson 0525538852 Madison 0 currently-reading 4.15 Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
author: Steven Johnson
name: Madison
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
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]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Madison 4 adult-fiction 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Madison
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> Swordheart 218624103 448 T. Kingfisher 1250400228 Madison 0 to-read 4.10 2018 Swordheart
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Madison
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midlife: A Philosophical Guide]]> 34427017 Philosophical wisdom and practical advice for overcoming the problems of middle age

How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive.

You will learn why missing out might be a good thing, how options are overrated, and when you should be glad you made a mistake. You will be introduced to philosophical consolations for mortality. And you will learn what it would mean to live in the present, how it could solve your midlife crisis, and why meditation helps.

Ranging from Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill to Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as drawing on Setiya's own experience, Midlife combines imaginative ideas, surprising insights, and practical advice. Writing with wisdom and wit, Setiya makes a wry but passionate case for philosophy as a guide to life.]]> 189 Kieran Setiya 0691173931 Madison 0 to-read 3.53 2017 Midlife: A Philosophical Guide
author: Kieran Setiya
name: Madison
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection]]> 220341389 John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.]]> 208 John Green 0525556575 Madison 0 to-read 4.55 2025 Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
author: John Green
name: Madison
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Butcher and the Wren (Dr. Wren Muller, #1)]]> 60672388
From the co-host of chart-topping true crime podcast Morbid, a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following where his trail of victims leads

Something dark is lurking in the Louisiana bayou: a methodical killer with a penchant for medical experimentation is hard at work completing his most harrowing crime yet, taunting the authorities who desperately try to catch up.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Wren Muller is the best there is. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of historical crimes, and years of experience working in the Medical Examiner's office, she's never encountered a case she couldn't solve. Until now. Case after case is piling up on Wren's examination table, and soon she is sucked into an all-consuming cat-and-mouse chase with a brutal murderer getting more brazen by the day.

An addictive read with straight-from-the-morgue details only an autopsy technician could provide, The Butcher and the Wren promises to ensnare all who enter.]]> 242 Alaina Urquhart 1638930147 Madison 0 to-read 3.72 2022 The Butcher and the Wren (Dr. Wren Muller, #1)
author: Alaina Urquhart
name: Madison
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> Trace 39813115 320 Pat Cummings 0062698842 Madison 0 to-read 3.57 2019 Trace
author: Pat Cummings
name: Madison
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Ghost Collector 43783388 Ghosts aren’t meant to stick around forever�

Shelly and her grandmother catch ghosts. In their hair.

Just like all the women in their family, they can see souls who haven’t transitioned yet; it’s their job to help the ghosts along their journey. When Shelly’s mom dies suddenly, Shelly’s relationship to ghosts—and death—changes. Instead of helping spirits move on, Shelly starts hoarding them. But no matter how many ghost cats, dogs, or people she hides in her room, Shelly can’t ignore the one ghost that’s missing. Why hasn’t her mom’s ghost come home yet?

Rooted in a Cree worldview and inspired by stories about the author’s great-grandmother’s life, The Ghost Collector delves into questions of grief and loss, and introduces an exciting new voice in tween fiction that will appeal to fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Louisiana’s Way Home and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls.]]> 192 Allison Mills 1773212966 Madison 0 to-read 3.84 2019 The Ghost Collector
author: Allison Mills
name: Madison
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> The First State of Being 173956216
It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?]]> 272 Erin Entrada Kelly 0063337312 Madison 0 to-read 4.08 2024 The First State of Being
author: Erin Entrada Kelly
name: Madison
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> One Big Open Sky 173476164 Three women narrate a perilous wagon journey westward that could set them free—or cost them everything they have—in this intergenerational verse novel that explores the history of the Black homesteader movement.

1879, Mississippi. Young dreamer Lettie may have her head in the stars, but her body is on a covered wagon heading westward. Her father, Thomas, promises that Nebraska will be everything the family an opportunity to claim the independence they’ve strived for over generations on their very own plot of land.
But Thomas� hopes—and mouth—are bigger than his ability to follow through. With few supplies and even less money, the only thing that feels certain is danger.

Right after the war ended/and we were free/we believed/all of us did/that couldn’t nothing hurt us/the way master had when we were slaves/Couldn’t no one tell us/how to live/how to die.

Lettie, her mother, Sylvia, and young teacher Philomena are free from slavery—but bound by poverty, access to opportunity, and patriarchal social structures. Will these women survive the hardships of their journey? And as Thomas� desire for control overpowers his common sense, will they truly be free once they get there?
Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Lesa Cline-Ransome’s striking verse masterfully portrays an underrepresented historical era. Tackling powerful themes of autonomy and Black self-emancipation, Cline-Ransome offers readers an intimate look into the lives of three women and an expansive portrait of generations striving for their promised freedom.]]> 304 Lesa Cline-Ransome 0823450163 Madison 0 to-read 4.13 2024 One Big Open Sky
author: Lesa Cline-Ransome
name: Madison
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/14
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]]> Westfallen 207297716 From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes an action-packed middle grade alternate history thriller that asks what it would be like to wake up in present-day America if Germany had won World War II.

Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbors, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school, things can change fast—Frances has become an emo art-girl, Lukas has gone full sports bro, and Henry has gone sort of nowhere. But when a dead gerbil brings them together again, the three ex-friends make an impossible discovery: a radio buried in Henry’s backyard that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town…on the same street…in the same backyard�seventy-nine years in the past.

The kids in 1944 want to know all about the future: are there jetpacks? Laser guns? Teleportation? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the war their dads and brothers are fighting in. Henry and his friends are cautious—they’ve all seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—but figure there’s no harm in telling them a little bit, just enough so they can stop worrying so much. And, at first, everything seems fine. Nothing’s changed—well, nothing so big they can’t contain it, anyway.

Until Henry, Frances, and Lukas wake up on May 6, 2024, to an America ruled by Nazis. They changed history. And now it’s up to them to change it back.]]> 384 Ann Brashares 1665950811 Madison 0 to-read 4.27 2024 Westfallen
author: Ann Brashares
name: Madison
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lost on a Mountain in Maine 1100375 128 Donn Fendler 068811573X Madison 3 juvenile-nonfiction 3.90 Lost on a Mountain in Maine
author: Donn Fendler
name: Madison
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: juvenile-nonfiction
review:

]]> Velvet Was the Night 54746205
Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ’n� roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman—and his soul.

Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies. Because Mexico in the 1970s is a noir where life is cheap and the price of truth is high.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a simmering historical noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman they’re both desperate to find.]]> 289 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593356829 Madison 2 adult-fiction 3.49 2021 Velvet Was the Night
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Madison
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives]]> 215805855 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before distills her key insights into simple truths for living with greater satisfaction, clarity, and happiness.

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

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

“Recognize that, like sleeping with a big dog in a small bed, things that are uncomfortable can also be comforting�“Accept yourself, expect more from yourself�“Easy children raise good parents”� “What can be done at any time is often done at no time�
For anyone undergoing a major life transition, such as graduation, career switch, marriage, or moving, or for those just encountering everyday dilemmas, these disarmingly brief aphorisms will inspire you by articulating truths that you never before noticed—and instantly recognize.]]> 176 Gretchen Rubin 0593800737 Madison 0 to-read 3.70 Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives
author: Gretchen Rubin
name: Madison
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> Princess and the Goblin 32281707 George MacDonald 0786152532 Madison 0 to-read 0.0 1872 Princess and the Goblin
author: George MacDonald
name: Madison
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1872
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Antiracist Baby 52535437 Antiracist Baby introduces the youngest readers and the grown-ups in their lives to the concept and power of antiracism. Providing the language necessary to begin critical conversations at the earliest age, Antiracist Baby is the perfect gift for readers of all ages dedicated to forming a just society.]]> 24 Ibram X. Kendi 0593110412 Madison 0 to-read 4.04 2020 Antiracist Baby
author: Ibram X. Kendi
name: Madison
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Book of Life (All Souls, #3)]]> 16054217 The #1 New York Times bestselling series finale and sequel to A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night

Bringing the magic and suspense of the All Souls Trilogy to a deeply satisfying conclusion, this highly anticipated finale went straight to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Book of Life, Diana and Matthew time-travel back from Elizabethan London to make a dramatic return to the present—facing new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home, Sept-Tours, they reunite with the beloved cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.]]> 561 Deborah Harkness 0670025593 Madison 0 to-read 4.15 2014 The Book of Life (All Souls, #3)
author: Deborah Harkness
name: Madison
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> Dogman (Dog Man, #1) 45277731 240 Dav Pilkey 8075499867 Madison 2 4.24 2016 Dogman (Dog Man, #1)
author: Dav Pilkey
name: Madison
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: graphic-novel, juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> When We Ride 213395491 Rex Ogle explores bonds of loyalty and friendship and how they’re tested by drugs and violence in this propulsive novel-in-verse.


Diego Benevides works hard. His single mother encourages him to stay focused on school, on getting into college, on getting out of their crumbling neighborhood. That’s why she gave him her car.


Diego’s best friend, Lawson, needs a ride—because Lawson is dealing. As long as Diego’s not carrying, not selling, it’s cool. It’s just weed.


But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made.


Award-winning memoirist and poet Rex Ogle’s searing first novel-in-verse is an unforgettable story of the power and price of loyalty.]]> 336 Rex Ogle 1324052821 Madison 0 to-read 4.51 When We Ride
author: Rex Ogle
name: Madison
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Me vs Brain: An Overthinker’s Guide to Life]]> 60555269 Me: No don't say that, I've not got time for this!
Brain: The house is probably on fire!
Me: Stop it, I need to write this book description.
Brain: But the blazing fire.
Me: We didn't even use the oven today.
Brain: But what if -
Me: No. We're not doing this, I'm finishing this description.

Hello there! Hayley Morris here. Or you might know me as the Brain Girl, and don't be fooled...it's not because I'm outrageously smart. Just an avid overthinker. I'm on a mission to prove once and for all that You. Are. Normal. Running through imaginary arguments whilst showering, hiding your knickers in the nurse's office before they look directly into your vagina, or not knowing how to be a normal human when you have the plumber over. I've spent the majority of my life saying and doing embarrassing things that wake me up in a cold sweat at 3am as my Brain reminds me of every minor detail.

In this book, I've overthought absolutely everything so you don't have to. I'll be talking about everything from dating to discharge, mental health to menstrual cups. I might not be able to banish your anxiety or make you feel 100% comfortable in your skin, but I hope I can at least give you a break from the constant brain chatter and we can rejoice and laugh at how similar we actually all are.]]> 304 Hayley Morris Madison 0 to-read 3.87 Me vs Brain: An Overthinker’s Guide to Life
author: Hayley Morris
name: Madison
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom]]> 211003829 Timely and thought-provoking, Nancy Reddy unpacks and debunks the bad ideas that have for too long defined what it means to be a "good" mom.

When Nancy Reddy had her first child she found herself suddenly confronted with the ideal of a perfect mother—a woman who was constantly available, endlessly patient, and immediately invested in her child to the exclusion of all else. Reddy had been raised by a single working mother, considered herself a feminist, and was well on her way to a PhD. Why did doing motherhood "right" feel so wrong?

For answers Reddy turned to the mid-20th century social scientists and psychologists whose work still forms the basis of so much of what we believe about parenting. It seems ludicrous to imagine modern moms taking advice from mid-century researchers, yet their bad ideas about so-called “good� motherhood have seeped pervasively into our cultural norms. In The Good Mother Myth, Reddy debunks the flawed lab studies, sloppy research, and straightforward misogyny of researchers from Harry Harlow, who claimed to have discovered love by observing monkeys in his lab, to the famous Dr. Spock, whose bestselling parenting guide included just one illustration of a father interacting with his child. Blending history of science, cultural criticism, and memoir, The Good Mother Myth pulls back the curtain on the flawed social science behind our contemporary understanding of what makes a good mom.]]> 256 Nancy Reddy 1250336643 Madison 0 to-read 3.72 2025 The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom
author: Nancy Reddy
name: Madison
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 Madison 5 4.37 2021 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
author: John Green
name: Madison
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/07
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: adult-nonfiction, worth-rereading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 171681821
A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.� —Shannon Carlin, ,i>TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood� began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood� in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood� has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems� that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.]]> 400 Jonathan Haidt 0593655036 Madison 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: Madison
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Old School 211642066
Dexter Foreman is twelve� going on eighty. He has lived at The Pines Retirement Village with his grandmother since he was six years old, and as a result, he gets along better with senior citizens than kids his own age. He’s been home-schooled by the residents up until the day the county’s truancy officer shows up and announces that Dex has to go to the local middle school.

At school, Dex sticks out like a sore thumb. He dresses like a grandpa (and can be just as cranky). His taste in movies and music is decades out of date. Only a few students—like Gianna Greco, a reporter at the school’s newspaper—find him intriguing. For most, he is a weirdo ... or a target.

Raised among a generation of Mr. Fix-its, Dex can repair seemingly anything with his trusty Swiss army knife� which comes in handy since their old school building seems to be crumbling around them. It also ends up putting Dexter in a situation that could either make or break his school career.

Dexter would do anything to return to his old life at The Pines. But when his wish finally seems to be coming true, his old and new worlds collide in a way that surprises everyone—and Dexter most of all.]]> 288 Gordon Korman 0063238144 Madison 0 to-read 4.36 2025 Old School
author: Gordon Korman
name: Madison
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Remarkably Bright Creatures 58733693 Remarkably Bright Creatures, an exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.]]> 368 Shelby Van Pelt 0063204150 Madison 0 4.35 2022 Remarkably Bright Creatures
author: Shelby Van Pelt
name: Madison
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves: currently-reading, adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy]]> 42771901 232 Jenny Odell 1612197493 Madison 0 to-read 3.68 2019 How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
author: Jenny Odell
name: Madison
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Free Lunch 43726584 Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of last period every day until the buses have left, so no one will see where he lives.


Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America.]]> 208 Rex Ogle 132400360X Madison 5 4.36 2019 Free Lunch
author: Rex Ogle
name: Madison
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/02
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fortune's Wheel (The Meonbridge Chronicles #1)]]> 48511164
June 1349. In Meonbridge, a Hampshire manor, the Black Death has wiped out half its population, among them Alice atte Wode’s husband and Eleanor Titherige’s entire family. Even the manor’s lord and his wife, Margaret de Bohun, have not escaped the horror.

Now the plague is over, it's a struggle to return to normal life, with so much to do and so few left to do it. Tensions mount between the de Bohuns and their tenants, as the workers realise their scarceness means they can demand higher wages, dictate their own lives.

When the tensions deepen into violence and disorder, and the men � lord and villagers alike � seem unable to find any resolution, the women � Alice, Eleanor and Margaret � must step forward to end the conflict that is tearing Meonbridge apart.

“A thoroughly researched book, with care given to ensuring that the characters have 14th century attitudes and knowledge…gives a strong sense of the reality of the past.� Catherine Meyrick, author of Forsaking All Other

If you enjoy well-researched, immersive historical fiction, set in a turbulent and challenging time, with strong but credible female characters, you’ll love Fortune’s Wheel, the first of the MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLES. Discover for yourself the compelling story of Meonbridge’s survival.]]> 322 Carolyn Hughes Madison 0 to-read 3.69 Fortune's Wheel (The Meonbridge Chronicles #1)
author: Carolyn Hughes
name: Madison
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Chasing Redbird 53495 224 Sharon Creech 0330397826 Madison 0 to-read 4.10 1997 Chasing Redbird
author: Sharon Creech
name: Madison
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation): The Astonishing Story of How We Doubled Our Lifespan]]> 60835843 A young readers adaptation of Steven Johnson's Extra Life, the story of how humans have doubled our lifespan in less than a century--and what to do with the extra life we now have.

Humans live longer now than they ever have in their more than three hundred thousand years of existence on earth. And most (if not all) of the advances that have permitted the human lifespan to double have happened in living memory.

Extra Life looks at vaccines, seat belts, pesticides, and more, and how each of our scientific advancements have prolonged human life. This book is a deep dive into the sciences--perfect for younger readers who enjoy modern history as well as scientific advances.]]> 128 Steven Johnson 0593351495 Madison 0 to-read 4.15 2023 Extra Life (Young Readers Adaptation): The Astonishing Story of How We Doubled Our Lifespan
author: Steven Johnson
name: Madison
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Spider in the Well 179311301 48 Jess Hannigan 0063289474 Madison 0 to-read 4.12 Spider in the Well
author: Jess Hannigan
name: Madison
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Villa 60784641 From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.]]> 279 Rachel Hawkins 125028001X Madison 3 adult-fiction 3.59 2023 The Villa
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Madison
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> Before Green Gables 1137151 Anne of Green Gables was specially authorized by L.M. Montgomery's heirs to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of the original novel.

Before Green Gables is the story of Anne Shirley's life before her arrival at Green Gables-a heartwarming tale of a precocious child whose lively imagination and relentless spirit help her to overcome difficult circumstances and of a young girl's ability to love, learn, and above all, dream.

Published in 1908, L. M. Montgomery's coming-of-age classic Anne of Green Gables has enchanted generations of readers, both children, and adults. The story of the spunky red-haired orphan from Prince Edward Island is known to millions, and copies of the eight titles in the series have never gone out of print.

But when readers first meet Anne, she is eleven and has just been sent from an orphanage to meet her new family. No one ever learned the events of Anne's life before she arrived at Green Gables.

Until now.

For the millions of readers who devoured the Green Gables series, Before Green Gables is an irresistible treat; the account of how one of literature's most beloved heroines became the girl who captivated the world.]]> 387 Budge Wilson 039915468X Madison 0 to-read 3.95 2008 Before Green Gables
author: Budge Wilson
name: Madison
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Rover's Story 60091384 A middle grade novel about the journey of a fictional Mars rover.

Meet Resilience, a Mars rover determined to live up to his name.

Res was built to explore Mars. He was not built to have human emotions. But as he learns new things from the NASA scientists who assemble him, he begins to develop human-like feelings. Maybe there's a problem with his programming....

Human emotions or not, launch day comes, and Res blasts off to Mars, accompanied by a friendly drone helicopter named Fly. But Res quickly discovers that Mars is a dangerous place filled with dust storms and giant cliffs. As he navigates Mars's difficult landscape, Res is tested in ways that go beyond space exploration.

As millions of people back on Earth follow his progress, will Res have the determination, courage—and resilience—to succeed... and survive?]]> 320 Jasmine Warga 0063113929 Madison 0 currently-reading 4.26 2022 A Rover's Story
author: Jasmine Warga
name: Madison
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)]]> 55711617
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though � this, Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedic recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but� will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening? Does she even want to?

Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?

This new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, called “one of our most talented living writers� by Tommy Orange, explores the changing landscape of the West through his distinct voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence.

Go up the mountain to Proofrock. See if you’ve got what it takes � see if your heart, too, might be a chainsaw.]]> 405 Stephen Graham Jones 1982137630 Madison 0 currently-reading 3.52 2021 My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Madison
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Ferris 177721372 Because of Winn-Dixie has outdone herself with a hilarious and achingly real love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother, and growing up.

It’s the summer before fifth grade, and for Ferris Wilkey, it is a summer of sheer pandemonium: Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and, to Ferris’s mother’s chagrin, is holed up in the Wilkey basement to paint a history of the world. And Charisse, Ferris’s grandmother, has started seeing a ghost at the threshold of her room, which seems like an alarming omen given that she is also feeling unwell. But the ghost is not there to usher Charisse to the Great Beyond. Rather, she has other plans—wild, impractical, illuminating plans. How can Ferris satisfy a specter with Pinky terrorizing the town, Uncle Ted sending Ferris to spy on her aunt, and her father battling an invasion of raccoons?

As Charisse likes to say, “Every good story is a love story,� and Kate DiCamillo has written one for the ages: emotionally resonant and healing, showing the two-time Newbery Medalist at her most playful, universal, and profound.]]> 226 Kate DiCamillo 1536231053 Madison 3 juvenile-fiction 4.22 2024 Ferris
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Madison
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/09
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Orris and Timble: The Beginning]]> 195367863 From beloved storyteller Kate DiCamillo comes the first book in a warm and funny early-reader trilogy about a misanthropic rat and a naive owl—and the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Orris the rat lives alone in an old barn surrounded by his treasures, until the day his solitude is disrupted by a sudden flutter of wings and a loud screech. A small owl has gotten caught in a trap in the barn. Can Orris “make the good and noble choice� (as the king on his prized sardine can might recommend) and rescue the owl, despite the fact that owls and rats are natural enemies? And if he does, will he be ready for the consequences? With humor and tenderness, two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo brings us this first of three tales celebrating unlikely friendship and the power of sharing stories and doing the right thing—a soon-to-be classic brought to expressive life by the full-color illustrations of Carmen Mok.]]> 80 Kate DiCamillo 1536222798 Madison 3 juvenile-fiction 4.34 2024 Orris and Timble: The Beginning
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Madison
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/09
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> Light and Air 125085131 It's 1935, and tuberculosis is ravaging the nation. Everyone is afraid of this deadly respiratory illness. But what happens when you actually have it?

When Halle and her mother both come down with TB, they are shunned—and then they are sent to the J.N. Adam Tuberculosis Hospital: far from home, far from family, far from the world.

Tucked away in the woods of upstate New York, the hospital is a closed and quiet place. But it is not, Halle learns, a prison. Free of her worried and difficult father for the first time in her life, she slowly discovers joy, family, and the healing power of honey on the children's ward, where the girls on the floor become her confidantes and sisters. But when Mama suffers a lung hemorrhage, their entire future—and recovery—is thrown into question....

Light and Air deals tenderly and insightfully with isolation, quarantine, found family, and illness. Set in the fully realized world of a 1930s hospital, it offers a tender glimpse into a historical epidemic that has become more relatable than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Halle tries to warm her father’s coldness and learns to trust the girls and women of the hospital, and as she and her mother battle a disease that once paralyzed the country, a profound message of strength, hope, and healing emerges.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

"Richly detailed... Timeless."—Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Emotionally honest... Satisfying."—Publishers Weekly]]> 218 Mindy Nichols Wendell 0823457656 Madison 0 to-read 4.27 2024 Light and Air
author: Mindy Nichols Wendell
name: Madison
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Three Strike Summer 60320600 A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Selection
A Horn Book Magazine Best Book of 2022

“Told in a voice that is so real it reeks of filched peaches, this book is a home run.� —Amy Sarig King, Printz Award–winning author of Dig and The Year We Fell from Space

Sandlot meets Esperanza Rising in this “vividly rendered, emotionally vulnerable� ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) middle grade historical novel about a strong-willed girl who finds her voice in a tale of moxie, peaches, and determination to thrive despite the odds.

When the skies dried up, Gloria thought it was temporary. When the dust storms rolled in, she thought they would pass. But now the bank man’s come to take the family farm, and Pa’s decided to up and move to California in search of work. They’ll pick fruit, he says, until they can save up enough money to buy land of their own again.

There are only three rules at the Santa Ana Holdsten Peach
No stealing product.
No drunkenness or gambling.
And absolutely no organizing.

Well, Gloria Mae Willard isn’t about to organize any peaches, no ma’am. She’s got more on her mind than that. Like the secret, all-boys baseball team she’s desperate to play for, if only they’d give her a chance. Or the way that wages keep going down. The way their company lodgings are dirty and smelly, and everyone seems intent on leaving her out of everything.

But Gloria has never been the type to wait around for permission. If the boys won’t let her play, she’ll find a way to make them. If the people around her are keeping secrets, then she’ll keep a few of her own. And if the boss men at the Santa Ana Holdsten Peach Orchard say she can’t organize peaches, then by golly she’ll organize a whole ball game.]]> 320 Skyler Schrempp 1534499148 Madison 0 to-read 4.29 2022 Three Strike Summer
author: Skyler Schrempp
name: Madison
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?]]> 17707774
Science writer Robin Marantz Henig and her daughter, journalist Samantha Henig, offer a smart, comprehensive look at what it's really like to be twentysomething—and to what extent it’s different for Millennials than it was for their Baby Boomer parents. The Henigs combine the behavioral science literature for insights into how young people make choices about schooling, career, marriage, and childbearing; how they relate to parents, friends, and lovers; and how technology both speeds everything up
and slows everything down. Packed with often-surprising discoveries, Twentysomething is a two-generation conversation that will become the definitive book on being young in our time.

"The fullest guide through this territory . . . A densely researched report on the state of middleclass young people today, drawn from several data sources and fi­ltered through a comparative lens."
—� The New Yorker]]> 304 Samantha Henig 0142180343 Madison 0 to-read 3.98 2012 Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?
author: Samantha Henig
name: Madison
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]> 416 T.J. Klune 125088120X Madison 0 to-read 4.17 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Madison
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tangerine 89755 very unusual things about his family’s new home in Tangerine County, Florida. Where else does a sinkhole swallow the local school, fire burn underground for years, and lightning strike at the same time every day?

The chaos is compounded by constant harassment from his football-star brother, and adjusting to life in Tangerine isn’t easy for Paul—until he joins the soccer team at his middle school. With the help of his new teammates, Paul begins to discover what lies beneath the surface of his strange new hometown. And he also gains the courage to face up to some secrets his family has been keeping from him for far too long. In Tangerine, it seems, anything is possible.]]> 312 Edward Bloor 0152057803 Madison 0 3.57 1997 Tangerine
author: Edward Bloor
name: Madison
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: currently-reading, juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> Here 20587888 Here is Richard McGuire's unique graphic novel based on the legendary 1989 comic strip of the same name.

Richard McGuire's groundbreaking comic strip Here was published under Art Spiegelman's editorship at RAW in 1989.

Built in six pages of interlocking panels, dated by year, it collapsed time and space to tell the story of the corner of a room - and its inhabitants - between the years 500,957,406,073 BC and 2313 AD.

The strip remains one of the most influential and widely discussed contributions to the medium, and it has now been developed, expanded and reimagined by the artist into this full-length, full-colour graphic novel - a must for any fan of the genre.]]> 304 Richard McGuire 0241145961 Madison 4 adult-fiction, graphic-novel 4.19 2014 Here
author: Richard McGuire
name: Madison
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/16
date added: 2024/07/16
shelves: adult-fiction, graphic-novel
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters]]> 52076947 Irreversible Damage is an exploration of a mystery: Why, in the last decade, has the diagnosis "gender dysphoria," transformed from a vanishingly rare affliction, applying almost exclusively to boys and men, to an epidemic among teenage girls?

Author Abigail Shrier presents shocking statistics and stories from real families to show that America and the West have become fertile ground for a "transgender craze" that has nothing to do with real gender dysphoria and everything to do with our cultural frailty. Teenage girls are taking courses of testosterone and disfiguring their bodies. Parents are undermined; experts are over-relied upon; dissenters in science and medicine are intimidated; free speech truckles under renewed attack; socialized medicine bears hidden consequences; and an intersectional era has arisen in which the desire to escape a dominant identity encourages individuals to take cover in victim groups.

Every person who has ever had a skeptical thought about the sudden rush toward a non-binary future but been afraid to express it—this book is for you.Ěý]]> 276 Abigail Shrier 1684510317 Madison 0 adult-nonfiction 4.08 2020 Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
author: Abigail Shrier
name: Madison
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: adult-nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Peter the Great: His Life and World]]> 130363
Robert K. Massie delves deep into the life of this captivating historical figure, chronicling the pivotal events that shaped a boy into a legend - including his 'incognito' travels in Europe, his unquenchable curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy, his creation of an unbeatable army, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, unscrupulous prince who rose to power through Peter's friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life.]]> 909 Robert K. Massie 1842121162 Madison 0 to-read 4.11 1980 Peter the Great: His Life and World
author: Robert K. Massie
name: Madison
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Labyrinth of Lost and Found (The Whisperwicks, #1)]]> 181848975 A boy who doesn't believe in magic. An impossible world that will change his mind.

Eleven-year-old Benjamiah Creek believes in science, logic and the power of reason. He definitely does not believe in magic. But when he receives a mysterious gift in the post - a doll that can transform into a bird - he is led into the impossible (and most definitely magical) world of Wreathenwold, where dark secrets are lost amongst a vast labyrinth of streets.

Benjamiah soon finds himself swept along in a dangerous quest - led by the fierce and brilliant Elizabella, who is determined to solve the disappearance of her missing brother.

Will Benjamiah ever find his way home and discover his puzzling connection with this strange, enchanted world?]]> 394 Jordan Lees 0241607531 Madison 0 to-read 4.29 2024 The Labyrinth of Lost and Found (The Whisperwicks, #1)
author: Jordan Lees
name: Madison
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys]]> 1195324 162 Alta Abernathy 0966216601 Madison 0 to-read 4.31 1992 Bud & Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys
author: Alta Abernathy
name: Madison
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us about Breasts]]> 201187766 An innovative investigation of the five strange worlds that worship women’s chests

After years of biopsies, best-selling author Sarah Thornton made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy, but after her reconstructive surgery, she was perplexed: What had she lost? And gained? An experienced sleuth, she resolved to venture behind the scenes to uncover the social and cultural significance of breasts.

Tits Up reveals the diverse truths of mammary glands from the strip club to the operating room, from the nation’s oldest human milk bank to the fitting rooms of bra designers. Thornton draws insights from plastic surgeons, lactation consultants, body-positive witches, lingerie models, and “free the nipple� activists to explore the status of breasts as emblems of femininity.

She examines how women’s chests have become a billion-dollar business, as well as a stage for debates about race, class, gender, and desire. Everywhere she turns, Thornton encounters chauvinistic myths that quietly justify restrictions to women’s bodily autonomy and diminish women's political status.

Blending sociology, reportage, and personal narrative with refreshing optimism and wit, Thornton has one overriding ambition―to liberate breasts from centuries of patriarchal prejudice.]]> 336 Sarah Thornton 0393881024 Madison 0 to-read 3.68 2024 Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us about Breasts
author: Sarah Thornton
name: Madison
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond]]> 65215014 From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole

Henry Winkler, launched into prominence by his role as “the Fonz� in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Brilliant, funny, and widely regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood (though he would be the first to tell you that it’s simply not the case, he’s really just grateful to be here), Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.

Since the glorious era of Happy Days fame, Henry has endeared himself to new generations with roles in such adored shows as Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, and Barry, where he’s been revealed as an actor with immense depth and pathos, a departure from the period of his life when he was so distinctly typecast as the Fonz that he could hardly find work.

Filled with profound heart, charm, and self-deprecating humor, Being Henry is a memoir about so much more than a life in Hollywood and the curse of stardom. It is a meaningful testament to the power of sharing truth and kindness and of finding fulfillment within yourself.]]> 246 Henry Winkler 1250888093 Madison 4 adult-nonfiction 4.10 2023 Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond
author: Henry Winkler
name: Madison
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: adult-nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Heirloomist: 100 Treasures and the Stories They Tell]]> 195821037
A set of old apartment keys, a pair of worn running shoes, a declaration of love scribbled on a restaurant receipt. Beautiful stories that celebrate the power an object can hold are at the heart of The Heirloomist by photographer Shana Novak, creator of the project of the same name dedicated to documenting keepsakes and transforming them into uniquely meaningful works of art. The 100 objects featured here range from the everyday to the extraordinary. Treasured heirlooms to their owners, ordinary folks and cultural figures alike, they hold remarkable stories such Big or small, expensive or humble, we all have meaningful items with powerful messages behind them. Celebratory, sentimental, and bursting with heart, The Heirloomist offers a glimpse into the treasures we hold dear and how they inform the stories of our lives.

HEARTWARMING The stories attached to these heirlooms range from funny to moving and everything in between. An artful and touching memory book, it makes a sentimental gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation, housewarming, or any special occasion. Also perfect for anyone looking for unique stories.

FOR FANS ART BOOKS LIKE HUMANS OF NEW YORK : The Heirloomist contains dozens of striking portraits of seemingly ordinary objects along with fascinating stories that will resonate with readers long after they've been read.ĚýThe ultimate coffee table book, it is at once visually engaging and warmly entertaining.

BASED ON A BELOVED Through her business and popular Instagram account of the same name, photographer Shana NovakĚýturns treasured keepsakes into uniquely meaningful works of art.ĚýAs @theheirloomist, Shana has become a living receptacle for her clientsâ€� stories, absorbing them as she strives to capture the essence of what makes each keepsake special to its owner in her photographs, and sharing them with her strong audience of devoted followers.

Perfect ]]> 256 Shana Novak 1797224409 Madison 0 to-read 3.83 The Heirloomist: 100 Treasures and the Stories They Tell
author: Shana Novak
name: Madison
average rating: 3.83
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> David Copperfield 58696 882 Charles Dickens Madison 0 to-read 4.02 1850 David Copperfield
author: Charles Dickens
name: Madison
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1850
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Demon Copperhead 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Madison 4 adult-fiction 4.46 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Madison
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/14
date added: 2024/03/14
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> Chivalry 6578055
Selected Shorts is an award-winning series of classic and contemporary short fiction read by acclaimed actors. The readings are recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City. The Selected Shorts radio series is a co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is heard on public radio stations nationwide."]]> 1 Neil Gaiman Madison 3 adult-fiction 4.12 2022 Chivalry
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Madison
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/20
date added: 2024/03/02
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trees of North America: A Field Guide to the Major Native and Introduced Species North of Mexico (A Golden Field Guide)]]> 890121 280 C. Frank Brockman 0307136582 Madison 0 to-read 4.00 1968 Trees of North America: A Field Guide to the Major Native and Introduced Species North of Mexico (A Golden Field Guide)
author: C. Frank Brockman
name: Madison
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1968
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Secret Book of Flora Lea 61964751
In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars . Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.]]> 355 Patti Callahan Henry 1668011832 Madison 4 adult-fiction 4.03 2023 The Secret Book of Flora Lea
author: Patti Callahan Henry
name: Madison
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/11
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II]]> 22715829
Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy; in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on long bombing flights.ĚýThey wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter.ĚýThey helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity.ĚýThey made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike.]]> 267 Molly Guptill Manning 0544535022 Madison 2 adult-nonfiction 3.90 2014 When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II
author: Molly Guptill Manning
name: Madison
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/01/27
shelves: adult-nonfiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unas misteriosas pistas / Some Mysterious Clues (Spanish Edition)]]> 183526383
Unai y Berta se han ido con sus padres y su tía de vacaciones. ¡Y parece que van a ser únicas! Juntos van a crear recuerdos inolvidables.
Ěý
Nada más llegar, descubren un papelito en la rama de un á «Si queréis un regalo, el primer paso es buscar una planta carnívora que tenéis cerca». ¡Es una búsqueda del tesoro!
Ěý
En familia, disfrutarán de una aventura muy especial llena de aprendizajes, diversión y, sobre todo�, ¡muchas pistas!
Ěý
Un cuento muy personal escrito por la editora y autora Carme López e ilustrado por Gènia Trallero

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

A story celebrating the importance of fostering children's curiosity and embracing the enchantment of childhood vacations.
Ěý
Unai and Berta set off with their parents and aunt on a vacation that promises to be truly unique. Together, they will create unforgettable memories.
Ěý
As soon as they arrive, they stumble upon a piece of paper hanging from a tree branch with a "If you want a gift, your first clue is to find a carnivorous plant nearby." It marks the beginning of an exciting treasure hunt!
Ěý
As a family, they'll embark on a remarkable adventure filled with learning, fun, and, most importantly, many clues!
Ěý
This heartwarming tale is crafted by the editor and author Carme López and beautifully illustrated by Gènia Trallero.]]> 32 Carmen López Mercader 8419522163 Madison 0 to-read 4.00 Unas misteriosas pistas / Some Mysterious Clues (Spanish Edition)
author: Carmen LĂłpez Mercader
name: Madison
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wildful 147640960 Key Text Features illustrations
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.]]> 216 Kengo Kurimoto 1773068628 Madison 0 to-read 4.20 2024 Wildful
author: Kengo Kurimoto
name: Madison
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lost Library 63005200 A little free library guarded by a cat and a boy who takes on the mystery it keeps.

When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change.

Evan and his best friend Rafe quickly discover a link between one of the old books and a long-ago event that none of the grown-ups want to talk about. The two boys start asking questions whose answers will transform not only their own futures, but the town itself.

Told in turn by a ghost librarian named Al, an aging (but beautiful) cat named Mortimer, and Evan himself, The Lost Library is a timeless story from award-winning authors Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass. It's about owning your truth, choosing the life you want, and the power of a good book (and, of course, the librarian who gave it to you).]]> 215 Rebecca Stead 1250838819 Madison 3 juvenile-fiction 4.09 2023 The Lost Library
author: Rebecca Stead
name: Madison
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/18
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream]]> 20518979
In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much - but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot.

And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn't pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competition—and yet, against all odds... they won!

But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story—which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement—will go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan.

Joshua Davis' Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out.]]> 240 Joshua Davis 0374183376 Madison 3 adult-nonfiction 4.13 2014 Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
author: Joshua Davis
name: Madison
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/18
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: adult-nonfiction
review:

]]> The Grace of Wild Things 61150756
Grace has never been good at anything except magic—not that anyone believes her. While other children are adopted from the orphanage, nobody wants Grace. So she decides to make a home for herself by running away and offering herself as an apprentice to the witch in the nearby woods. After all, who better to teach Grace to use her magic? Surely the witch can’t be that bad.

But the witch is that bad—she steals souls for spells and gobbles up hearts. So Grace offers a deal: If she can learn all 100½ spells in the witch’s grimoire, the witch will make Grace her apprentice. But if Grace fails, the witch can take her magic. The witch agrees, and soon an unexpected bond develops between them. But the spells are much harder than Grace expected, and when a monster from the witch’s past threatens the home Grace has built, she may have to sacrifice more than her magic to save it.

Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, this is a magical story of found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination.]]> 368 Heather Fawcett 0063142627 Madison 4 juvenile-fiction 4.10 2023 The Grace of Wild Things
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Madison
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/18
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> Tuck Everlasting 84981 148 Natalie Babbitt 0374480095 Madison 4 young-adult, juvenile-fiction 3.90 1975 Tuck Everlasting
author: Natalie Babbitt
name: Madison
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/18
date added: 2024/01/18
shelves: young-adult, juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> The Museum of Lost and Found 61783736
Vanessa isn’t sure which happened finding the abandoned museum or losing her best friend, Bailey. She doesn’t know what to do with herself now that Bailey has left her behind—but when she stumbles upon an empty, forgotten museum, her purpose becomes clear. Vanessa starts filling the museum with her own artifacts and memories, hoping that perhaps if she can find the right way to tell the story of her broken friendship, she can figure out how to make it whole again.

As Vanessa’s museum grows, it seems like the place might have the answers to other questions, too. Like why a mysterious work of art was left behind. Or how to deal with a military dad who’s trying to parent from thousands of miles away. Or why Vanessa’s bad habit is getting harder and harder to quit. Or even, maybe, how to set the past to rest and find a way to move forward.

Moving and charming, The Museum of Lost and Found is about how we grow apart from some people as we grow up—and how sometimes we can find new pieces of ourselves in the aftermath.]]> 304 Leila Sales 1419754513 Madison 0 to-read 3.94 2023 The Museum of Lost and Found
author: Leila Sales
name: Madison
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store]]> 35488858
In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy—only keeping her from meeting her goals—she decided to set herself a challenge:Ěýshe would not shop for an entire year.

The Year of LessĚýdocuments Cait’s life for twelve months during which she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt.

The challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her.

Blending Cait’s compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance,ĚýThe Year of LessĚýwill leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life—and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path ofĚýless.]]> 189 Cait Flanders 1401954871 Madison 0 to-read 3.43 2018 The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store
author: Cait Flanders
name: Madison
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Madison 0 to-read 3.67 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Madison
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Weyward 60654349 I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.]]> 329 Emilia Hart 125028080X Madison 0 to-read 4.03 2023 Weyward
author: Emilia Hart
name: Madison
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Puppets of Spelhorst 128125963
Shut up in a trunk by a taciturn old sea captain with a secret, five friends—a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy, and an owl—bicker, boast, and comfort one another in the dark. Individually, they dream of song and light, freedom and flight, purpose and glory, but they all agree they are part of a larger story, bound each to each by chance, bonded by the heart’s mysteries. When at last their shared fate arrives, landing them on a mantel in a blue room in the home of two little girls, the truth is more astonishing than any of them could have imagined. A beloved author of modern classics draws on her most moving themes with humor, heart, and wisdom in the first of the Norendy Tales, a projected trio of novellas linked by place and mood, each illustrated in black and white by a different virtuoso illustrator. A magical and beautifully packaged gift volume designed to be read aloud and shared, The Puppets of Spelhorst is a tale that soothes and strengthens us on our journey, leading us through whatever dark forest we find ourselves in.]]> 149 Kate DiCamillo Madison 3 juvenile-fiction 4.16 2023 The Puppets of Spelhorst
author: Kate DiCamillo
name: Madison
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/09
date added: 2023/12/09
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> Leave the World Behind 50358031
Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter.

But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?]]> 241 Rumaan Alam 0062667637 Madison 4 adult-fiction 3.13 2020 Leave the World Behind
author: Rumaan Alam
name: Madison
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)]]> 36223860 alternate cover for ISBN 9781250186928

It has a dark past � one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A� stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.]]> 158 Martha Wells Madison 4 adult-fiction 4.23 2018 Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)
author: Martha Wells
name: Madison
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/24
date added: 2023/11/24
shelves: adult-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown]]> 123239396 240 Kenan Thompson 0063348063 Madison 0 to-read 3.82 2023 When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown
author: Kenan Thompson
name: Madison
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Tree and the River 62595119 32 Aaron Becker 1536223298 Madison 0 to-read 4.30 The Tree and the River
author: Aaron Becker
name: Madison
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock]]> 61358639 How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell wrote about the importance of disconnecting from the “attention economy� to spend time in quiet contemplation. But what if you don’t have time to spend?

In order to answer this seemingly simple question, Odell took a deep dive into the fundamental structure of our society and found that the clock we live by was built for profit, not people. This is why our lives, even in leisure, have come to seem like a series of moments to be bought, sold, and processed ever more efficiently. Odell shows us how our painful relationship to time is inextricably connected not only to persisting social inequities but to the climate crisis, existential dread, and a lethal fatalism.

This dazzling, subversive, and deeply hopeful book offers us different ways to experience time—inspired by pre-industrial cultures, ecological cues, and geological timescales—that can bring within reach a more humane, responsive way of living. As planet-bound animals, we live inside shortening and lengthening days alongside gardens growing, birds migrating, and cliffs eroding; the stretchy quality of waiting and desire; the way the present may suddenly feel marbled with childhood memory; the slow but sure procession of a pregnancy; the time it takes to heal from injuries. Odell urges us to become stewards of these different rhythms of life in which time is not reducible to standardized units and instead forms the very medium of possibility.

Saving Time tugs at the seams of reality as we know it—the way we experience time itself—and rearranges it, imagining a world not centered on work, the office clock, or the profit motive. If we can “save� time by imagining a life, identity, and source of meaning outside these things, time might also save us.]]> 400 Jenny Odell 059324270X Madison 0 to-read 3.60 2023 Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
author: Jenny Odell
name: Madison
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom]]> 55978006
This concise and practical guide integrates effective reading strategies from each perspective. Every chapter of Shifting the Balance focuses on one of the six simple and scientifically sound shifts reading teachers can make to strengthen their approach to early reading instruction in these areas: Practical Instruction for Primary Grades: Whether your students are just learning to read or building more advanced reading comprehensive skills, Shifting the Balance is designed to help teachers meet the instructional needs of K-2 students.

Six Manageable Shifts: Each chapter focuses on a key shift that helps educators understand common misconceptions and adjust their thinking around some common instructional practices that teachers have been using for decades.

Evidence-Based Instruction: Burkins and Yates offer busy educators a blueprint for integrating finding from brain research, cognitive science, and child development into their daily instruction, while keeping meaningful experiences with books a priority.

Classroom Applications: Shifting the Balance is full of sample activities and classroom vignettes that paint a picture of what these shifts look like in action with roomful of learners.

The book has already helped countless educators by taking the guesswork out of how to blend best practices with the latest research while keeping students at the forefront of reading instruction. "We've written this book to support you in making sound decisions anchored in the best of science, the truth of responsiveness, and a relentless focus on providing all children learning experiences saturated with meaning, " the authors write.]]> 203 Jan Burkins 1625315104 Madison 0 to-read, reading-instruction 4.38 Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom
author: Jan Burkins
name: Madison
average rating: 4.38
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/01
shelves: to-read, reading-instruction
review:

]]> The Bear and Her Book 123122413 and a bear must go where she wants to be.
And a bear as curious as me longs to gaze at the starlit sea!� A book-loving bear sets off to see the world. She takes one special thing—her Bear’s Big Book of Being Wise. But when she meets different creatures, each needing her help, she discovers that books aren’t just brilliant at fixing problems–they can also help you make new friends. And if you’re lucky, books can take you to a very special place indeed . . .]]> 32 Frances Tosdevin 1631637649 Madison 0 to-read 4.56 The Bear and Her Book
author: Frances Tosdevin
name: Madison
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood]]> 75593807 256 Minna Dubin 1541601300 Madison 0 to-read 3.78 Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood
author: Minna Dubin
name: Madison
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World]]> 98653582
Millennials and Gen Z-ers are considered two of the most anxious generations in history, and with the many intense generation-specific stressors they’ve had to face in recent years—including climate change, political polarization, systemic racism, gun violence, and financial instability—it’s easy to see why people are being diagnosed with anxiety at alarming rates.

Dr. Lauren Cook, a psychologist and career coach who specializes in treating Millennials and Gen Z patients—and a Millennial who also lives with anxiety—understands the many nuanced reasons why these two groups are struggling in different ways than their predecessors. Using a feminist and intersectional lens, Dr. Cook shares her own struggles with anxiety and provides easy, actionable steps to help readers ride the waves of anxiety rather than constantly swimming against them. This relatable, honest, and information-packed book incorporates thorough, evidence-backed psychological research and diverse client experiences to illustrate a broad range of presentations of anxiety to help readers gain insight into their own stressors and combat them.]]> 288 Lauren Cook 1419768018 Madison 0 to-read 3.81 Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World
author: Lauren Cook
name: Madison
average rating: 3.81
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blind Your Ponies 53630
When Sam Pickett comes to the quiet little village to hide from the violence and madness that have shattered his life, he discovers buried and shadowed stories fraught with aching regret, human wreckage, and heartrending bravery - people silently bearing their broken dreams and unbearable sorrows. Can they be aroused by the most unexpected and least likely source in their midst? encouraged and uplifted to embrace life for all its worth? Out of these utterly ordinary lives, West brings forth a startling glimpse into the hidden places of the human heart and characters who will stay with you like old friends long after you've turned the last page.]]> 574 Stanley Gordon West 0965624781 Madison 4 4.06 2001 Blind Your Ponies
author: Stanley Gordon West
name: Madison
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/17
date added: 2023/09/21
shelves:
review:
Never thought I’d enjoy a sports book but this one was great. A little on the long side but what a journey to the end.
]]> Ghost Tamer 122757674
Aspiring comedian Raely is the sole survivor of a disastrous train wreck. While faced with the intense grief of losing her best friend, she realizes that someone is following her―and has been following her all her life. Trouble is, no one else can see him.

For a ghostly tag-along, Casper’s not so bad. He might even be the partner Raely needs to fight the evil spirit hell-bent on destroying her. Raely and her friend must learn why this demonic spirit is haunting Raely and how she can stop him before he destroys her life―and her soul.

Which, much to her chagrin, means she needs the help of a psychic (although she’s sure they are all charlatans) and must rid herself of the pesky ghost hunter who’s interested in exploiting her new abilities.

For readers who enjoy Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Clay McLeod Chapman’s Ghost Eaters .]]> 336 Meredith R. Lyons 074430279X Madison 0 to-read 3.91 2023 Ghost Tamer
author: Meredith R. Lyons
name: Madison
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Whale of a Time: Funny Poems for Each Day of the Year]]> 75593961 Ěý From the creators behind the award-winning anthologies Sing a Song of Seasons and Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright,Ěý this rib-tickling illustrated anthology is filled with unforgettable classics and new discoveries, including poetry in translation. The spectacular range of poems for children includes work byĚý
Each poem is brought to life by Matt Hunt's comical and vibrant artwork. Whether shared out loud or read alone, this is the perfect book to bring a smile—every day of the year!
Ěý With aĚýribbon markerĚýand glossy double-page spreads, this is the perfect gift for any occasion.]]> 336 Lou Peacock Madison 0 to-read, school-library 4.36 A Whale of a Time: Funny Poems for Each Day of the Year
author: Lou Peacock
name: Madison
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: to-read, school-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Graysen Foxx and the Curse of the Illuminerdy (Graysen Foxx, #2)]]> 87556732 Join Graysen Foxx on his most dangerous adventure yet!


Fifth-grade treasure hunter Graysen Foxx is no stranger to the mysteries hidden in Ordinary Elementary—the bat-filled tunnels, the secret passageways, the underground chambers, and the sticky spiderwebs—and he's on the hunt for a creepy, old painting that will guarantee his victory in the school's Halloween contest. But finding and claiming the painting is only the beginning of a wild adventure filled with puzzles that will put Graysen's treasure-hunting skills to the test.


When the fedora-wearing, sticky hand-wielding Graysen finds a mysterious symbol on the back of a dusty spelling bee medal, news of the discovery spreads like creamy peanut butter, and a disguised student quickly steals the medal. But who would want the medal, and why? Is it Graysen's nemesis, Raven? The Second-Grade Spy Network? Or the Doodler, the sixth-grade boss who blames a lost spelling bee for ruining his life?


While researching what the spelling bee symbol might mean, Graysen and the twins, Maya and Jack, cross paths with a secret society of supersmart kids who call themselves the Illuminerdy and have access to a treasure so powerful it could change the world of education forever. Graysen and his friends must work together to obtain the treasure, outwit the secret society, and break the bone-rattling Curse of the Illuminerdy.

]]> 256 J. Scott Savage 1639931708 Madison 0 to-read 4.62 Graysen Foxx and the Curse of the Illuminerdy (Graysen Foxx, #2)
author: J. Scott Savage
name: Madison
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Janitors School of Garbage (Janitors School of Garbage, #1)]]> 87556730 Ordinary trash becomes extraordinary at the magical School of Garbage—a summer school for young garbologists.

Garbage has come to life as animated creatures called junklets and are wreaking havoc in elementary schools. Only the specially trained kids from the magical School of Garbage can stop the rise of the trash monsters. With the school’s magical janitorial supplies—brooms that can fly, toilet plungers that can reverse gravity, and mops that can capture anything in their strings—the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Landon Murphy discovers the undercover janitorial world when his soon-to-be-stepsister, Jade Shu, guides him through a magical portal at the bottom of a dumpster that leads to a fantastical landfill and the home of the School of Garbage, where she has secretly been a student for the last few years.

Problems at home with his family make it hard for Landon to feel like he belongs anywhere, but he is quickly welcomed as a student at the intriguing school for wizard-like janitors. His class on the science of garbology is like being a crime-scene investigator, and every student gets to bond with one of three Servites—small, magical animals who exhale enchanted dust to help kids focus or be creative or have energy.

Landon and Jade—along with allies from the original series—are tasked to take out the trash and figure out who—or what—is behind the mysterious garbage attacks and stop them before the entire world is literally trashed.]]> 304 Tyler Whitesides 1639931686 Madison 0 to-read 4.13 Janitors School of Garbage (Janitors School of Garbage, #1)
author: Tyler Whitesides
name: Madison
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Queen's Gambit 62022 258 Walter Tevis 1400030609 Madison 0 finsh-later-maybe 4.14 1983 The Queen's Gambit
author: Walter Tevis
name: Madison
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: finsh-later-maybe
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden]]> 62919890 A seminal work that expands how we talk about the natural world and the environment as National Book Critics Circle Criticism finalist Camille T. Dungy diversifies her garden to reflect her heritage

In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominately white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013 with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant.

In resistance to the homogeneous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of the planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.

Definitive and singular, Soil functions at the nexus of nature writing, environmental justice, and prose to encourage readers to recognize the relationship between the peoples of the African diaspora and the land on which they live, and to understand that wherever soil rests beneath their feet is home.]]> 321 Camille T. Dungy 1982195304 Madison 2 4.15 2023 Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden
author: Camille T. Dungy
name: Madison
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: adult-nonfiction, did-not-finish
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More]]> 52957819 Wear just 33 items for 3 months and get back all the JOY you were missing while you were worrying what to wear.

In Project 333, minimalist expert and author of Soulful Simplicity Courtney Carver takes a new approach to living simply--starting with your wardrobe. Project 333 promises that not only can you survive with just 33 items in your closet for 3 months, but you'll thrive just like the thousands of woman who have taken on the challenge and never looked back. Let the de-cluttering begin!

Ever ask yourself how many of the items in your closet you actually wear? In search of a way to pare down on her expensive shopping habit, consistent lack of satisfaction with her purchases, and ever-growing closet, Carver created Project 333. In this book, she guides readers through their closets item-by-item, sifting through all the emotional baggage associated with those oh-so strappy high-heel sandals that cost a fortune but destroy your feet every time you walk more than a few steps to that extensive collection of never-worn little black dresses, to locate the items that actually look and feel like you.

As Carver reveals in this book, once we finally release ourselves from the cyclical nature of consumerism and focus less on our shoes and more on our self-care, we not only look great we feel great-- and we can see a clear path to make other important changes in our lives that reach far beyond our closets. With tips, solutions, and a closet-full of inspiration, this life-changing minimalist manual shows readers that we are so much more than what we wear, and that who we are and what we have is so much more than enough.]]> 224 Courtney Carver 0525541454 Madison 2 3.65 2020 Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More
author: Courtney Carver
name: Madison
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: adult-nonfiction, did-not-finish
review:

]]> Strider (Leigh Botts, #2) 646248 Strider has a new habit. Whenever we stop, he places his paw on my foot. It isn't an accident because he always does it. I like to think he doesn't want to leave me.

Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can. He's a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running — well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents' divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he's been admiring. With Strider's help, Leigh finds that the future he once hated to be asked about now holds something he never expected: hope.

]]> 176 Beverly Cleary 0380728028 Madison 4 juvenile-fiction 3.86 1991 Strider (Leigh Botts, #2)
author: Beverly Cleary
name: Madison
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Halfway to Harbor (The House on Sunrise Lagoon #3)]]> 61759168
1. Sometimes she signs her name Harbor Ali-O’Connor to match her siblings.
2. She misses her dad a lot, but she doesn’t want to be away from her moms and siblings, either.
3. She just might have her first crush.
Ěý
Harbor is excited to spend the summer working on her jump shot in an elite basketball league. But the games take place near her dad's house—hours away from her beloved Sunrise Lagoon. Suddenly, she’s spending every weekend at her dad’s and getting to know Quinn, a girl whose smile makes her feel warm inside. Still, Harbor can’t help wondering what’s going on at home. Why is Sam hanging out with Harbor's best friend? Has Marina’s friend Boom taken her place in the house? What have the twins “borrowed� this time for one of their disastrous scientific experiments?
Ěý
When it comes time to decide whether Harbor will stay and play basketball with her team—and Quinn—all year round, or continue to live on Sunrise Lagoon, Harbor thinks she knows what to do . . . but is it the right decision?]]> Nicole Melleby Madison 0 to-read, for-olivia 4.71 2024 Halfway to Harbor (The House on Sunrise Lagoon #3)
author: Nicole Melleby
name: Madison
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves: to-read, for-olivia
review:

]]> <![CDATA[After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time]]> 152606682
In this ground-breaking book, Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek lay out how unpaid work in our homes has come to take up an ever-increasing portion of our lives - how the vacuum of free time has been taken up by vacuuming. Examining the history of the home over the past century - from running water to white goods to smart homes - they show how repeated efforts to reduce the burden of this work have faced a variety of barriers, challenges, and reversals.

Charting the trajectory of our domestic spaces over the past century, Hester and Srnicek consider new possibilities for the future, uncovering the abandoned ideas of anti-housework visionaries and sketching out a path towards real free time for all, where everyone is at liberty to pursue their passions, or do nothing at all. It will require rethinking our living arrangements, our expectations and our cities.]]> 317 Helen Hester 1786633108 Madison 0 to-read 3.78 2023 After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time
author: Helen Hester
name: Madison
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Madison 0 to-read 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Madison
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The First Magnificent Summer 62918359 Judy Blume meets Barbara Dee in this tender and empowering middle grade novel told in journal entries and poetry about a young writer on the verge of becoming a woman whose summer with her estranged father doesn’t turn out the way she’d hoped.Twelve-year-old Victoria Reeves is all set for her “First Magnificent Summer with Dad,� even though it’s been more than two years since she last saw him. She’s ready to impress him with her wit, her maturity, and her smarts—at least until he shows up for the long road trip to Ohio with his new family, The Replacements, in tow. But that’s not the only unpleasant surprise in store for Victoria. There are some smaller disappointments, like being forced to eat bologna even though it’s her least favorite food in the world. And then there’s having to sleep outside in a tent while The Replacements rest comfortably inside the family RV. But the worst thing Victoria grapples with is when she begins to suspect that part of the reason Dad always treats her as “less than� is for one simple she’s female. As Victoria captures every moment of her less than magnificent summer in her journal, she discovers that the odds are stacked against her in the Not only does her wit begin to crumble around Dad’s multiple shaming jabs, but she gets her first period. And when Dad does the worst thing yet, she realizes she has a decision to will she let a man define her?]]> 352 R.L. Toalson 1665925515 Madison 0 to-read 4.09 2023 The First Magnificent Summer
author: R.L. Toalson
name: Madison
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Madison 0 to-read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Madison
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)]]> 1232 487 Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn Madison 0 to-read 4.26 2001 The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1)
author: Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn
name: Madison
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Reclaiming the Tomboy: The Body, Representation, and Identity]]> 80344135 254 Erica Joan Dymond 1793622949 Madison 0 to-read 4.00 Reclaiming the Tomboy: The Body, Representation, and Identity
author: Erica Joan Dymond
name: Madison
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End]]> 320822
Is success simply a matter of money and talent? Or is there another reason why some people and organizations always land on their feet, while others, equally talented, stumble again and again?

There’s a fundamental principle at work–confidence–that makes the difference between winning and losing in any competition, be it a high school basketball game or a high-stakes business situation. In Confidence , Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter shows why organizations of all types may be brimming with talent but not be winners. Based on her extraordinary investigation of success and failure in companies such as Continental Airlines and Verizon and sports teams such as the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, as well as the arenas of education, health care, and politics, Kanter explores a new theory and practice of success and provides people in leadership positions with a prescriptive program for maintaining a winning streak or turning around a downward spiral.

Packed with brilliant, practical ideas, Confidence provides fresh thinking about success in all facets of life—from the factors that can make or break corporations and governments to the keys for successful relationships in the workplace or at home.]]> 432 Rosabeth Moss Kanter 1400052912 Madison 0 to-read 4.01 2004 Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End
author: Rosabeth Moss Kanter
name: Madison
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)]]> 43448 Such wonderful children. Such a beautiful mother. Such a lovely house. Such endless terror! It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake—a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father. So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic. Just for a little while. But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work—children who—one by one—must be destroyed.... 'Way upstairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent struggling to stay alive....']]> 389 V.C. Andrews 0743496310 Madison 0 to-read 3.84 1979 Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger, #1)
author: V.C. Andrews
name: Madison
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> How to Love Your Daughter 63185084 The seemingly inexplicable estrangement between a woman and her grown daughter opens up a troubling question: What damage do we do in the blindness of love?

Thousands of miles from home, a woman stands on a dark street, peeking through well-lit windows at two little girls. They are the grandchildren she's never met, daughters of the daughter she has not seen in years.

At the center of this mesmerizing story is the woman's quest to understand how a relationship that began in bliss--a mother besotted with her only child--arrived at a point of such unfathomable distance. Weaving back and forth in time, she unravels memories and long-buried feelings, retracing the infinite acts of parental care, each so mundane and apparently benign, that in ensemble may have undermined what she most treasured. With exquisite psychological precision, Blum traces the seemingly insignificant missteps and deceptions of family life, where it's possible to cross the line between protectiveness and possession without even seeing it--and uncertain whether, or how, we can find our way back.]]> 272 Hila Blum 0593539648 Madison 0 to-read 3.51 2021 How to Love Your Daughter
author: Hila Blum
name: Madison
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Skull 60539545
In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both?]]> 105 Jon Klassen Madison 0 to-read 4.22 2023 The Skull
author: Jon Klassen
name: Madison
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> And Then It's Spring 11891485
Un chico planta varias semillas para hacer un huerto y mira hacia el cielo esperando que caiga la lluvia. Lo acompañan su perro, una tortuga, un conejo y algunas aves. El cambio de las estaciones y, con ellas, los distintos colores del paisaje están representados con gran detalle. También se encuentra recreada con gran maestría la idea del paso del tiempo. El libro es no sólo una mirada elocuente a los procesos cíclicos de la naturaleza, sino también y sobre todo un poema visual que nos habla de la paciencia, la esperanza y la renovación constante de la vida. Considerada como una de las mejores obras para niños de 2012 según The Washington Post y el mejor libro infantil del mismo año según Kirkus Reviews.]]> 32 Julie Fogliano 1596436247 Madison 4 picture-books 3.92 2012 And Then It's Spring
author: Julie Fogliano
name: Madison
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/07
date added: 2023/07/26
shelves: picture-books
review:
I wouldn't use this is a storytime with my group but it's simple and cute and could make for a great at home read.
]]> The Case Against Sugar 29874881 From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening expose that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick.

Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.]]> 384 Gary Taubes 1524709077 Madison 0 to-read 3.80 2016 The Case Against Sugar
author: Gary Taubes
name: Madison
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Temple Alley Summer 54714368 Winner of the 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Award
A July/August 2021 Kids� Indie Next Pick
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Winner of a 2022 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award

From renowned Japanese children's author Sachiko Kashiwaba, Temple Alley Summer is a fantastical and mysterious adventure filled with the living dead, magical pearls, and a suspiciously nosy black cat named Kiriko featuring beautiful illustrations from Miho Satake.

Kazu knows something odd is going on when he sees a young girl in a white dress sneak out of his house in the middle of the night--was he dreaming? Did he see a ghost? Things get even stranger when he shows up to school the next day to see the very same figure sitting in his classroom. No one else thinks it's weird, and, even though Kazu doesn't remember ever seeing her before, they all seem convinced that the ghost-girl Akari has been their friend for years!

When Kazu's summer project to learn about Kimyo Temple draws the meddling attention of his mysterious neighbor Ms. Minakami and his secretive new classmate Akari, Kazu soon learns that not everything is as it seems in his hometown. Kazu discovers that Kyoto Temple is linked to a long forgotten legend about bringing the dead to life, which could explain Akari's sudden appearance--is she a zombie or a ghost? Kazu and Akari join forces to find and protect the source of the temple's power. An unfinished story in a magazine from Akari's youth might just hold the key to keeping Akari in the world of the living, and it's up to them to find the story's ending and solve the mystery as the adults around them conspire to stop them from finding the truth.]]> 240 Sachiko Kashiwaba 1632063034 Madison 3 juvenile-fiction 3.98 2011 Temple Alley Summer
author: Sachiko Kashiwaba
name: Madison
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/21
date added: 2023/07/21
shelves: juvenile-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them]]> 57845087 Eating to Extinction is the prominent broadcaster’s pathbreaking tour of the world’s vanishing foods and his argument for why they matter now more than ever

Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are Of the roughly six thousand different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these―rice, wheat, and corn―now provide fifty percent of all our calories. Dig deeper and the trends are more worrisome

The source of much of the world’s food―seeds―is mostly in the control of just four corporations. Ninety-five percent of milk consumed in the United States comes from a single breed of cow. Half of all the world’s cheese is made with bacteria or enzymes made by one company. And one in four beers drunk around the world is the product of one brewer.

If it strikes you that everything is starting to taste the same wherever you are in the world, you’re by no means alone. This when we lose diversity and foods become endangered, we not only risk the loss of traditional foodways, but also of flavors, smells, and textures that may never be experienced again. And the consolidation of our food has other steep costs, including a lack of resilience in the face of climate change, pests, and parasites. Our food monoculture is a threat to our health―and to the planet.

In Eating to Extinction, the distinguished BBC food journalist Dan Saladino travels the world to experience and document our most at-risk foods before it’s too late. He tells the fascinating stories of the people who continue to cultivate, forage, hunt, cook, and consume what the rest of us have forgotten or didn’t even know existed. Take honey―not the familiar product sold in plastic bottles, but the wild honey gathered by the Hadza people of East Africa, whose diet consists of eight hundred different plants and animals and who communicate with birds in order to locate bees� nests. Or consider murnong―once the staple food of Aboriginal Australians, this small root vegetable with the sweet taste of coconut is undergoing a revival after nearly being driven to extinction. And in Sierra Leone, there are just a few surviving stenophylla trees, a plant species now considered crucial to the future of coffee.

From an Indigenous American chef refining precolonial recipes to farmers tending Geechee red peas on the Sea Islands of Georgia, the individuals profiled in Eating to Extinction are essential guides to treasured foods that have endured in the face of rampant sameness and standardization. They also provide a roadmap to a food system that is healthier, more robust, and, above all, richer in flavor and meaning.]]> 464 Dan Saladino 0374605327 Madison 0 currently-reading 4.30 Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them
author: Dan Saladino
name: Madison
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]>