Yara's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 10 Dec 2024 14:19:28 -0800 60 Yara's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea]]> 4628 246 Harold Bloom 0791041441 Yara 2 3.89 1952 Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea
author: Harold Bloom
name: Yara
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1952
rating: 2
read at: 2012/02/29
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Special Topics in Calamity Physics]]> 6318545 The mesmerizing New York Times bestseller by the author of Night Film

Marisha Pessl¡¯s dazzling debut sparked raves from critics and heralded the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of?Special Topics in Calamity Physics?is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some¡ªa clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel¡ªwith visual aids drawn by the author¡ªthat has won over readers of all ages.]]> 540 Marisha Pessl 1101218800 Yara 2
- It is a very slow paced book.
- Got a very light humor to it at some points.
- It is actually different in it terms of it's writing style. Very well structured.
- Good Usage of the English Language. She Knows what she is doing with the words.

Now, as for the plot. It was not much of a mystery. Didn't really feel the mystery and the suspense that you should get from novels under that kind of genre.

]]> 3.80 2006 Special Topics in Calamity Physics
author: Marisha Pessl
name: Yara
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2013/06/26
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves:
review:
Okay so I started this book knowing that it's a little way out of my preferred style, but I also had a feeling that it would be somehow a cool different read. Yet what I was left with was:

- It is a very slow paced book.
- Got a very light humor to it at some points.
- It is actually different in it terms of it's writing style. Very well structured.
- Good Usage of the English Language. She Knows what she is doing with the words.

Now, as for the plot. It was not much of a mystery. Didn't really feel the mystery and the suspense that you should get from novels under that kind of genre.


]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 8515251 276 Jules Verne 0007350945 Yara 0 to-read, next 3.90 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Yara
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1872
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves: to-read, next
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 54479 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Yara 3
There were definitely times when I felt I just had to read more but then there were patches where I found myself skimming through a long-winded section just to get rid of it. I was surprised by the amount of background info missing from this book as famous as this title is. The romance that is created is not backed up with any conversation between the two romantically involved parties. In fact, it seems they hardly even speak to each other.

Passepartout is the more likeable character, even though we don't get much of his background either. But he's intrigued by the sights he sees, he's volatile and good natured, and can't help showing his enthusiasm. He's loyal and principled too, refusing to turn on his master, even when he wonders for a while if Fix is right. I wonder whether Passepartout was Verne's favourite character too, because he shared his nationality. It seems like such a British book, beginning as it does with Fogg and his Reform Club cronies in London, so comes as a bit of a shock whenever we remember that Jules Verne was actually a Frenchman.

Overall, this story is a fun read. Keeps you entertained for a good while, but that ending just bugged me!

]]> 3.95 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Yara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 3
read at: 2019/10/09
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:
Start with an extravagant bet. Add in exotic locales and unflappable English gentlemen. Instant adventure.

There were definitely times when I felt I just had to read more but then there were patches where I found myself skimming through a long-winded section just to get rid of it. I was surprised by the amount of background info missing from this book as famous as this title is. The romance that is created is not backed up with any conversation between the two romantically involved parties. In fact, it seems they hardly even speak to each other.

Passepartout is the more likeable character, even though we don't get much of his background either. But he's intrigued by the sights he sees, he's volatile and good natured, and can't help showing his enthusiasm. He's loyal and principled too, refusing to turn on his master, even when he wonders for a while if Fix is right. I wonder whether Passepartout was Verne's favourite character too, because he shared his nationality. It seems like such a British book, beginning as it does with Fogg and his Reform Club cronies in London, so comes as a bit of a shock whenever we remember that Jules Verne was actually a Frenchman.

Overall, this story is a fun read. Keeps you entertained for a good while, but that ending just bugged me!


]]> The Child's Story 922878
Originally published by Charles Dickens in the mid-1800s, "The Child's Story" is a timeless account of the journey we all take, from carefree childhood and spontaneous youth, through adulthood and marriage, and into our golden years. Now, almost 150 years after its original publication, acclaimed artist Harvey Chan adds his stirring images to Dickens's classic words, creating a unique and powerful reading experience that's ideal for children of all ages.]]> 32 Charles Dickens 0689834829 Yara 3 3.85 1852 The Child's Story
author: Charles Dickens
name: Yara
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1852
rating: 3
read at: 2014/12/28
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> A Haunted House 20423012 32 Virginia Woolf Yara 2 3.36 A Haunted House
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Yara
average rating: 3.36
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2014/04/03
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
Ummmm.. what did I just read! I think it's some sort of a creepy story!
]]> The Doors of Perception 3372279 Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe. Aldous Huxley took some mescaline & wrote about it some 10 or 12 years earlier than those others. The book he came up with is part bemused essay & part mystical treatise¡ª"suchness" is everywhere to be found while under the influence. This is a good example of essay writing, journal keeping & the value of controversy¡ªalways¡ªin one's work.]]> 79 Aldous Huxley 0060801719 Yara 3 I found it somehow hard to follow up with what was happening. Not sure if it had something to do with the book itself or me. However overall, I liked it.

]]> 3.80 1956 The Doors of Perception
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Yara
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1956
rating: 3
read at: 2016/09/23
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
So that's what a drunk sophisticated "highly intelligent" person looks like when they get high?
I found it somehow hard to follow up with what was happening. Not sure if it had something to do with the book itself or me. However overall, I liked it.


]]> Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4) 18622125 ¡®Seek and ye shall find.¡¯

With these words echoing in his head, eminent Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.


A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city of Florence. Only Langdon¡¯s knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets that lie behind its historic facade can save them from the clutches of their unknown pursuers.

With only a few lines from Dante¡¯s dark and epic masterpiece, The Inferno, to guide them, they must decipher a sequence of codes buried deep within some of the most celebrated artefacts of the Renaissance ¨C sculptures, paintings, buildings ¨C to find the answers to a puzzle which may, or may not, help them save the world from a terrifying threat¡­

Set against an extraordinary landscape inspired by one of history¡¯s most ominous literary classics, Inferno is Dan Brown¡¯s most compelling and thought-provoking novel yet, a breathless race-against-time thriller that will grab you from page one and not let you go until you close the book.]]> 620 Dan Brown 0552169595 Yara 0 to-read 3.94 2013 Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4)
author: Dan Brown
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Deception Point 977
With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Artic to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatics academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable - evidence of scientific trickery - a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.

But before Rachel can make her findings known, she releases, perhaps too late, that such knowledge puts her and Tolland in deadly jeopardy. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope for survival: to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all...
(back cover)]]> 585 Dan Brown 0552151769 Yara 0 to-read, next 3.44 2001 Deception Point
author: Dan Brown
name: Yara
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: to-read, next
review:

]]> The Firm (The Firm, #1) 452235 ?
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn¡¯t a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It¡¯s a dream job for an up-and-comer¡ªif he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm¡¯s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue.?With no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm¡¯s deadly secrets¡ªif he hopes to stay alive¡­]]> 501 John Grisham 044021145X Yara 3
It started out somehow slow paced, it didn't have that thing that made me want to keep on reading but right at the middle of it things got really intense and I started reacting with the characters and the events. The whole story got transformed and I was literally counting down the pages till the end so that I would know what happened.

Yet I think that the escape plan at the end could have been a little more " smart ". I feel that he didn't do much towards the end as much as the hotel manager.

I also loved how when things got heated, right when the girls where making the paper copies run, and all the events around that, he didn't show what the firm was planning which gave me the idea they must be doing some genius counter attack plan about to go down.]]> 4.26 1991 The Firm (The Firm, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Yara
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2013/01/18
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:
This was my first book to read for John Grisham, people kept telling me how awesome his books are and to be honest up till the first half of the book I wasn't totally convinced with that.. but now that I've finished it I can say that this will not be the last one I read.

It started out somehow slow paced, it didn't have that thing that made me want to keep on reading but right at the middle of it things got really intense and I started reacting with the characters and the events. The whole story got transformed and I was literally counting down the pages till the end so that I would know what happened.

Yet I think that the escape plan at the end could have been a little more " smart ". I feel that he didn't do much towards the end as much as the hotel manager.

I also loved how when things got heated, right when the girls where making the paper copies run, and all the events around that, he didn't show what the firm was planning which gave me the idea they must be doing some genius counter attack plan about to go down.
]]> Rumi: The Fire of Love 2777007 320 Nahal Tajadod 1590200802 Yara 2 3.17 1989 Rumi: The Fire of Love
author: Nahal Tajadod
name: Yara
average rating: 3.17
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at: 2016/01/11
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves:
review:
I only give it 2 stars because it was not what I was looking for. I was looking for more poetry than story telling, or a fictional biography. I was hoping for some information about the verses and the stories behind them.
]]> The Arabian Nights 13581425 277 Andrew Lang Yara 4 3.56 800 The Arabian Nights
author: Andrew Lang
name: Yara
average rating: 3.56
book published: 800
rating: 4
read at: 2013/04/18
date added: 2023/08/28
shelves:
review:
Pretty good read. Especially if you are reading it in Arabic.
]]> <![CDATA[Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5)]]> 68360 230 Douglas Adams 0330491229 Yara 0 to-read 3.62 1992 Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Yara
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory]]> 15785457 Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's. In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape¡ªher poignancy, wit, and na?vet¨¦ continue to charm.

This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, ¡°House of Flowers,¡± ¡°A Diamond Guitar,¡± and ¡°A Christmas Memory,¡± which the Saturday Review called ¡°one of the most moving stories in our language.¡± It is a tale of two innocents¡ªa small boy and the old woman who is his best friend¡ªwhose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.]]> 141 Truman Capote Yara 2 3.82 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory
author: Truman Capote
name: Yara
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1958
rating: 2
read at: 2016/10/01
date added: 2022/05/18
shelves:
review:
As fate would have it, I am a sucker for troubled characters, preferably female characters. So I have had my fair share of reads staring tormented girls. So, I didn't really know what I expected from the book, but given it's wide hype around it, it definitely wasn't this soft core story. But on the other hand, under 200 pages, the author did a fair job in giving you just a tiny glimpse of the depth of each character without dragging it out. However, to my own likings and cravings for darkness and inner struggles, I found Breakfast at Tiffany's to be, unfulfilling. It felt short, to my own expectations.
]]> <![CDATA[The Witching Place: Murder by Manuscript (Curious Bookstore Cozy Mystery #2)]]> 54595791
She also soon finds something else she does not expect: a dead body.

Thrust in the middle of the crime, will Alexis be able to clear her name?

And will she discover the mystery at the heart of her very own store?]]> 170 Sophie Love Yara 0 to-read 3.95 2020 The Witching Place: Murder by Manuscript (Curious Bookstore Cozy Mystery #2)
author: Sophie Love
name: Yara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 8684868 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss¡¯s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans¡ªexcept Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss¡¯s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels¡¯ Mockingjay¡ªno matter what the personal cost.]]> 339 Suzanne Collins Yara 3
Now putting aside the fact that she almost killed everyone in the story I somehow wasn't left with a " sad " feeling nor a dark mood. Somehow she lifted up my mood with that ending... It was real and not just cause some people were " stars/ important " they had to live.

Over-all it was a good read, the whole series. It was good witnessing the development of both the characters within the story and Suzanne Collins character in writing. ]]> 4.31 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Yara
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2012/08/28
date added: 2021/01/29
shelves:
review:
it clearly shows that Suzanne Collins has improved a lot as both an author and a writer. Her new improvement added a lot to an already good story making it better.

Now putting aside the fact that she almost killed everyone in the story I somehow wasn't left with a " sad " feeling nor a dark mood. Somehow she lifted up my mood with that ending... It was real and not just cause some people were " stars/ important " they had to live.

Over-all it was a good read, the whole series. It was good witnessing the development of both the characters within the story and Suzanne Collins character in writing.
]]> <![CDATA[The Empty Chair (Lincoln Rhyme, #3)]]> 142540
A quadriplegic since a beam crushed his spinal cord years ago, Rhyme is desperate to improve his condition and goes to the University of North Carolina Medical Center for high-risk experimental surgery. But he and Sachs have hardly settled in when the local authorities come calling. In a twenty-four-hour period, the sleepy Southern outpost of Tanner's Corner has seen a local teen murdered and two young women abducted. And Rhyme and Sachs are the best chance to find the girls alive.

The prime suspect is a strange teenaged truant known as the Insect Boy, so nicknamed for his disturbing obsession with bugs. Rhyme agrees to find the boy while awaiting his operation. Rhyme's unsurpassed analytical skills and stellar forensic experience, combined with Sachs's exceptional detective legwork, soon snare the perp. But even Rhyme can't anticipate that Sachs will disagree with his crime analysis and that her vehemence will put her in the swampland, harboring the very suspect whom Rhyme considers a ruthless killer. So ensues Rhyme's greatest challenge -- facing the criminalist whom he has taught everything he knows in a battle of wits, forensics, and intuition. And in this adversary, Rhyme also faces his best friend and soul mate.]]> 416 Jeffery Deaver 0684855631 Yara 4 front-runners Every time I think that I have reached the end of the story, Jeffery Deaver comes up with something that literally takes your breath away.

Now Regarding the third book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, It started out steady and you don't really get to see how intense this story is until you have reached the very end.

I love how Jeffery D. really understand his writings. He presents very technical details regarding the presented issue, but also on the other hand sometimes it gets annoying since I don't really understand most of the technical issues and I end up skipping the passages but I do appreciate the gesture and it helps me in getting into the theme.

but I have to admit that I got confused a little towards the end by the name of characters I kept forgetting whose whom. I think he just needs to work on making the character names more "user" friendly.

Other than that I'm in love with the main characters A. Schas, Thom and ofcourse L. Rhyme. They grow on you.]]> 4.07 2000 The Empty Chair (Lincoln Rhyme, #3)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/28
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves: front-runners
review:
By far Jeffery Deaver is my fav. psychological thriller author. You never know what to expect with him.
Every time I think that I have reached the end of the story, Jeffery Deaver comes up with something that literally takes your breath away.

Now Regarding the third book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, It started out steady and you don't really get to see how intense this story is until you have reached the very end.

I love how Jeffery D. really understand his writings. He presents very technical details regarding the presented issue, but also on the other hand sometimes it gets annoying since I don't really understand most of the technical issues and I end up skipping the passages but I do appreciate the gesture and it helps me in getting into the theme.

but I have to admit that I got confused a little towards the end by the name of characters I kept forgetting whose whom. I think he just needs to work on making the character names more "user" friendly.

Other than that I'm in love with the main characters A. Schas, Thom and ofcourse L. Rhyme. They grow on you.
]]> American Gods 30165203
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.

Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...]]> 635 Neil Gaiman Yara 1 4.11 2001 American Gods
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Yara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at: 2020/10/19
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:
I tried, I really tried, but I couldn't finish. Gave up 40% into it. I was bored and didn't really care about any of these characters. The main story just moves along too slow. There is lots of excruciating detail that doesn't seem to matter.
]]> <![CDATA[To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1)]]> 15749186
But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh.

As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.]]> 355 Jenny Han 1442426713 Yara 2
My biggest problem with this book is the fact that the readers are told this story is centered around Lara dealing with the aftermath of her private love letters being sent out to boys she's had feelings for in the past. But that is only in the beginning of the book, and the problem gets resolved fairly quickly. Which is fine, but I almost didn't even see a point of there being five letters/boys when only two of them actually matter. At least right now, since there is one boy we got no closure on at all. So we will see how they come into play in the next books.

The writing was okay, but not my favorite. ]]> 4.04 2014 To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1)
author: Jenny Han
name: Yara
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2020/10/19
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:
Took me ages to finish!!

My biggest problem with this book is the fact that the readers are told this story is centered around Lara dealing with the aftermath of her private love letters being sent out to boys she's had feelings for in the past. But that is only in the beginning of the book, and the problem gets resolved fairly quickly. Which is fine, but I almost didn't even see a point of there being five letters/boys when only two of them actually matter. At least right now, since there is one boy we got no closure on at all. So we will see how they come into play in the next books.

The writing was okay, but not my favorite.
]]> <![CDATA[The Cutting Edge (Lincoln Rhyme, #14)]]> 36040518 Lincoln, starring Russell Hornsby and Arielle Kebbel.
Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs return to New York City to investigate a triple murder and confront a killer terrorizing couples at their happiest--and most vulnerable in this explosive New York Times bestseller.
In the early hours of a quiet, weekend morning in Manhattan's Diamond District, a brutal triple murder shocks the city. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs quickly take the case. Curiously, the killer has left behind a half-million dollars' worth of gems at the murder scene, a jewelry store on 47th street. As more crimes follow, it becomes clear that the killer's target is not gems, but engaged couples themselves.
The Promisor vows to take the lives of men and women during their most precious moments--midway through the purchase of an engagement ring, after a meeting with a wedding planner, trying on the perfect gown for a day that will never come. The Promisor arrives silently, armed with knife or gun, and a time of bliss is transformed, in an instant, to one of horror.
Soon the Promiser makes a dangerous mistake: leaving behind an innocent witness, Vimal Lahori, a talented young diamond cutter, who can help Rhyme and Sachs blow the lid off the case. They must track down Vimal before the killer can correct his fatal error. Then disaster strikes, threatening to tear apart the very fabric of the city--and providing the perfect cover for the killer to slip through the cracks.
]]> 434 Jeffery Deaver 1455536423 Yara 0
Such a disappointment; I've been a faithful follower of LR since inception; this latest offering was incomprehensible. I don't know WHY do I keep on reading this series when its obviously not working anymore! Not the finest JD. It suggests to me, we've got the characters, now let's think of a plot. I have noticed that the last few books in the series have had less story and more background information. I like to wear diamonds, not know all the ins and out of where they come from. Very little story - it could have been done in three chapters. Had to virtually speed read it to find the bits of story in it.

Absolutely no depth to the background of the players, Amelia and "rookie" in particular; how a consultant commands such authority with external police services is laughable.

Perhaps LR has had his time and should retire gracefully with Amelia and Thom to a secluded beach; no more for me thank you, but great memories of The Empty Chair. Also, why on earth does Ackroyd have to have a "husband"; this scenario adds absolutely nothing to the plot.]]> 3.86 2018 The Cutting Edge (Lincoln Rhyme, #14)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2020/09/21
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:
I learnt everything I dont need to know about diamonds.

Such a disappointment; I've been a faithful follower of LR since inception; this latest offering was incomprehensible. I don't know WHY do I keep on reading this series when its obviously not working anymore! Not the finest JD. It suggests to me, we've got the characters, now let's think of a plot. I have noticed that the last few books in the series have had less story and more background information. I like to wear diamonds, not know all the ins and out of where they come from. Very little story - it could have been done in three chapters. Had to virtually speed read it to find the bits of story in it.

Absolutely no depth to the background of the players, Amelia and "rookie" in particular; how a consultant commands such authority with external police services is laughable.

Perhaps LR has had his time and should retire gracefully with Amelia and Thom to a secluded beach; no more for me thank you, but great memories of The Empty Chair. Also, why on earth does Ackroyd have to have a "husband"; this scenario adds absolutely nothing to the plot.
]]> <![CDATA[The Burial Hour (Lincoln Rhyme, #13)]]> 31423445
Rhyme and Sachs¡¯ investigation takes an unexpected turn when a similar kidnapping occurs across the Atlantic in a small town outside of Naples, Italy. The killer¡¯s M.O. is bizarre and frightening. Obsessed with music, the man records the final breaths of his victims, then uses a keyboard sampler to compose an otherworldly tune that is then posted online. The search for the killer will become a complex case of international cooperation¨Cyet not all is as it seems, and soon Sachs and Rhyme find themselves playing a dangerous game with shadowy parties from across the globe.]]> 480 Jeffery Deaver 1455536377 Yara 1

This does not feel as if it was written by the same author. It was hard to get into and at times confusing. It's less of a plot twist, and more like a different book altogether with so many unlikely coincidences that I just became irritated with the whole scenario. Having invested time reading the greater part of the book, I finished it, but with increasing impatience
]]> 3.70 2017 The Burial Hour (Lincoln Rhyme, #13)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2020/08/30
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:
I've read all of Deaver's books and usually can't put them down until the last page. I love the characters: Lincoln, Amelia, Tom and the other New York police. The Italian police do not have same synergy.


This does not feel as if it was written by the same author. It was hard to get into and at times confusing. It's less of a plot twist, and more like a different book altogether with so many unlikely coincidences that I just became irritated with the whole scenario. Having invested time reading the greater part of the book, I finished it, but with increasing impatience

]]> The Woman in the Window 40389527
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother and their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn¡¯t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one¡ªand nothing¡ªis what it seems.]]> 455 A.J. Finn Yara 3 I don¡¯t know why it took so long to get to any sort of climatic point. 3/4 of the book are unnecessary long winded descriptions of her drinking and popping pills. The end was predictable I skipped about 15 pages. If you¡¯ve watched any one-star horror movie, the final scene here was same. The writing itself was very good but the story just didn¡¯t move along, characters didn¡¯t make you care.

It's a sad commentary on the state of contemporary fiction when a book this bad is not only a best seller, but an acclaimed one. It starts off well, but quickly becomes boring, and its two "shocking revelations" are obvious from the beginning. ]]> 3.94 2018 The Woman in the Window
author: A.J. Finn
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/19
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:

I don¡¯t know why it took so long to get to any sort of climatic point. 3/4 of the book are unnecessary long winded descriptions of her drinking and popping pills. The end was predictable I skipped about 15 pages. If you¡¯ve watched any one-star horror movie, the final scene here was same. The writing itself was very good but the story just didn¡¯t move along, characters didn¡¯t make you care.

It's a sad commentary on the state of contemporary fiction when a book this bad is not only a best seller, but an acclaimed one. It starts off well, but quickly becomes boring, and its two "shocking revelations" are obvious from the beginning.
]]> The Couple Next Door 28815474 You never know what's happening on the other side of the wall.

Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying.

Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour.

Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone.

You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.

What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?]]> 308 Shari Lapena 0735221081 Yara 2
The writing was mediocre, almost bad. I found myself becoming frustrated with the "third person" style narrative. It had a strange third-person narrator that jumped around perspectives, "Anne thought Marco had done it. Marco was worried Anne now suspected him. The detective watched the couple, sensing the tension between them."

When the narration is something the reader repeatedly thinks about, it's probably not a good thing.

There was not one likeable character, not one. It's hard to get excited about a book when you really don't care what happens to the characters. As for the plot, it wasn't anything new or special.]]> 3.80 2016 The Couple Next Door
author: Shari Lapena
name: Yara
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2020/06/19
date added: 2020/10/19
shelves:
review:
There were couple good things in this novel; it was fast-paced which is always good and slightly unpredicable at times.

The writing was mediocre, almost bad. I found myself becoming frustrated with the "third person" style narrative. It had a strange third-person narrator that jumped around perspectives, "Anne thought Marco had done it. Marco was worried Anne now suspected him. The detective watched the couple, sensing the tension between them."

When the narration is something the reader repeatedly thinks about, it's probably not a good thing.

There was not one likeable character, not one. It's hard to get excited about a book when you really don't care what happens to the characters. As for the plot, it wasn't anything new or special.
]]> <![CDATA[Logistics & Supply Chain Management: Creating Value-Adding Networks]]> 1198490 Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Creating Value-Adding Networks

Develop and exploit logistics strategies

In today?s highly competitive global marketplace, the pressure on organizations to find new ways to create and deliver value to customers grows ever stronger. There is a growing recognition that it is through logistic efficiency and effective management of the supply chain that the twin goals of cost reduction and service enhancement can be achieved.

Enhanced by diagrams, case-studies and chapter summaries, Logistics and Supply Chain Management looks at the tools, core processes and initiatives to ensure businesses gain and maintain their competitive advantage.

Key topics covered by Logistics and Supply Chain Management include:

¡¤ the idea of a service-driven logistics system based upon identified service priorities and a customer base segmented according to service requirements

¡¤ the many ways in which logistics can impact on overall return on investment and, ultimately, shareholder value

¡¤ logistics performance indicators: the concept of competitive benchmarking and the principles behind the balanced scorecard

¡¤ globalization: structuring a global logistics network, outsourcing and the co-ordination of network partners

¡¤ the logistics implications of JIT and how developments in information technology have been harnessed to access its power.

New to this edition:

¡¤ new chapters on logistics and customer value, integrated logistics and network logistics

¡¤ more emphasis on responsiveness, reflecting increased volatility of demand in many markets

¡¤ new chapter on managing risk in the supply chain

Responsiveness, reliability and relationships ? the basis for successful logistics and supply chain management.

]]> 320 Martin Christopher 0273681761 Yara 3 3.69 1994 Logistics & Supply Chain Management: Creating Value-Adding Networks
author: Martin Christopher
name: Yara
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2011/09/23
date added: 2020/08/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Every Day (Every Day, #1) 13262783 Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There¡¯s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It¡¯s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin¡¯s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone A wants to be with¡ªday in, day out, day after day.]]> 322 David Levithan 0307931889 Yara 1
Throughout the book Levithan does an outstanding job at describing each person A (the main character) inhabits, giving each character a story (which is maybe the only thing I liked about the book), a humane level of respect, the benefit of the doubt even.

Everyone, except Finn.

With Finn, the author immediately tosses us into a world of self-loathing based entirely on A's assumption that being obese is the reason for self-loathing. Instead of looking at obesity as a symptom of deeper issues both mental and physical, A, cannot see beyond Finn's body to assess how it all happened - leaving us to once again, assume that all fat people got there through their own choices and nothing else. At one point A even equates Finn's emotions to a burp and describes that he/she COULD look deeper into Finn and find there some level of humanity. But he/she never tried. Instead, A couldn't get out of Finn's body soon enough - leaving Finn with no vote of confidence, and not even the decency of telling us his story.

If Levithan had done the same for the gay, trans, black, Asian etc. stories in his book, there would have been an uproar of condemnation. But it's still okay to pick on the fat kid - and I am disappointed that a character who has no body of his/her own, is still passing judgment on the body of another who did not ask to be inhabited, and certainly did not ask to be inhabited and judged.

It appears that to A (and Levithan) being fat is so far worse than being a creeper who jumps from body to body with no physical body of his/her own. It's amusing to me that A can argue his/her own value to Rhiannon, but not see Finn's value as a human being.]]> 3.91 2012 Every Day (Every Day, #1)
author: David Levithan
name: Yara
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2012
rating: 1
read at: 2020/05/31
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed the book overall. Yes, it's very romance driven, which can only make me assume that the moral of the series is finding meaning in loving others. But then we get to the chapter on Finn, a 300-pound kid. It started out very interesting, but as I kept reading I realized the plot wasn't going anywhere. A's experience as each person was cool from their perspective, especially because A was able to accept and appreciate such a diverse group of individuals (except for one guy who A fat shamed when in his body- not cool).

Throughout the book Levithan does an outstanding job at describing each person A (the main character) inhabits, giving each character a story (which is maybe the only thing I liked about the book), a humane level of respect, the benefit of the doubt even.

Everyone, except Finn.

With Finn, the author immediately tosses us into a world of self-loathing based entirely on A's assumption that being obese is the reason for self-loathing. Instead of looking at obesity as a symptom of deeper issues both mental and physical, A, cannot see beyond Finn's body to assess how it all happened - leaving us to once again, assume that all fat people got there through their own choices and nothing else. At one point A even equates Finn's emotions to a burp and describes that he/she COULD look deeper into Finn and find there some level of humanity. But he/she never tried. Instead, A couldn't get out of Finn's body soon enough - leaving Finn with no vote of confidence, and not even the decency of telling us his story.

If Levithan had done the same for the gay, trans, black, Asian etc. stories in his book, there would have been an uproar of condemnation. But it's still okay to pick on the fat kid - and I am disappointed that a character who has no body of his/her own, is still passing judgment on the body of another who did not ask to be inhabited, and certainly did not ask to be inhabited and judged.

It appears that to A (and Levithan) being fat is so far worse than being a creeper who jumps from body to body with no physical body of his/her own. It's amusing to me that A can argue his/her own value to Rhiannon, but not see Finn's value as a human being.
]]> An Anonymous Girl 39863515
Dr. Shields seems to know what Jess is thinking¡­ and what she¡¯s hiding.

Jessica¡¯s behavior will not only be monitored, but manipulated.

Caught in a web of attraction, deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, An Anonymous Girl will keep you riveted through the last shocking twist.]]> 375 Greer Hendricks 1250133734 Yara 4
The end isn¡¯t as satisfying as some mysteries and it leaves a lot of dangling threads, but the big questions do get answered. This book didn¡¯t twist and turn the way a good thriller book should, instead it¡¯s more of steadily building sense of mystery and mounting questions that you¡¯re continuously untangling.

And while I liked An Anonymous Girl overall, but I thought the end wasn¡¯t much of a surprise. There was still the question of how exactly the situation would get resolved, but there wasn¡¯t the big dramatic ¡°THIS CHARACTER WAS DEAD ALL ALONG¡±-type twists that a lot of recent hits have had.

Dr. Shields. That woman is one messed up woman. I wasn't sure if she was genius or evil. I am still not so sure. Her character definitely would give any person nightmares if she existed in real life.

A lot of the questions asked of the main character were very thought-provoking and really made you wonder how you would¡¯ve answered. I guess there is no right or wrong answer in those sort of situations and you can¡¯t really predict how you would react until you experience that dilemma.
]]> 3.79 2019 An Anonymous Girl
author: Greer Hendricks
name: Yara
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/30
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves:
review:
There¡¯s a lot going on and it moves quickly, so it took a little concentration to read. Trying to keep up with the many plot elements and mounting questions is all part of what drags you into the story and keeps you there.

The end isn¡¯t as satisfying as some mysteries and it leaves a lot of dangling threads, but the big questions do get answered. This book didn¡¯t twist and turn the way a good thriller book should, instead it¡¯s more of steadily building sense of mystery and mounting questions that you¡¯re continuously untangling.

And while I liked An Anonymous Girl overall, but I thought the end wasn¡¯t much of a surprise. There was still the question of how exactly the situation would get resolved, but there wasn¡¯t the big dramatic ¡°THIS CHARACTER WAS DEAD ALL ALONG¡±-type twists that a lot of recent hits have had.

Dr. Shields. That woman is one messed up woman. I wasn't sure if she was genius or evil. I am still not so sure. Her character definitely would give any person nightmares if she existed in real life.

A lot of the questions asked of the main character were very thought-provoking and really made you wonder how you would¡¯ve answered. I guess there is no right or wrong answer in those sort of situations and you can¡¯t really predict how you would react until you experience that dilemma.

]]> <![CDATA[The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #11)]]> 18453226
They call this butcher The Skin Collector: a tattooist with a chamber of torture hidden deep underground. But instead of using ink to create each masterpiece, the artist uses a lethal poison which will render targets dead before they can even entertain the prospect of escape . . .

Drafted in to investigate, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs have little to go on but a series of cryptic messages left etched into the skin of the deceased. As the pair struggle to discover the meaning behind the designs, they are led down a treacherous and twisting path where nothing is as it seems. And with the clock rapidly ticking before the killer strikes again, they must untangle the twisted web of clues before more victims ¨C or they themselves ¨C are next.]]> 430 Jeffery Deaver 1455517135 Yara 2 It's either a blatant attempt at selling those books or a lack of imagination in moving forward with his tales. The last 10% ( including a segment of his next book) are just plain unecesarry and a further attempt to prolong his past baddies.

Compared to most thriller writers, Deaver still chucks out a good book but I want something that surprises me at least a few times. Presumably if you've read at least some of the previous Lincoln Rhyme mysteries and already know Rhyme is a brilliant criminalist locked into a body of a quadriplegic, with almost nothing intact but his brilliant mind. Yet for this one, he's just plain old... normal. He makes a lot of mistakes, he doesnt figure out the plot, his sidekicks are the one doing all the work! I don't think that Lincoln actually figured anything worth his title out. This was a step up from the Kill Room, definitely on the way back to classic Rhyme. I enjoyed it until the rather disappointing ending, although there were too many failed attempts at introducing tension only to have the crisis miraculously resolved in the next chapter not becuase Lincoln figured it out, but rather because of some random luck.

The writing is uninspired and both the plot and many of the characters are improbable. There is also a huge element of predictability here. As soon as the person who later turned out to be the killer was introduced, I figured it had to be him.

Furthermore, the killer's actions are not consistent with what we later learn about him. He has two tats on him that someone with whom he has had sex for a year somehow has never noticed. He has a job that doesn't at all fit with his supposed religion and ideology. Supposedly, he is a hard core white supremacist, yet he only kills random white people. He beats his GF for using an obscene word, although the spiritual leader of his group very casually uses this same word. And instead of reading Rhyme's own book about CSI, he reads another and much less detailed book written by someone else, to learn about Rhyme's methods. Most weird of all, perhaps, is that he actually HAS the girl of his dreams as his GF, yet chooses to mess up all of that with some crazy terrorist plan.

]]> 3.92 2014 The Skin Collector (Lincoln Rhyme, #11)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2020/08/03
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves:
review:
Some of his earlier books were sheer genius but now it just feels like he could plug a few details into a computer and let it write the book for him. The 'algorithm' is over-used and worn out. I can honestly say there wasn't a twist or turn that I hadn't seen coming a long time before it was revealed. The most annoying thing for me was the constant reference to past opponents/books.
It's either a blatant attempt at selling those books or a lack of imagination in moving forward with his tales. The last 10% ( including a segment of his next book) are just plain unecesarry and a further attempt to prolong his past baddies.

Compared to most thriller writers, Deaver still chucks out a good book but I want something that surprises me at least a few times. Presumably if you've read at least some of the previous Lincoln Rhyme mysteries and already know Rhyme is a brilliant criminalist locked into a body of a quadriplegic, with almost nothing intact but his brilliant mind. Yet for this one, he's just plain old... normal. He makes a lot of mistakes, he doesnt figure out the plot, his sidekicks are the one doing all the work! I don't think that Lincoln actually figured anything worth his title out. This was a step up from the Kill Room, definitely on the way back to classic Rhyme. I enjoyed it until the rather disappointing ending, although there were too many failed attempts at introducing tension only to have the crisis miraculously resolved in the next chapter not becuase Lincoln figured it out, but rather because of some random luck.

The writing is uninspired and both the plot and many of the characters are improbable. There is also a huge element of predictability here. As soon as the person who later turned out to be the killer was introduced, I figured it had to be him.

Furthermore, the killer's actions are not consistent with what we later learn about him. He has two tats on him that someone with whom he has had sex for a year somehow has never noticed. He has a job that doesn't at all fit with his supposed religion and ideology. Supposedly, he is a hard core white supremacist, yet he only kills random white people. He beats his GF for using an obscene word, although the spiritual leader of his group very casually uses this same word. And instead of reading Rhyme's own book about CSI, he reads another and much less detailed book written by someone else, to learn about Rhyme's methods. Most weird of all, perhaps, is that he actually HAS the girl of his dreams as his GF, yet chooses to mess up all of that with some crazy terrorist plan.


]]> <![CDATA[The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme, #12)]]> 25861995
As the body count threatens to grow, Sachs and Rhyme must race against the clock to unmask his identity¨Cand discover his mission¨Cbefore more people die.]]> 486 Jeffery Deaver 1455536342 Yara 3
It wanders all over the place with too many sub-plots and hard to believe meanderings. I guess when writers are successful their editors are afraid to tell them honestly when they have a piece of crap, and people will buy it anyway.

Maybe I've read too many Rhyme novels (13!!) but I could identify pretty much all of the subtle clues left early on that would become crucial later. There was no classic Deaver "wow" moment when what I thought was going on got completely turned upside down in a way that explained everything.

Deaver's customary twists are what makes his efforts so usually enjoyable, but even they fall flat, and the ending was as disappointing and anti-climactic as I can ever remember in one of his novels. Indeed, I enjoyed his previous Katherine Dance novel more than this, and I never thought I would say that.

Rhyme and Sachs were once a great crime busting duo, but this was tired and overly long, and it is time, I'm afraid, to put them into retirement - permanently. ]]> 3.94 2016 The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme, #12)
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/05
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves:
review:
Deaver really disappoints. What is happening to my favorite Crime author? Had I not read the Coffin Dancer or any other book in the Lincol Rhyme series and this was my first Deaver book I would never read any thing else for him. The plot is B-O-R-I-N-G.

It wanders all over the place with too many sub-plots and hard to believe meanderings. I guess when writers are successful their editors are afraid to tell them honestly when they have a piece of crap, and people will buy it anyway.

Maybe I've read too many Rhyme novels (13!!) but I could identify pretty much all of the subtle clues left early on that would become crucial later. There was no classic Deaver "wow" moment when what I thought was going on got completely turned upside down in a way that explained everything.

Deaver's customary twists are what makes his efforts so usually enjoyable, but even they fall flat, and the ending was as disappointing and anti-climactic as I can ever remember in one of his novels. Indeed, I enjoyed his previous Katherine Dance novel more than this, and I never thought I would say that.

Rhyme and Sachs were once a great crime busting duo, but this was tired and overly long, and it is time, I'm afraid, to put them into retirement - permanently.
]]> Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) 32768522
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here ¡ª it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.]]> 522 Rainbow Rowell 1250135028 Yara 2 4.17 2015 Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Yara
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2020/05/19
date added: 2020/05/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wives 43262893 New York Times bestselling author Tarryn Fisher delivers a pulse-pounding, fast-paced suspense novel that will leave you breathless. A thriller you won¡¯t be able to put down!

Thursday¡¯s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She¡¯s never met them, and she doesn¡¯t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she¡¯s so crazy about him.

But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different¡ªand horrifying¡ªstory about the man she married.

What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you¡¯ll ever read.

You¡¯ll have to grab a copy to find out why.

]]> 295 Tarryn Fisher 1488054355 Yara 2 here were inconsistencies, a few red herrings, a lack of character development & no one came across as being anything more than a caricature. It was an unusual storyline & it could¡¯ve been a really good thriller but it needs a lot of work & some characters you¡¯d really want to know.

All in all, it was OKAY, I wouldn't read it again though.]]> 3.64 2019 The Wives
author: Tarryn Fisher
name: Yara
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2020/04/17
date added: 2020/04/24
shelves:
review:
The first twenty pages were intriguing and edited well, after that it all goes downhill. It¡¯s a weird story, no doubt about it. The premise sounded really good. A woman legally married to a man who has two other wives. She becomes curious & breaks the rules by looking up his newest wife.
here were inconsistencies, a few red herrings, a lack of character development & no one came across as being anything more than a caricature. It was an unusual storyline & it could¡¯ve been a really good thriller but it needs a lot of work & some characters you¡¯d really want to know.

All in all, it was OKAY, I wouldn't read it again though.
]]> The Price of Salt 52258 The Price of Salt tells the riveting story of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by an erotic epiphany - the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to stalk the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job. They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol in a choice between her daughter and her lover.]]> 262 Claire Morgan 0393325997 Yara 1
What is going on in this book!? how come everyone is giving it 5 stars and am just sitting here wondering if I had read the same book as everyone. I think it was categorized under a Cult Classic list on some website.

Unfortunately it just didn't work for me at all. I enjoyed the writing style but I really didn't like either of the main characters and I couldn't connect with them or even see why they connected with each other. There was no spark and I found them self-obsessed, obsessive and not really very nice characters. Maybe that was the point and that would have been fine if there had been any believable connection between them but for me there really wasn't and I found myself skimming through it toward the end.]]> 4.03 1952 The Price of Salt
author: Claire Morgan
name: Yara
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1952
rating: 1
read at: 2020/02/29
date added: 2020/04/12
shelves:
review:
Another reason to why I should google the book before reading it first.

What is going on in this book!? how come everyone is giving it 5 stars and am just sitting here wondering if I had read the same book as everyone. I think it was categorized under a Cult Classic list on some website.

Unfortunately it just didn't work for me at all. I enjoyed the writing style but I really didn't like either of the main characters and I couldn't connect with them or even see why they connected with each other. There was no spark and I found them self-obsessed, obsessive and not really very nice characters. Maybe that was the point and that would have been fine if there had been any believable connection between them but for me there really wasn't and I found myself skimming through it toward the end.
]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world¡ªuntil the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens¡¯s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Yara 3
Even though it tugged the emotions, the crime mystery meant the book was more entertaining than dramatic; it could be more accurately described as a page turner than a heart breaker. ]]> 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Yara
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/03/12
date added: 2020/04/12
shelves:
review:
If I were to rate this book as a thriller/crime, then it wont go past 2 stars. I can't decide whether it is a coming of age story or a murder mystery or romance! However, because I liked the characters and the fact that the book is a page turner, as well as the fact that Owens wrote of the pain of loss and betrayal, solitary life, and prejudices it got 4 stars from me (might change to 3 later).

Even though it tugged the emotions, the crime mystery meant the book was more entertaining than dramatic; it could be more accurately described as a page turner than a heart breaker.
]]> The Light Over London 38532224
It¡¯s always been easier for Cara Hargraves to bury herself in the past than confront the present, which is why working with a gruff but brilliant antiques dealer is perfect. While clearing out an estate, she pries open an old tin that holds the relics of a lost among the treasures, a World War II-era diary and a photograph of a young woman in uniform. Eager to find the author of the hauntingly beautiful, unfinished diary, Cara digs into this soldier¡¯s life, but soon realizes she may not have been ready for the stark reality of wartime London she finds within the pages.

In 1941, nineteen-year-old Louise Keene¡¯s life had been decided for her¡ªshe¡¯ll wait at home in her Cornish village until her wealthy suitor returns from war to ask for her hand. But when Louise unexpectedly meets Flight Lieutenant Paul Bolton, a dashing RAF pilot stationed at a local base, everything changes. And changes again when Paul¡¯s unit is deployed without warning.

Desperate for a larger life, Louise joins the women¡¯s branch of the British Army in the anti-aircraft gun unit as a Gunner Girl. As bombs fall on London, she and the other Gunner Girls relish in their duties to be exact in their calculations, and quick in their identification of enemy planes during air raids. The only thing that gets Louise through those dark, bullet-filled nights is knowing she and Paul will be together when the war is over. But when a bundle of her letters to him are returned unanswered, she learns that wartime romance can have a much darker side.

Illuminating the story of these two women separated by generations and experience, Julia Kelly transports us to World War II London in this heartbreakingly beautiful novel through forgotten antique treasures, remembered triumphs, and fierce family ties.]]> 336 Julia Kelly 1501196413 Yara 1
The love stories are extremely cliche, the writing is lazy, the characters are fake and the ending was just ... painful.]]> 3.83 2019 The Light Over London
author: Julia Kelly
name: Yara
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2020/01/24
date added: 2020/01/26
shelves:
review:
That was painful to read. The plot is interesting enough but everything else was just horrible.

The love stories are extremely cliche, the writing is lazy, the characters are fake and the ending was just ... painful.
]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia¡¯s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations¡ªa search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman¡¯s act of violence against her husband¡ªand of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Yara 4
Many books are marketed as compelling page-turners. This one certainly is. Rather than investigating a crime, the novel investigates the mind of a criminal. And I have to say that the author did present few references and explantations to some controversial issues such as addiction in a interesting way.
]]> 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Yara
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/22
date added: 2020/01/23
shelves:
review:
Okay I have to admit. I did not see that plot twist! which is usually sends me into hitting the 5 stars but the ending felt rushed and it just took away from the punch line being dramatic and surprising enough.

Many books are marketed as compelling page-turners. This one certainly is. Rather than investigating a crime, the novel investigates the mind of a criminal. And I have to say that the author did present few references and explantations to some controversial issues such as addiction in a interesting way.

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it¡¯s the rock ¡¯n¡¯ roll she loves most. By the time she¡¯s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she¡¯s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Yara 4
Cliche as the book premise may be, but it worked out for me in the end.]]> 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Yara
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/18
date added: 2020/01/20
shelves:
review:
There was something unique about this book that had me hooked from start to end. I felt the band dynamic and all of their interactions were well developed. It was effortless to get immersed in the pages. I also enjoyed how it also dealt with themes like trust and self-worth in subtle and thought-provoking ways.

Cliche as the book premise may be, but it worked out for me in the end.
]]> ?????? 13637967 393 ???? ????? 9770930660 Yara 4

¡°??? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ???????¡­???? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????¡­???? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????????¡±¡­?????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????? (?.381): ¡± ?? ???????? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ????¡­????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?? ????¡±!
]]> 3.33 2010 ??????
author: ???? ?????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/16
date added: 2020/01/16
shelves:
review:
I was totally fine with the book and didn't think that there was anything special, until the last page where just this one sentence managed to seal the 300 pages together beautifully. this again shows how the book ends is crucial.


¡°??? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ???????¡­???? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????¡­???? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????????¡±¡­?????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????? (?.381): ¡± ?? ???????? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ????¡­????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?? ????¡±!

]]> Around the World in 200 Days 21408875 663 ???? ????? 110528171X Yara 5 4.11 1963 Around the World in 200 Days
author: ???? ?????
name: Yara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> NLLB: ANIMAL FARM 961720
New Longman Literature titles provide an excellent selection of popular modern fiction and are suitable for 14-18 year olds of all abilities.
*Notes and questions are provided at the beginning of each chapter to help guide the student's understanding of the key themes and language.
* A programme of study provides practise in skills required at GCSE.
* Other new features include an introduction, ideas of further reading and a comprehensive glossary.]]> 120 George Orwell 0582434475 Yara 4 3.92 1945 NLLB: ANIMAL FARM
author: George Orwell
name: Yara
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/27
date added: 2019/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Kane & Abel (Kane & Abel, #1) 78983 592 Jeffrey Archer 0312995059 Yara 5 4.31 1979 Kane & Abel (Kane & Abel, #1)
author: Jeffrey Archer
name: Yara
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/31
date added: 2019/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Heart-Shaped Box 153025
But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, it's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere - behind the bedroom door... seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang... staring out from his widescreen TV - dangling a gleaming razor blade on a chain from one hand...]]> 376 Joe Hill 0061147931 Yara 3 3.85 2007 Heart-Shaped Box
author: Joe Hill
name: Yara
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2019/08/16
date added: 2019/12/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians, #3)]]> 29864343 Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend, is back with an uproarious new novel featuring a family driven by fortune, an ex-wife driven psychotic with jealousy, a battle royal fought through couture-gown sabotage, and the heir to one of Asia's greatest fortunes locked out of his inheritance.

When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside¡ªbut he's not alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim to their matriarch's massive fortune. With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall Park¡ªa trophy estate on sixty-four prime acres in the heart of Singapore¡ªNicholas' childhood home turns into a hotbed of backbiting and intrigue. As Su Yi's relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu but tormented by her ex-husband¡ªa man hell-bent on destroying Astrid's reputation and relationship. Meanwhile, Kitty Pong, married to China's second richest man, Jack Bing, still feels upstaged by her new stepdaughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing.

In this sweeping tale that takes us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping at Hong Kong's most elite private school to a surprise marriage proposal at an Indian palace that is caught on camera by the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan hilariously reveals the long-buried secrets of Asia's most privileged families and their rich people problems.]]> 398 Kevin Kwan 0385542232 Yara 3 3.91 2017 Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians, #3)
author: Kevin Kwan
name: Yara
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2019/11/29
date added: 2019/12/16
shelves:
review:
Apparently am the only one who read the 3rd book without starting the first two. To be honest its not my type of read but I got stuck on a long flight and it was the only available book. However, I appreciated the humor and insight into the culture. Great easy fun read!
]]> The Future of Us 10959277
By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right¡ªand wrong¡ªin the present.]]> 356 Jay Asher 1595144919 Yara 3
But again I guess thats the beauty of books, you can't wait to reach the final page but its so damn sad as you turn off the cover on it.

I give it 4/5 just for the idea of it AND cause the characters I think were very lovable...]]> 3.58 2011 The Future of Us
author: Jay Asher
name: Yara
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2019/11/12
date added: 2019/12/16
shelves:
review:
I have to start of by saying, that the end was pretty much predictable, yet I hoped thru out the pages that it would change ....I really liked his life with Sydney and I thought it would be a really good one to live. On the other hand another good read from Jay Asher that just makes you want to get to the end but as soon as you do....

But again I guess thats the beauty of books, you can't wait to reach the final page but its so damn sad as you turn off the cover on it.

I give it 4/5 just for the idea of it AND cause the characters I think were very lovable...
]]> Great Expectations 2623
Pip must discover his true self, and his own set of values and priorities. Whether such values allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating, and disturbing, novels.

This edition includes the original, discarded ending, Dickens's brief working notes, and the serial instalments and chapter divisions in different editions. It also uses the definitive Clarendon text.]]> 544 Charles Dickens 0192833596 Yara 5
Even though Nineteenth-century literature, with its demanding vocabulary and old-fashioned assumptions and manners, is not everyone's cup of tea,Charles Dickens is universally regarded as one of the greatest novelists who ever wrote in the English language, if not any language, and Great Expectations is considered, along with Bleak House, to be his best (For obvious reasons DUH). The pace of the novel is quite good, and several chapters are extremely gripping.

What I love the most about this novel is that it does not conform to any one genre. It is a tale of love and passion; a mystery story with several twists; a narrative that functions as a serious social commentary. I have read this book more than once, and every read has been an entirely new experience.
]]> 3.78 1861 Great Expectations
author: Charles Dickens
name: Yara
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1861
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/28
date added: 2019/10/28
shelves:
review:
Although many of the characters in this story are stereotypes, this makes them no less effective in telling the story.

Even though Nineteenth-century literature, with its demanding vocabulary and old-fashioned assumptions and manners, is not everyone's cup of tea,Charles Dickens is universally regarded as one of the greatest novelists who ever wrote in the English language, if not any language, and Great Expectations is considered, along with Bleak House, to be his best (For obvious reasons DUH). The pace of the novel is quite good, and several chapters are extremely gripping.

What I love the most about this novel is that it does not conform to any one genre. It is a tale of love and passion; a mystery story with several twists; a narrative that functions as a serious social commentary. I have read this book more than once, and every read has been an entirely new experience.

]]> ???? ????? 2544247 259 ???? ???? ???? Yara 4 3.94 1954 ???? ?????
author: ???? ???? ????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/18
date added: 2019/10/03
shelves:
review:
???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ?? ???? ?????.
]]> <![CDATA[The Quick (A Jimmy Miles Mystery)]]> 218288 320 Dan Vining 0515137197 Yara 3 3.17 2004 The Quick (A Jimmy Miles Mystery)
author: Dan Vining
name: Yara
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2019/09/16
date added: 2019/10/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Speaking In Tongues 187040
Aaron Matthews, a brilliant psychologist, has turned his talents away from curing patients to far deadlier goals. He's targeted Tate, Tate's ex-wife, Bett, and their estranged daughter, Megan, for unspeakable revenge. Matthews, ruthless and hell-bent, will destroy anything that inhibits his plans. When their daughter disappears, Tate and Bett reunite in a desperate, heart-pounding attempt to find her and to stop Matthews, a psychopath whose gift of a glib tongue and talent for coercion are as dangerous as knives and guns.

Featuring an urgent race against the clock, gripping details of psychological manipulation, and the brilliant twists and turns that are trademark Deaver, "Speaking in Tongues" delivers the suspense punch that has made this author a bestseller. It will leave you speechless.]]> 336 Jeffery Deaver 0684871262 Yara 1
When the crux of your tale lies on creating characters of uncanny persuasive abilities, the heart of your novel must lie within the dialogue those characters utilize. In this case, neither Matthews or Collier ever speak convincingly enough, in my opinion, to warrant their being labelled as men who "speak in tongues."

My biggest pet peeve: Deaver cannot write dialogue for teenagers. In an attempt at creating authenticity, Deaver peppers their dialogue with an abundance of "like"s and "way lame"s so that they sound like rejects from some B-grade rip-off of a Dazed and Confused remake. I understand that kids still occasionally talk like this, but Deaver's use of these trite bits of characterization is so liberal it becomes intrusive and annoying and ludicrous.]]> 3.78 1995 Speaking In Tongues
author: Jeffery Deaver
name: Yara
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1995
rating: 1
read at: 2019/09/28
date added: 2019/10/03
shelves:
review:
I don't understand how this book is written by the same man who wrote The Coffin Dancer and The Empty Chair!! As demonstrated through out The Bone Collector series, when he wants to Deaver can really pull out all the stops, delivering fast-paced, well-researched books. But Speaking In Tongues, while as fast-faced as ever, just doesn't have the cunning twists of plot or the techno-savvy that made the Lincoln Rhyme books so intriguing.

When the crux of your tale lies on creating characters of uncanny persuasive abilities, the heart of your novel must lie within the dialogue those characters utilize. In this case, neither Matthews or Collier ever speak convincingly enough, in my opinion, to warrant their being labelled as men who "speak in tongues."

My biggest pet peeve: Deaver cannot write dialogue for teenagers. In an attempt at creating authenticity, Deaver peppers their dialogue with an abundance of "like"s and "way lame"s so that they sound like rejects from some B-grade rip-off of a Dazed and Confused remake. I understand that kids still occasionally talk like this, but Deaver's use of these trite bits of characterization is so liberal it becomes intrusive and annoying and ludicrous.
]]> <![CDATA[A Hunger Artist (Short Prose of Franz Kafka)]]> 141352 A Hunger Artist (1924) explores many of the themes that were close to him: spiritual poverty, asceticism, futility, and the alienation of the modern artist.

He edited the manuscript just before his death, and these four stories are some of his best known and most powerful work, marking his maturity as a writer. In addition to "First Sorrow," "A Little Woman," and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People" is the title story, "A Hunger Artist," which has been called by the critic Heinz Politzer "a perfection, a fatal fulfillment that expresses Kafka's desire for permanence."

The three volumes Twisted Spoon Press has published: Contemplation, A Country Doctor, and A Hunger Artist are the collections of stories that Kafka had published during his lifetime. Though each volume has its own distinctive character, they have most often appeared in English in collected editions. They are presented here as separate editions, in new translations by Kevin Blahut, each with its own illustrator from the Prague community.]]> 84 Franz Kafka 8090217117 Yara 3
In the story we see that the impresario forces the artist to cease fasting after forty days of exhausting starvation, although the hunger artist itself wants to keep on with his art: ¡°Why stop fasting at this particular moment, after forty days of it? He had held out for a long time, an illimitably long time; why to stop now, when he was in his best fasting form, or rather, not yet quite in his best fasting form?¡± He longed to ¡°beat his own record by a performance beyond human imagination since he felt that there were no limits to his capacity for fasting¡± (Kafka).

If we replace the word ¡°fast¡± with ¡°write¡± and it will become rather transparent that this whole plot is about Kafka. The hunger artist, similar to Kafka, desired to share his inner world, his art, he wanted art of starvation to be appreciated and approved, those who came to the cage to observe an unfamiliar phenomenon. But it was a bitter mistake because a beautiful young panther turned out to be much more ¡°comprehensible¡± and interesting for most people than the hunger artist, a skeleton-like man. ]]> 4.15 1924 A Hunger Artist (Short Prose of Franz Kafka)
author: Franz Kafka
name: Yara
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1924
rating: 3
read at: 2019/09/20
date added: 2019/09/20
shelves:
review:
It is quite remarkable that ¡°A Hunger Artist¡± is one of six works that Kafka did not entrust to burn in his testament of 1922. Therefore, It would be reasonable enough to suppose that Kafka describes the destiny of an artist telling the story about the art of starvation; to my mind, the author and the character are quite similar.

In the story we see that the impresario forces the artist to cease fasting after forty days of exhausting starvation, although the hunger artist itself wants to keep on with his art: ¡°Why stop fasting at this particular moment, after forty days of it? He had held out for a long time, an illimitably long time; why to stop now, when he was in his best fasting form, or rather, not yet quite in his best fasting form?¡± He longed to ¡°beat his own record by a performance beyond human imagination since he felt that there were no limits to his capacity for fasting¡± (Kafka).

If we replace the word ¡°fast¡± with ¡°write¡± and it will become rather transparent that this whole plot is about Kafka. The hunger artist, similar to Kafka, desired to share his inner world, his art, he wanted art of starvation to be appreciated and approved, those who came to the cage to observe an unfamiliar phenomenon. But it was a bitter mistake because a beautiful young panther turned out to be much more ¡°comprehensible¡± and interesting for most people than the hunger artist, a skeleton-like man.
]]> <![CDATA[The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)]]> 34884810 Catching him will make her career - and change her forever.

August, 1999
On the hottest day of the year, Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, the convicted murderer she arrested thirty years earlier. A master carpenter and funeral director, Larry imprisoned his victims, alive, in the caskets he made himself. Clay effigies found entombed with their bodies suggested a motive beyond the worst human depravity.

June, 1969
13-year- old Patsy Wood has been missing for two days, the third teenager to disappear in as many months. New to the Lancashire police force and struggling to fit in, WPC Lovelady is sent to investigate an unlikely report from school children claiming to have heard a voice calling for help. A voice from deep within a recent grave.

August, 1999
As she tries to lay her ghosts to rest, Florence is drawn back to the Glassbrooks' old house, in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where she once lodged with the family. She is chilled by the discovery of another effigy - one bearing a remarkable resemblance to herself. Is the killer still at large? Is Florence once again in terrible danger? Or, this time, could the fate in store be worse than even her darkest imaginings?]]> 352 Sharon J. Bolton 140917414X Yara 0 3.95 2018 The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)
author: Sharon J. Bolton
name: Yara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2019/09/03
date added: 2019/09/03
shelves:
review:

]]> The Gatecrasher 10046696 The Times announcements page she gate-crashes the funerals of the wealthy, preying on rich vulnerable men. She charms her way into their lives and onto their platinum cards, takes what she can and then moves swiftly on.

When Richard Favour, a dull but wealthy businessman, meets Fleur at his wife's memorial service, he's bowled over. Gradually Fleur works her spell on Richard's reserved and stilted family - transforming their lives while she moves in on their wealth. She finds herself lingering longer than she meant to, becoming involved in the family - but as Fleur rifles through Richard's files, it becomes clear that she is not the only one after his money.]]> 348 Madeleine Wickham 0552776726 Yara 3 3.20 1998 The Gatecrasher
author: Madeleine Wickham
name: Yara
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2019/07/19
date added: 2019/08/03
shelves:
review:

]]> ???? ???? ??????? 1 5853529 294 ???? ???? ????? Yara 4 3.73 2007 ???? ???? ??????? 1
author: ???? ???? ?????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/10
date added: 2019/08/03
shelves:
review:

]]> Water for Elephants 43641
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.]]> 368 Sara Gruen 1565125606 Yara 3
The way Sara Gruen starts the book and has him as an old man and his past self is so funny and cool to me. Jacob's old man self has lots of kick in him still, I was smiling the whole time he talked about walking over to the circus and meeting that nice man that let him rejoin it after all those years. His younger self I fell into absolute love with too, how kind he was towards everyone and just wanted the best for them. The way he starts off his journey and just HAPPENS to jump onto a at train that needed a veterinarian is so ironic.

Sara Gruen shows that although grief can be overwhelming, it can make people branch out and try new things. ]]> 4.11 2006 Water for Elephants
author: Sara Gruen
name: Yara
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2019/06/28
date added: 2019/07/05
shelves:
review:
I can see how making a movie would be difficult since there was so many things going on, including all the animals. Your imagination is probably much better than the film (I've heard the film is not great, so I'll stick with my imagination on this one). It is brutally honest with the abuse that happens outside the big top and the relationships between the people in it. Although it is hard to choose a genre for this book because of all of the events occurring.

The way Sara Gruen starts the book and has him as an old man and his past self is so funny and cool to me. Jacob's old man self has lots of kick in him still, I was smiling the whole time he talked about walking over to the circus and meeting that nice man that let him rejoin it after all those years. His younger self I fell into absolute love with too, how kind he was towards everyone and just wanted the best for them. The way he starts off his journey and just HAPPENS to jump onto a at train that needed a veterinarian is so ironic.

Sara Gruen shows that although grief can be overwhelming, it can make people branch out and try new things.
]]> <![CDATA[Hell's Kitchen (John Pellam, #3)]]> 985882
As more buildings and lives go up in flames, Pellam takes to the streets, seeking the twisted pyromaniac who sells services to the highest bidder. But Pellam is unaware that the fires are merely flickering preludes to the arsonist's ultimate masterpiece, a conflagration of nearly unimaginable proportion, with Hell's Kitchen -- and John Pellam -- at its blackened and searing epicenter.]]> 384 William Jefferies 0671047515 Yara 2 3.60 2001 Hell's Kitchen (John Pellam, #3)
author: William Jefferies
name: Yara
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2019/05/22
date added: 2019/07/05
shelves:
review:
The novel itself was fine.The hero is interesting and the story is entertaining. Not the best Deaver, but still worth the read. The ending is satisfying and a little predictable but not the worst i¡¯ve read for him.??
]]> ????? ?????? ???? 28928544 255 ???? ???? 977654908X Yara 1 ??????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ???? ??????
?????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ??? ????? (????? ???) ? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ? ???????? ????? ??? ????? ????! ???? ?? ???? ????? ????. ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ? ?? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? (?? ?? ???????? ????) ???? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ??????. ????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ???? ????? ???? ???. ??
??]]> 3.31 ????? ?????? ????
author: ???? ????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.31
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2019/05/07
date added: 2019/07/05
shelves:
review:
??
??????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ???? ??????
?????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ??? ????? (????? ???) ? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ? ???????? ????? ??? ????? ????! ???? ?? ???? ????? ????. ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ? ?? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? (?? ?? ???????? ????) ???? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ??????. ????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ???? ????? ???? ???. ??
??
]]> <![CDATA[Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)]]> 608280 208 Nayra Atiya 0815601816 Yara 3 ??]]> 3.80 1982 Khul-Khaal: Five Egyptian Women Tell Their Stories (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)
author: Nayra Atiya
name: Yara
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2019/05/24
date added: 2019/07/05
shelves:
review:
The most accurate term for this book is probably 'powerful'! Each character has their own story, their own struggle yet in the end they all share one main struggle: being a female. The way the author has kept the women's own style of telling their stories, made me feel as if they were talking to me directly. I felt deeply touched by some of the stories as it hit home. Khuul-Khal is a very moving book that you can¡¯t and won¡¯t be able to shake off for quite sometime as it¡¯s the words of real people so you can¡¯t go on and pretend that it¡¯s fiction!??
??
]]> Wuthering Heights 6185 You can find the redesigned cover of this edition HERE.

At the centre of this novel is the passionate love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff - recounted with such emotional intensity that a plain tale of the Yorkshire moors acquires the depth and simplicity of ancient tragedy.

This best-selling Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1847 first edition of the novel. For the Fourth Edition, the editor has collated the 1847 text with several modern editions and has corrected a number of variants, including accidentals. The text is accompanied by entirely new explanatory annotations.

New to the fourth Edition are twelve of Emily Bronte's letters regarding the publication of the 1847 edition of Wuthering Heights as well as the evolution of the 1850 edition, prose and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and Edward Chitham's insightful and informative chronology of the creative process behind the beloved work.

Five major critical interpretations of Wuthering Heights are included, three of them new to the Fourth Edition. A Stuart Daley considers the importance of chronology in the novel. J. Hillis Miller examines Wuthering Heights's problems of genre and critical reputation. Sandra M. Gilbert assesses the role of Victorian Christianity plays in the novel, while Martha Nussbaum traces the novel's romanticism. Finally, Lin Haire-Sargeant scrutinizes the role of Heathcliff in film adaptations of Wuthering Heights.

A Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.]]> 464 Emily Bront? Yara 2 3.89 1847 Wuthering Heights
author: Emily Bront?
name: Yara
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1847
rating: 2
read at: 2019/06/23
date added: 2019/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> ??? ??????? 24324198
???? ????? ??????? ??? 2020? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?????????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?????.
????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ???????? ????????

...

"??? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ..??? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? .. ??? ???????".

???? ???? ????? - ???? ?? ??? ?????? - ???? ??????? ?????? ?????? 2015]]> 294 ???? ???? ????? 9770933252 Yara 2 3.78 2015 ??? ???????
author: ???? ???? ?????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2019/05/23
date added: 2019/06/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)]]> 2459785
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a 12-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox (his partner and closest friend) find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

A gorgeously written novel that marks the debut of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.]]> 448 Tana French Yara 0 to-read 3.82 2007 In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1)
author: Tana French
name: Yara
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #1)]]> 657034
Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind---addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie's a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she's right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth---he can't stay away.

When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, Heartsick makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.
]]> 326 Chelsea Cain 0312368461 Yara 0 to-read 3.93 2007 Heartsick (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell, #1)
author: Chelsea Cain
name: Yara
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[13-Minute Murder: Dead Man Running / 113 Minutes / 13 Minute Murder]]> 42114075
DEAD MAN RUNNING: Psychiatrist Randall Beck specializes in PTSD cases--and his time is limited. Especially when he uncovers a plot to kill a presidential candidate.

113 MINUTES: Molly Rourke's son has been murdered--and she knows who's responsible. Now she's taking the law into her own hands. Never underestimate a mother's love.

13-MINUTE MURDER: He can kill anybody in just minutes--from the first approach to the clean escape. His skills have served him well, and he has a grand plan: to get out alive and spend his earnings with his beloved wife, Maria.

An anonymous client offers Ryan a rich payout to assassinate a target in Harvard Yard. It's exactly the last big job he needs to complete his plan. The precision strike starts perfectly, then somehow explodes into a horrifying spectacle. Ryan has to run and Maria goes missing. Now the world's fastest hit man sets out for one last score: Revenge. And every minute counts.]]> 464 James Patterson 1538733056 Yara 0 to-read 3.74 2019 13-Minute Murder: Dead Man Running / 113 Minutes / 13 Minute Murder
author: James Patterson
name: Yara
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> After the Quake 11299 147 Haruki Murakami Yara 3 3.81 2000 After the Quake
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2019/03/12
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves:
review:

]]> The In-Between 17286845
Fourteen-year-old Elanor Moss has always been an outcast who fails at everything she tries¨Dshe's even got the fine, white scars to prove it. Moving was supposed to be a chance at a fresh start, a way to leave behind all the pain and ugliness of her old life. But, when a terrible car accident changes her life forever, her near-death experience opens a door to a world inhabited by Madeline Torus . . . Madeline is everything Elanor isn' beautiful, bold, brave. She is exactly what Elanor has always wanted in a best friend and more¨Dtheir connection runs deeper than friendship. But Madeline is not like other girls, and Elanor has to keep her new friend a secret or risk being labeled "crazy." Soon, though, even Elanor starts to doubt her own sanity. Madeline is her entire life, and that life is drastically spinning out of control. Elanor knows what happens when your best friend becomes your worst enemy. But what happens when your worst enemy is yourself?
With her debut novel, The In-Between , Barbara Stewart presents a bold new voice in teen fiction.]]> 256 Barbara Stewart 1250030161 Yara 2 3.40 2013 The In-Between
author: Barbara Stewart
name: Yara
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2019/04/19
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves:
review:
Not even gonna bother writing anything.
]]> I Loved You for Your Voice 169565 256 S¨¦lim Nassib 1933372079 Yara 4 3.82 1994 I Loved You for Your Voice
author: S¨¦lim Nassib
name: Yara
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/19
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 104 ??????? 31840103 256 ??? ???? 9778170002 Yara 3 3.47 2016 104 ???????
author: ??? ????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2019/03/18
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Devdas 258497
It is the story of Devdas and Paro, childhood sweethearts who are torn apart when Devdas is sent away to Calcutta by his father, the local zamindar. When Devdas returns to his village, now a handsome lad of nineteen, Paro asks him to marry her. But Devdas is unable to stand up to parental opposition to the match and rejects the proposition. Stunned, Paro agrees to marry an elderly widower. Devdas returns to Calcutta, but every waking hour of his is now filled with thoughts of Paro and his unfulfilled love for her. Desperate to resolve the situation somehow, he runs to Paro who is now married and asks her to elope with him, but she refuses.

Heartbroken, he seeks solace in alcohol and in the company of the courtesan Chandramukhi. Chandramukhi falls in love with Devdas, but even when he is with her he can only think of Paro. It is now his destiny to hurtle on relentlessly on the path to self-destruction. Devdas¡¯s tortured life ends when, dying of a liver ailment brought on by alcoholism, he journeys to Paro¡¯s house to see her one last time. Arriving in the middle of the night, he dies unknown, untended, on her doorstep. Paro comes to know of his death only the following morning. Devdas has enthralled readers and filmgoing audiences alike for the better part of a century. This new translation brings the classic tale of star-crossed lovers alive for a new generation of readers.]]> 128 Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay 0143029266 Yara 4 A friend, who happens to be a great story teller, starts narrating to me one time when i was terribly depressed as a way to distract me. It didn¡¯t work but it left me with this sweet memory towards a book i¡¯ve never read. Therefor, when I was going through the same emotions recently, i found myself nostalgic for it.

It¡¯s a very short story, yet full of unsaid words. Anyone who loved someone and had to go on without them can easily fill in the story with their own heartbreak. ]]> 3.95 1917 Devdas
author: Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
name: Yara
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1917
rating: 4
read at: 2019/03/15
date added: 2019/03/16
shelves:
review:
I fell in love with the book years before I read it.
A friend, who happens to be a great story teller, starts narrating to me one time when i was terribly depressed as a way to distract me. It didn¡¯t work but it left me with this sweet memory towards a book i¡¯ve never read. Therefor, when I was going through the same emotions recently, i found myself nostalgic for it.

It¡¯s a very short story, yet full of unsaid words. Anyone who loved someone and had to go on without them can easily fill in the story with their own heartbreak.
]]> Life of Pi 4214 460 Yann Martel 0770430074 Yara 5 3.94 2001 Life of Pi
author: Yann Martel
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/01
date added: 2019/03/02
shelves:
review:
Those last four pages! I want to go back and re read everything with that ending in mind
]]> Room 31685789
Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience¡ªand a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough ... not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.]]> 321 Emma Donoghue Yara 3 4.18 2010 Room
author: Emma Donoghue
name: Yara
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2019/02/14
date added: 2019/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> ???? ?????? ???????? 24756401
Seven people hold what they believe is the only key to the closed-in-winter Baldpate Inn--all of them eventually after the same two hundred thousand dollars in the safe--all of them desperate. None of them reckoned with Billy Magee, a lovestruck romantic writer with method to his madness.]]> 127 Earl Derr Biggers Yara 2 Like okay, so?
It could have been a great read with the whole idea of seven keys and different guests who are lying their teeth out.
It wasn¡¯t a bad ready but i dont see why would someone read it either. ]]> 2.80 1913 ???? ?????? ????????
author: Earl Derr Biggers
name: Yara
average rating: 2.80
book published: 1913
rating: 2
read at: 2019/02/06
date added: 2019/02/06
shelves:
review:
I don¡¯t really know what was the purpose of the book?
Like okay, so?
It could have been a great read with the whole idea of seven keys and different guests who are lying their teeth out.
It wasn¡¯t a bad ready but i dont see why would someone read it either.
]]> You (You, #1) 22073005
When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe works, he¡¯s instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: She¡¯s gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams.

Beck doesn¡¯t know it yet, but she¡¯s perfect for him, and soon she can¡¯t resist her feelings for a guy who seems custom made for her. But there¡¯s more to Joe than Beck realizes, and much more to Beck than her oh-so-perfect fa?ade. Their mutual obsession quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences . . .

A chilling account of unrelenting passion, Caroline Kepnes¡¯s You is a perversely romantic thriller that¡¯s more dangerously clever than any you¡¯ve read before.]]> 433 Caroline Kepnes Yara 2
I really didn't like the heroine. She was gross and her responses were insane and illogical. They were basic and silly and everything she did and thought was really just done out of lazy writing from the author. Her friends were lazily done as well. Lazy writing annoys me.

I didn't mind the excessive obsession with sex and swearing, but was rather indifferent to it. It neither added nor detracted from the story for me. Just bought the author few lines to fill in the pages.

Since the main character works in a bookstore, there are several references to various well-known novels, as one might expect. However, it was a bit overdone, in my opinion, and felt more like the author was trying to impress and flaunt her literary knowledge.
]]> 3.91 2014 You (You, #1)
author: Caroline Kepnes
name: Yara
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2019/02/04
date added: 2019/02/05
shelves:
review:
It is an okay read, not a great one. What this novel lacked, was the tension or edge of your seat page turning that makes for a great mystery/suspense novel.

I really didn't like the heroine. She was gross and her responses were insane and illogical. They were basic and silly and everything she did and thought was really just done out of lazy writing from the author. Her friends were lazily done as well. Lazy writing annoys me.

I didn't mind the excessive obsession with sex and swearing, but was rather indifferent to it. It neither added nor detracted from the story for me. Just bought the author few lines to fill in the pages.

Since the main character works in a bookstore, there are several references to various well-known novels, as one might expect. However, it was a bit overdone, in my opinion, and felt more like the author was trying to impress and flaunt her literary knowledge.

]]> ???? ??? ??????? 36203081 ?? ??? ????? ?????? "????" ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ???????? ?????...
?? ????? ?? ?????? ???????...
???? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??????.

?? ?????? ???????? ????? ???? ???????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????????.. ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ???????.]]> 333 ???? ???? 21143/2017 Yara 1
Nothing in this book was good, or even okay! Everything was BAD. If I can rate book in minus this would be -1 million!

Horrible. Horrible read. ]]> 2.72 2017 ???? ??? ???????
author: ???? ????
name: Yara
average rating: 2.72
book published: 2017
rating: 1
read at: 2019/02/05
date added: 2019/02/05
shelves:
review:
What the **** is this shit!! COMPLETE and total waste of time and energy. Towards the end I was actually physically pissed off!

Nothing in this book was good, or even okay! Everything was BAD. If I can rate book in minus this would be -1 million!

Horrible. Horrible read.
]]> Go Set a Watchman 24817626 To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch¡ª"Scout"¡ªreturns home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise's homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in a painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past¡ªa journey that can be guided only by one's conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor and effortless precision¡ªa profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context and new meaning to an American classic.]]> 278 Harper Lee 0062409859 Yara 2 next
Before I picked up the book I did some research and discovered that there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the publication of GO SET A WATCHMAN, which somehow has been universally recognized as the first draft of what would eventually become Harper Lee's magnificent TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Not sure how true that is but the public seemed to agree on that. Maybe this idea came up as a remedy for softening the blow of disappointment that came with the last page of the book, for it was a disappointment.?

not because the book sucked or was badly written or anything from that sorts, but more of because it was following in the footsteps of the mighty Mockingbird. Which is totally expected in sequels.

If you are reading Go Set A Watchman wanting to revisit heroes from "To Kill a Mockingbird" and be transported to a land where there is still some sort of justice and hope in people, this is not the book to do that for you. On the other hand, if you ?are reading because out of curiosity to find out want how Scout and the rest of the gang turned out 20 years later, then this is a good enough book. I hope, in time, more and more people will see that. "To Kill a Mockingbird" was written primarily from the perspective of a little girl. "Go Set a Watchman" is written from the perspective of an adult, complete with all the disillusionment and compromises adults are forced to make if we don't want to live in isolation.

The best sentence I think summarizes this book is the one Uncle Jack pointed out: that there are a lot of citizens who do not speak out against the racism, but are not racists themselves.]]> 3.28 2015 Go Set a Watchman
author: Harper Lee
name: Yara
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2019/01/26
date added: 2019/01/26
shelves: next
review:
Like every other person who read To Kill a Mockingbird I got super excited hearing that Harper Lee has decided to publish a sequel. I remember reading once that she planned on not publishing anything else other than To Kill a Mockingbird, with it being a masterpiece and all that. So I was extremely happily surprised when Go Set A watchman came out, and even though it took me 4 years to get to it but never-the-less I was EXCITED. I had very high hopes for this one.

Before I picked up the book I did some research and discovered that there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the publication of GO SET A WATCHMAN, which somehow has been universally recognized as the first draft of what would eventually become Harper Lee's magnificent TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Not sure how true that is but the public seemed to agree on that. Maybe this idea came up as a remedy for softening the blow of disappointment that came with the last page of the book, for it was a disappointment.?

not because the book sucked or was badly written or anything from that sorts, but more of because it was following in the footsteps of the mighty Mockingbird. Which is totally expected in sequels.

If you are reading Go Set A Watchman wanting to revisit heroes from "To Kill a Mockingbird" and be transported to a land where there is still some sort of justice and hope in people, this is not the book to do that for you. On the other hand, if you ?are reading because out of curiosity to find out want how Scout and the rest of the gang turned out 20 years later, then this is a good enough book. I hope, in time, more and more people will see that. "To Kill a Mockingbird" was written primarily from the perspective of a little girl. "Go Set a Watchman" is written from the perspective of an adult, complete with all the disillusionment and compromises adults are forced to make if we don't want to live in isolation.

The best sentence I think summarizes this book is the one Uncle Jack pointed out: that there are a lot of citizens who do not speak out against the racism, but are not racists themselves.
]]> <![CDATA[Keeping Tally: Illuminating the Lies That Imprison You]]> 39996351 132 Christy Duncan 1632961768 Yara 0 to-read 4.67 Keeping Tally: Illuminating the Lies That Imprison You
author: Christy Duncan
name: Yara
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[1st to Die (Women's Murder Club, #1)]]> 13137 Four crime-solving friends face off against a killer in San Francisco in the Women's Murder Club novel that started James Patterson's thrilling series.

Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand. The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered--before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.

Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of the #1 New York Times bestselling series of crime thrillers.]]> 424 James Patterson 0446696617 Yara 3
And man that was a depressing read. I mean it was okay. It was easy reading and told from the point of view of the women characters. But, despite it being believable and plausible, something was missing. For some reason, it's only women writers who are usually able to get the tone right.

I would have given this book more stars, but it did include a romance, and I usually don't like the plot-line put on hold while a couple meet and love and adore each other, especially when they are supposed to be chasing down a serial killer who kills newly married couple. Also the 'plot twist' was not much of a twist, or rather did not have enough bang for my likings.]]> 4.09 2001 1st to Die (Women's Murder Club, #1)
author: James Patterson
name: Yara
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/16
date added: 2019/01/18
shelves:
review:
But I still don't know why was she holding the gun to her head in the prologue!!! Does that bother anyone else!!?

And man that was a depressing read. I mean it was okay. It was easy reading and told from the point of view of the women characters. But, despite it being believable and plausible, something was missing. For some reason, it's only women writers who are usually able to get the tone right.

I would have given this book more stars, but it did include a romance, and I usually don't like the plot-line put on hold while a couple meet and love and adore each other, especially when they are supposed to be chasing down a serial killer who kills newly married couple. Also the 'plot twist' was not much of a twist, or rather did not have enough bang for my likings.
]]> The Map of Love 89821 In the Eye of the Sun, Ahdaf Soueif garnered comparisons to Tolstoy, Flaubert, and George Eliot.??In her latest novel, which was shortlisted for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize, she combines the romantic skill of the nineteenth-century novelists with a very modern sense of culture and politics--both sexual and international.

At either end of the twentieth century, two women fall in love with men outside their familiar worlds. In 1901, Anna Winterbourne, recently widowed, leaves England for Egypt, an outpost of the Empire roiling with nationalist sentiment. Far from the comfort of the British colony, she finds herself enraptured by the real Egypt and in love with Sharif Pasha al-Baroudi. Nearly a hundred years later, Isabel Parkman, a divorced American journalist and descendant of Anna and Sharif has fallen in love with Omar al-Ghamrawi, a gifted and difficult Egyptian-American conductor with his own passionate politics. In an attempt to understand her conflicting emotions and to discover the truth behind her heritage, Isabel, too, travels to Egypt, and enlists Omar's sister's help in unravelling the story of Anna and Sharif's love.

Joining the romance and intricate storytelling of A.S. Byatt's Possession and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Ahdaf Soueif has once again created a mesmerizing tale of genuine eloquence and lasting importance.]]> 529 Ahdaf Soueif 0385720114 Yara 3
I would have enjoyed this one a little bit more if it was balanced. The politics overpowered the map of love, but never the less it was a good read. Emotional read. ]]> 3.76 1999 The Map of Love
author: Ahdaf Soueif
name: Yara
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/12
date added: 2019/01/18
shelves:
review:
What I usually like about Ahdaf Soueif is that she always delivers a much-needed lessons, and this time it was a History lesson. She extends to her readers increased cultural awareness and appreciation. However, this novel was heavily condensed with politics, it was too much that it overpowered the love story. And maybe that was the whole purpose, two people fall in love when the world around them is being torn apart by politics.

I would have enjoyed this one a little bit more if it was balanced. The politics overpowered the map of love, but never the less it was a good read. Emotional read.
]]> The Graveyard Book 2213661
There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.

But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod's family.

A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.]]> 312 Neil Gaiman 0060530928 Yara 4 In this book, every chapter is a self contained short story about an incident in Bod¡¯s life. This makes it ideal for dipping into, and for reading at bedtime.]]> 4.15 2008 The Graveyard Book
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Yara
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/04
date added: 2019/01/04
shelves:
review:
I have to start off by stating that I rarely like fantasy novels or any thing thats not ¡°real¡±. But Neil Gaiman¡¯s books are the exception to my rule. It started with Neverwhere and it got validated by The Graveyard Book . I love Neil Gaiman's style of writing, it is easy to follow and it makes it easy for the reader to keep up with the plot of the book. I personally think that it can be read by people of all ages because it we can often relate to the metaphorical context of this book. He doesn¡¯t do over the top fantasy or ridiculous unbelievable stories, instead he makes it plausible.
In this book, every chapter is a self contained short story about an incident in Bod¡¯s life. This makes it ideal for dipping into, and for reading at bedtime.
]]> White Oleander 32234 White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes--each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned--becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.]]> 446 Janet Fitch 0316182540 Yara 0 to-read 4.00 1999 White Oleander
author: Janet Fitch
name: Yara
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beauty Is a Wound 24826361 Beauty Is a Wound astonishes from its opening line: ¡°One afternoon on a weekend in May, Dewi Ayu rose from her grave after being dead for twenty-one years . . .¡±

Across generations, the beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu, her daughters, and her grandchildren are beset by incest, murder, bestiality, rape, and the often fiercely vengeful undead.

Kurniawan mixes tender lyricism and gleefully grotesque hyperbole to offer entertainment of a rare order as well as a scathing critique of his young nation¡¯s troubled past: the rapacious offhand greed of colonialism; the chaotic struggle for independence; the 1965 mass murders of perhaps a million ¡°communists,¡± followed by three decades of Suharto¡¯s despotic rule.

Drawing on local sources¡ªfolk tales and the all-night shadow-puppet plays, with their bawdy wit and epic scope¡ªand inspired by Melville and Gogol, Kurniawan¡¯s distinctive West Javanese voice brings something luscious yet astringent to literature today. Beauty Is a Wound is a prime example of the bravura resilience of art in Indonesia, blossoming after the fall of Suharto.]]> 470 Eka Kurniawan 0811223639 Yara 0 to-read 3.94 2002 Beauty Is a Wound
author: Eka Kurniawan
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Gentleman in Moscow 29430012 He can't leave. You won't want to.

With his breakout novel Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing late-1930s Manhattan to life with splendid atmosphere and a flawless command of style. A Gentleman in Moscow immerses us in another elegantly drawn era with the story of Count Alexander Rostov.

When, in 1922, the thirty-year-old Count is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, he is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. An indomitable man of erudition and wit, Rostov must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel¡¯s doors.

Unexpectedly, the Count's reduced circumstances provide him entry to a much larger world of emotional discovery as he forges friendships with the hotel's other denizens, including a willful actress, a shrewd Kremlinite, a gregarious American, and a temperamental chef. But when fate suddenly puts the life of a young girl in his hands, he must draw on all his ingenuity to protect the future she so deserves.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the Count¡¯s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.]]> 462 Amor Towles Yara 0 to-read 4.33 2016 A Gentleman in Moscow
author: Amor Towles
name: Yara
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fahrenheit 451 13079982 Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury¡¯s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television ¡°family.¡± But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn¡¯t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 194 Ray Bradbury Yara 3
I rem. That i started it once before in 2013 and for some reason i didnt go through with it.

I didn¡¯t hate it this time, but I also didn¡¯t fall in love with it. It had few moments where it said all the right things but then the rest things were just dragged out. ]]> 3.97 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Yara
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/29
date added: 2018/12/29
shelves:
review:
What a weird read. To be honest the only reason I picked this one up was because I needed some quick read before the year ended.

I rem. That i started it once before in 2013 and for some reason i didnt go through with it.

I didn¡¯t hate it this time, but I also didn¡¯t fall in love with it. It had few moments where it said all the right things but then the rest things were just dragged out.
]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

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

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

J.D. Salinger's (1919¨C2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Yara 4
I will leave my previous review down there as a reminder.


2012: 2/5
Somehow I lost interest in the book towards the half of it. It got on my nerves as I reached the middle of it. The way he kept thinking of everyone around him as phony and stupid, gave me this sense of stop bitching and just get a grip of yourself!

It started out fine and I could feel for him and see where he was coming from but as I said, it just was too much towards the ends.

Also another reason why I gave it two stars is I was never able to draw an image for the guy, he was so contradicting for me to draw a simple image of him. You would think he is so tough but then he cries when the guys asks for the money, you would think he is a player but then he never slept with anyone... and so on.

it's was just so all over the place for me. :)]]> 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Yara
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/29
date added: 2018/12/29
shelves:
review:
Okay fine! Second time read this book and man my review changed drastically. I mean I was always told that the mood in which you read the book at makes a huge difference but man! I read that book in 2012 and I just hated it. However for some reason I decided to pick it up this year and am glad I did. I now understand what was happening and that he was not just a brat as I had originally thought.

I will leave my previous review down there as a reminder.


2012: 2/5
Somehow I lost interest in the book towards the half of it. It got on my nerves as I reached the middle of it. The way he kept thinking of everyone around him as phony and stupid, gave me this sense of stop bitching and just get a grip of yourself!

It started out fine and I could feel for him and see where he was coming from but as I said, it just was too much towards the ends.

Also another reason why I gave it two stars is I was never able to draw an image for the guy, he was so contradicting for me to draw a simple image of him. You would think he is so tough but then he cries when the guys asks for the money, you would think he is a player but then he never slept with anyone... and so on.

it's was just so all over the place for me. :)
]]> The Catcher in the Rye 578651 "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.]]> 192 J.D. Salinger 014023750X Yara 2
It started out fine and I could feel for him and see where he was coming from but as I said, it just was too much towards the ends.

Also another reason why I gave it two stars is I was never able to draw an image for the guy, he was so contradicting for me to draw a simple image of him. You would think he is so tough but then he cries when the guys asks for the money, you would think he is a player but then he never slept with anyone... and so on.

it's was just so all over the place for me. :) ]]> 3.66 1951 The Catcher in the Rye
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Yara
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1951
rating: 2
read at: 2012/04/26
date added: 2018/12/29
shelves:
review:
Somehow I lost interest in the book towards the half of it. It got on my nerves as I reached the middle of it. The way he kept thinking of everyone around him as phony and stupid, gave me this sense of stop bitching and just get a grip of yourself!

It started out fine and I could feel for him and see where he was coming from but as I said, it just was too much towards the ends.

Also another reason why I gave it two stars is I was never able to draw an image for the guy, he was so contradicting for me to draw a simple image of him. You would think he is so tough but then he cries when the guys asks for the money, you would think he is a player but then he never slept with anyone... and so on.

it's was just so all over the place for me. :)
]]> <![CDATA[The Bohemian Girl (Denton, #2)]]> 18331085 324 Kenneth M. Cameron Yara 3
things didn't feel forced, however I didn't really have any connection or cared for any of the characters. It was like sitting on the bus and hearing two strangers telling the story of two other people they know. interesting but not compelling. ]]> 3.90 2009 The Bohemian Girl (Denton, #2)
author: Kenneth M. Cameron
name: Yara
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/27
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves:
review:
Spent the first few weeks just trying to get used to language and style of writing. I kept re reading to understand what was happening but once I picked it up, it was a fun read.

things didn't feel forced, however I didn't really have any connection or cared for any of the characters. It was like sitting on the bus and hearing two strangers telling the story of two other people they know. interesting but not compelling.
]]> Mirror Mirror 34668234
FRIEND. LOVER. VICTIM. TRAITOR.
WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR, WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Sixteen-year-old friends Red, Leo, Rose, and Naomi are misfits; still figuring out who they are and who they want to be. Life isn't perfect, but music unites them, and they're excited about what the future holds for their band, Mirror, Mirror. That is until Naomi vanishes before being pulled unconscious out of the river.

She's left fighting for her life in a coma. The police claim it was a failed suicide attempt, but her friends aren't convinced. Will Naomi ever wake? What -? or perhaps who - led her to that hospital bed? How did her friends fail to spot the warning signs?

While Rose turns to wild partying and Leo is shrouded by black moods, Red sets out to uncover the truth. It's a journey that will cause Red's world to crack, exposing the group's darkest secrets. Nothing will ever be the same again, because once a mirror is shattered, it can't be fixed.

Cara Delevingne, the voice of her generation, explores identity, friendship and betrayal in this gripping and powerful coming-of-age story. For fans of WE WERE LIARS, THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and THE GIRLS.]]> 368 Cara Delevingne 1409172775 Yara 3
For a book to surprise me that means that it must have done something right. Maybe I was taking it lightly, or just wanting to prove that I got the mystery figured out, but still I did do a double read to just make sure I got that twist right.

Overall, it was not my best read yet I have read much much much worse by more famous authors. I think she just needs to find her voice and not try to follow the cliches of writing a book.]]> 3.52 2017 Mirror Mirror
author: Cara Delevingne
name: Yara
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/26
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves:
review:
I am glad that I stuck out with this one till the end. I mean if I had stopped any time from the 9 times I wanted to, I would have probably gave it very bad review/rating. However the end wasn't grand or epic but it wasn't bad. it didn't suck. You could feel the author getting more comfortable with her story telling and trying less to sound like an author. Which I guess was my problem, the first few chapters things were pretty dull, repetitive and unnecessary. However the plot was no stretcher or teaser BUT I so did not see that twist about you know who (if you've read the book) / you will know who (if you haven't read the book) which was a pleasant surprise.

For a book to surprise me that means that it must have done something right. Maybe I was taking it lightly, or just wanting to prove that I got the mystery figured out, but still I did do a double read to just make sure I got that twist right.

Overall, it was not my best read yet I have read much much much worse by more famous authors. I think she just needs to find her voice and not try to follow the cliches of writing a book.
]]> Pinball, 1973 (The Rat, #2) 591978 215 Haruki Murakami 4061860127 Yara 2
Even though all of my other reads for him I didn't know what was happening and things didn't match, but you could feel that it was something. however this one felt just weird. abrupt and out of place. now I guess I know what others, non fans, feel when they read his books.]]> 3.52 1980 Pinball, 1973 (The Rat, #2)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1980
rating: 2
read at: 2018/12/27
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves:
review:
I guess it is my own fault that I keep coming back for more. I mean the guy made it pretty clear that he is not doing the whole plot story unravelling kind of books, and am the one who keeps reading them.

Even though all of my other reads for him I didn't know what was happening and things didn't match, but you could feel that it was something. however this one felt just weird. abrupt and out of place. now I guess I know what others, non fans, feel when they read his books.
]]> <![CDATA[Hear the Wind Sing (The Rat, #1)]]> 226973
There¡¯s not a whole lot to say story wise. A young man drinks a lot of beer and has strange conversations with a mysterious young lady he just met. So, classic Murakami.]]> 130 Haruki Murakami 4061860267 Yara 4 3.59 1979 Hear the Wind Sing (The Rat, #1)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/21
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves:
review:
I am not sure that I understood anything. I am not even sure what was the story about. but I think thats what it was for. As it was said in the introduction, he just writes his feelings. He doesn't try to make sense of them, or rather he doesn't care if they make sense or not.
]]> <![CDATA[Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)]]> 11204368 Alternate covers for B0031RSBPU can be found
here, here, and here

An ancient secret brotherhood.

A devastating new weapon of destruction.
When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.]]> 498 Dan Brown Yara 4 ]]> 4.39 2000 Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)
author: Dan Brown
name: Yara
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/12
date added: 2018/12/19
shelves:
review:
That book was simply great! I loved everything about it. It was very interesting and fun to read. I really was thinking that it was gonna be an easy "5" rating read, but it just didn't click for me. Like I loved the characters but i didn't feel a connection with them. Also the twists, even though I didn't see them coming but they just didn't take me by surprise! There was no "wow" factor with the revealing, maybe that's because I didn't connect on an emotional level with the book.

]]> ????? ??? ???? 5996777 298 Naguib Mahfouz 9770930776 Yara 0 to-read 4.24 1979 ????? ??? ????
author: Naguib Mahfouz
name: Yara
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)]]> 16160797 456 Robert Galbraith 0316206849 Yara 2
It's a very slow and drawn out book. The slowness makes it tough to read and you will without a doubt want to put it down several times when reading it because of it. The plot is pretty straight forward for a detective novel. What is lacking for 350 of the 400+ pages is any kind of plot development. A private eye novel should build suspense and constantly have the reader wondering what the next clue means. Instead we follow Strike the protagonist through a series of meetings that lead to no conclusions and no questions for the reader to ponder beyond ¡°why am I reading this book?¡±

When reading a mystery novel, one of my favorite parts is that "Aha!" moment when the trail of clues start coming together (or so you think) and you know who done it (or so you think again...), and the following build-up of excitement to when you find out that you had it all wrong after all :) Unfortunately though, I didn't get that feeling at all with this one.]]> 3.88 2013 The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Yara
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2018/12/04
date added: 2018/12/04
shelves:
review:
The question is what merit the book would have if it were not by JK Rowling.

It's a very slow and drawn out book. The slowness makes it tough to read and you will without a doubt want to put it down several times when reading it because of it. The plot is pretty straight forward for a detective novel. What is lacking for 350 of the 400+ pages is any kind of plot development. A private eye novel should build suspense and constantly have the reader wondering what the next clue means. Instead we follow Strike the protagonist through a series of meetings that lead to no conclusions and no questions for the reader to ponder beyond ¡°why am I reading this book?¡±

When reading a mystery novel, one of my favorite parts is that "Aha!" moment when the trail of clues start coming together (or so you think) and you know who done it (or so you think again...), and the following build-up of excitement to when you find out that you had it all wrong after all :) Unfortunately though, I didn't get that feeling at all with this one.
]]> <![CDATA[One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)]]> 32571395 This is an alternate cover edition of ASIN B01M98J44U.
---
One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.]]> 360 Karen M. McManus Yara 4 4.00 2017 One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)
author: Karen M. McManus
name: Yara
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2018/11/30
date added: 2018/11/29
shelves:
review:
Fast-paced blend of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and classic John Hughes. I never got bored reading it, and one of the few mysteries in which I couldn¡¯t outright guess who done it. I loved the development of the characters. It was the right book to read in the middle of my reading slump.
]]> The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress 16690 288 Robert A. Heinlein 0340837942 Yara 0 currently-reading 4.16 1966 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Yara
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> A Short History of Decay 7575633 A Short History of Decay (1949) is E. M. Cioran's nihilistic and witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning the nature of civilization in mid-twentieth-century Europe. Touching upon Man's need to worship, the feebleness of God, the downfall of the Ancient Greeks and the melancholy baseness of all existence, Cioran's pieces are pessimistic in the extreme, but also display a beautiful certainty that renders them delicate, vivid, and memorable. Illuminating and brutally honest, A Short History of Decay dissects Man's decadence in a remarkable series of moving and beautiful pieces.]]> 192 Emil M. Cioran 0141192720 Yara 0 to-read 3.93 1949 A Short History of Decay
author: Emil M. Cioran
name: Yara
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> ??????? 3503947 ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? (???????) ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???? ?? ?? ???. ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? (???????) ???? (???????) ????? ????? ????? ?? (??? ????)
????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?????????.

???? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ????? ?????]]> 192 ???? ???? ????? 9773513912 Yara 4
"??? ????? ??? ??? 2023? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ????????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???? ?? ?? ???." I mean tell me how is this any different from the current state?

???? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ???????????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ????????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? 2008? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?????.

??????? ???? ?? 2008? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ?. ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ???????? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ???????? ????? ¨C ???? ¨C ??? ??????.

?? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????? ???????? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ????????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?. ???? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??????.
]]> 3.94 2009 ???????
author: ???? ???? ?????
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/01
date added: 2018/11/03
shelves:
review:
A grim futuristic account of Egyptian society in the year 2023. I say it's more like a grim account of Egyptian Society in the year 2018.

"??? ????? ??? ??? 2023? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ????????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???? ?? ?? ???." I mean tell me how is this any different from the current state?

???? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ???????????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ????????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?? 2008? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?????.

??????? ???? ?? 2008? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ??? ?. ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ???????? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ???????? ????? ¨C ???? ¨C ??? ??????.

?? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ????? ???????? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ????????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?. ???? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??????.

]]> 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3) 10357575 The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver¡¯s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 ¡ª¡°Q is for ¡®question mark.¡¯ A world that bears a question.¡± Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame¡¯s and Tengo¡¯s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell¡¯s ¡ª 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami¡¯s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.]]> 944 Haruki Murakami 0307593312 Yara 0 currently-reading 3.94 2009 1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3)
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> After Dark 17803 In After Dark¡ªa gripping novel of late night encounters¡ªMurakami¡¯s trademark humor and psychological insight are distilled with an extraordinary, harmonious mastery.

Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny¡¯s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents¡ªmodels, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians¡ªcollide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn.]]> 191 Haruki Murakami 0307265838 Yara 4
As in all Murakami novels, After Dark¡¯s plot is irrelevant. Nothing happens for a long time, then something creepy and inexplicable happens, then the book ends for no apparent reason, leaving any semblance of story unresolved. So it really depends on your level of tolerance at the time you are reading the book, however since this one is way shorter than his other work, I guess not a lot of people would have a problem tolerating his style.
]]> 3.75 2004 After Dark
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/12
date added: 2018/11/03
shelves:
review:
The more I read Murakami, the less his work resembles genius, and the more it comes to resemble a symptom of autism or obsessive compulsion. As Rubin explains it, Murakami works not because he has an idea for a book, but because he feels compelled to write. It¡¯s suggested that he often sits at his desk, writing whatever comes to mind, until the glimmerings of a story appear.

As in all Murakami novels, After Dark¡¯s plot is irrelevant. Nothing happens for a long time, then something creepy and inexplicable happens, then the book ends for no apparent reason, leaving any semblance of story unresolved. So it really depends on your level of tolerance at the time you are reading the book, however since this one is way shorter than his other work, I guess not a lot of people would have a problem tolerating his style.

]]> The Night Watch 25584847 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9781594482304.

Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller.

This is the story of four Londoners ¨C three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching. Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret. Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover. Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives, and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. War leads to strange alliances¡­

Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists. The Night Watch is thrilling. A towering achievement.]]> 528 Sarah Waters Yara 3 I do know that this is not the timeline here, but it's close enough. And I love Sarah Waters for always presenting me with this setting.

However, this novel feels unfinished. I was, and still am, waiting for the parts to connect in that grand finale kind of setting. A big finale for a big story, which never came.
]]> 3.74 2006 The Night Watch
author: Sarah Waters
name: Yara
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2018/08/14
date added: 2018/09/14
shelves:
review:
I love stories that takes place in London, and I love stories that takes place in London in the 20's.
I do know that this is not the timeline here, but it's close enough. And I love Sarah Waters for always presenting me with this setting.

However, this novel feels unfinished. I was, and still am, waiting for the parts to connect in that grand finale kind of setting. A big finale for a big story, which never came.

]]> Stranger Than Fanfiction 31694016 295 Chris Colfer 0316383449 Yara 3
Chris Colfer always manages to put some wisdom on his books in a very light kind of way. He makes you reflect on subjects that you might not have thought about before and he does that in a way that doesn¡¯t make you feel like it¡¯s being pushed down your throat, but instead, it always serves as a inspiration somehow.

]]> 3.81 2017 Stranger Than Fanfiction
author: Chris Colfer
name: Yara
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/15
date added: 2018/09/11
shelves:
review:
Chris Colfer is an extremely smart writer and I love his voices for the different characters. He never disappoints, but there was something off for me in this book. I didn't really feel the characters, there were too many of them to really invest in emotional connection with any of them.

Chris Colfer always manages to put some wisdom on his books in a very light kind of way. He makes you reflect on subjects that you might not have thought about before and he does that in a way that doesn¡¯t make you feel like it¡¯s being pushed down your throat, but instead, it always serves as a inspiration somehow.


]]> Fight Club 2 25614994
Ten years after starting Project Mayhem, he lives a mundane life. A kid, a wife. Pills to keep his destiny at bay. But it won¡¯t last long¡ªthe wife has seen to that. He¡¯s back where he started, but this go-round he¡¯s got more at stake than his own life. The time has arrived . . .]]> 276 Chuck Palahniuk 1616559454 Yara 2
However on the good side, Mack¡¯s work is stunningly beautiful. Stewart does a masterful job handling transitions and translating this haywire plot into something your eyes can follow.]]> 3.05 2015 Fight Club 2
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Yara
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2018/08/01
date added: 2018/07/31
shelves:
review:
My main problem is that the plot for Fight club 2 is difficult to follow, it seems that the story is a jumble of independent events that more often than not seem to have no correlation between one another. This really hurts me to say since am a huge Palahniuk lover and I always defended his work, but man I had so many troubles with this one, I mean what I loved about Fight Club (the first book), was that it rejected a traditional, shallow life but also critiqued the common, hyper-masculine, anarchist rejection of a traditional, shallow life. It showcased characters who found escape from the mundanity of everyday life in violence, but it also was skeptical of that violence and whether or not it was a real escape. While in Fight Club 2, as you read you just can't help but worry that the book would tarnish Fight Club like many other sequels have done to their originals.

However on the good side, Mack¡¯s work is stunningly beautiful. Stewart does a masterful job handling transitions and translating this haywire plot into something your eyes can follow.
]]> <![CDATA[Batman: Lovers & Madmen (Batman Confidential, #2)]]> 2239436 144 Michael Green 1401216838 Yara 1 3.90 2008 Batman: Lovers & Madmen (Batman Confidential, #2)
author: Michael Green
name: Yara
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2018/08/01
date added: 2018/07/31
shelves:
review:
That was the weakest Joker VS Batman story line by far! It felt like it was trying too hard and wanted to be great which unfortunately didn't work. For me the Killing Joke still remains the best origin story.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)]]> 853510
One of the passengers is none other than detective Hercule Poirot. On vacation.

Isolated and with a killer on board, Poirot must identify the murderer¡ªin case he or she decides to strike again.]]> 274 Agatha Christie 0007119313 Yara 3 4.22 1934 Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Yara
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/28
date added: 2018/07/27
shelves:
review:
Murder on the Orient Express is the first Poirot story I¡¯ve ever read, though it¡¯s the tenth published by Christie. I liked the mix of lots of characters, all trapped in one singular place, who all had different stories and personalities, and yet Poirot was able to find various connections between them in interesting and subtle ways. Overall, I really enjoyed this book,
]]> Kafka on the Shore 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle¡ªyet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Yara 3
The beginning was very promising, and iving a quick plot synopsis is not exactly an easy thing to do for Kafka on the Shore, or any Murakami book. Let¡¯s just say that Kafka on the Shore has many of the Murakami staples: lost cats, cats talking, eccentric types, alternating storylines, slacker types, American pop culture, music, wandering, and ventures into different realms.Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.

A few chapters in, I had no idea what was going on or why I was reading this.]]> 4.14 2002 Kafka on the Shore
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Yara
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2018/03/12
date added: 2018/07/10
shelves:
review:
A lot of things happen in Murakami's novels, but what lingers longest in the memory is this distinctive mood, a stillness pregnant with . . . what? Desperation? or maybe some meaning that's forever slipping away. The author achieves this effect by doing everything wrong, at least by Western literary standards. Which is what I love about his books.

The beginning was very promising, and iving a quick plot synopsis is not exactly an easy thing to do for Kafka on the Shore, or any Murakami book. Let¡¯s just say that Kafka on the Shore has many of the Murakami staples: lost cats, cats talking, eccentric types, alternating storylines, slacker types, American pop culture, music, wandering, and ventures into different realms.Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.

A few chapters in, I had no idea what was going on or why I was reading this.
]]>