author: Maria Montessori
name: Katie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1936
rating: 0
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December 31, 1998
Cultivating the Human Spirit The simplicity, beauty, and intricacies found in nature have captured the minds and hearts of the greatest philosophers throughout time. Even the foremost scientific minds of our time are at a loss to understand nature's deepest mysteries. "Light of the Bhagavata" presents a clear and tangible illustration of the purpose and significance of nature and its origin. Among the writings of Srila Prabhupada, this work has a unique origin. He wrote it in Vrindavana, India, in 1961 in response to an invitation to attend a world confrence called the Congress for Cultivating the Human Spirit, held in Japan that year. This edition of "Light of the Bhagavata," profusely illustrated by master artist Madam Li Yuen Sheng in the traditional Gongbi style, will be a beautiful addition to your library of spiritual knowledge.]]>
author: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
name: Katie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:
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author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Katie
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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“No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important, the luminous writing provides respite from our crazy world and demonstrates how mindfulness can define and transform a life, moment by moment, poem by poem.� —The Washington Post
“It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.� —Chicago Tribune
Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.
Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.]]>
author: Mary Oliver
name: Katie
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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author: Walt Whitman
name: Katie
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1855
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:
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author: Henry David Thoreau
name: Katie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1854
rating: 0
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They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.
Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.
Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.
When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?
The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.
Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.
It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.]]>
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Katie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JENNIFER LEE CARELL]]>
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Katie
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1908
rating: 0
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Mary Lennox, a spoiled, ill-tempered, and unhealthy child, comes to live with her reclusive uncle in Misselthwaite Manor on England’s Yorkshire moors after the death of her parents. There she meets a hearty housekeeper and her spirited brother, a dour gardener, a cheerful robin, and her wilful, hysterical, and sickly cousin, Master Colin, whose wails she hears echoing through the house at night.
With the help of the robin, Mary finds the door to a secret garden, neglected and hidden for years. When she decides to restore the garden in secret, the story becomes a charming journey into the places of the heart, where faith restores health, flowers refresh the spirit, and the magic of the garden, coming to life anew, brings health to Colin and happiness to Mary.]]>
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Katie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1911
rating: 0
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In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]>
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Katie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 0
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Alternate cover edition can be found here.]]>
author: George Orwell
name: Katie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1949
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Katie
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]>
author: Douglas Adams
name: Katie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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With its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. The Bluest Eye remains one of Toni Morrison's most powerful, unforgettable novels- and a significant work of American fiction.]]>
author: Toni Morrison
name: Katie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.
â€Áč±đ˛ą»ĺľ±˛Ô˛µ The Color Purple was the first time I had seen Southern, Black women’s literature as world literature. In writing us into the world—bravely, unapologetically, and honestly—Alice Walker has given us a gift we will never be able to repay.â€� —Tayari Jones
�The Color Purple was what church should have been, what honest familial reckoning could have been, and it is still the only art object in the world by which all three generations of Black artists in my family judge American art.� —Kiese Laymon]]>
author: Alice Walker
name: Katie
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.]]>
author: Toni Morrison
name: Katie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,� including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book� her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.
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author: Louisa May Alcott
name: Katie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1868
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]>
author: Jane Austen
name: Katie
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
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Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from ND Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win ND many new ones.
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.
But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.]]>
author: N.D. Stevenson
name: Katie
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life. Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected. And where’s the fun in that?]]>
author: Morgan Matson
name: Katie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself.]]>
author: Emma Mills
name: Katie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: dnf
review:
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Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?]]>
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Katie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2015/01/12
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves:
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So this is the second time I've read this (I mean its an audiobook, but that counts, right? Yes.) and I think I forgot how much I LOVE this book. I think I loved it more the second time and over a year later, to be honest. The characters are so real (as per usual with Rainbow Rowell), the dialogue is HILARIOUS and so, so great, and Cath's struggle with social anxiety is SO relateable and realistic. I'm probs going to sing the praises of this book until the end of time. If you still haven't done the Fangirl thing, what are you even doing? Do it now. Really. Like drop everything else and read this book already.
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author: Carmen Turner-Schott
name: Katie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2021/11/28
date added: 2021/11/28
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Ari has spent all of high school burying who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies of all kinds, and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante, dreamy, witty Dante, who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once.
The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.
The highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is an achingly romantic, tender tale sure to captivate fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H.K. Choi.]]>
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: Katie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/17
shelves: to-read
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Book One spans John Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.
Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1950s comic book Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story. Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.
(Back flap)]]>
author: John Lewis
name: Katie
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2020/08/08
date added: 2020/08/08
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As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]>
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Katie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2019/08/04
date added: 2019/07/06
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In this brief yet profound meditation on the meaning of the Seventh Day, Heschel introduced the idea of an "architecture of holiness" that appears not in space but in time. Judaism, he argues, is a religion of time: it finds meaning not in space and the material things that fill it but in time and the eternity that imbues it, so that "the Sabbaths are our great cathedrals."]]>
author: Abraham Joshua Heschel
name: Katie
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1951
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/16
date added: 2019/06/16
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Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...
Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...]]>
author: Helen Hoang
name: Katie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/21
date added: 2019/05/21
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Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]>
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Katie
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2019/04/21
date added: 2019/04/20
shelves:
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Elsie Porter is an average twentysomething and yet what happens to her is anything but ordinary. On a rainy New Year's Day, she heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn't expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Ben cannot even wait twenty-four hours before asking to see her again. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they've eloped.
Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. Elsie hears the sirens outside her apartment, but by the time she gets downstairs, he has already been whisked off to the emergency room. At the hospital, she must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met and who doesn't even know Elsie exists.
Interweaving Elsie and Ben's charmed romance with Elsie and Susan's healing process, Forever, Interrupted will remind you that there's more than one way to find a happy ending.]]>
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Katie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2019/03/14
date added: 2019/03/14
shelves:
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“a new poet explodes into the scene with a dark, fantastical, & all-too-relatable voice. you will consider this your new friendship breakup soundtrack.�
� Amanda Lovelace, Author of the princess saves herself in this one
“Riveting, thought-provoking and elegant, Water Runs Red will tug at your heartstrings and mend your soul in one fell swoop.�
� Sasha Alsberg, #1 NYT Bestselling Author of ZENITH: The Androma Saga]]>
author: Jenna Clare
name: Katie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/07
date added: 2019/03/08
shelves:
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author: Gila Gevirtz
name: Katie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2018/12/01
date added: 2018/12/01
shelves:
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Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie's intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can't imagine - a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her "How did you get to be the woman you are today?" She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naĂŻve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant's previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth-century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.]]>
author: Anita Diamant
name: Katie
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2018/11/25
date added: 2018/11/25
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author: Chaim Potok
name: Katie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1966
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/18
date added: 2018/11/18
shelves:
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author: Harold S. Kushner
name: Katie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at: 2018/11/14
date added: 2018/11/14
shelves:
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author: Milton Steinberg
name: Katie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at: 2018/11/04
date added: 2018/11/04
shelves:
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Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.
When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.
Everything I Never Told You is a gripping page-turner, about secrets, love, longing, lies and race.
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.]]>
author: Celeste Ng
name: Katie
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2018/10/21
date added: 2018/10/21
shelves:
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author: Anita Diamant
name: Katie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at: 2018/10/02
date added: 2018/10/07
shelves:
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author: Stephen J. Einstein
name: Katie
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at: 2018/06/25
date added: 2018/10/07
shelves:
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Caitlin soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures.
Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like?
Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Caitlin's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Caitlin argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead).]]>
author: Caitlin Doughty
name: Katie
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2018/10/07
date added: 2018/10/07
shelves:
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A poetry collection divided into four different parts: the princess, the damsel, the queen, & you. the princess, the damsel, & the queen piece together the life of the author in three stages, while you serves as a note to the reader & all of humankind. Explores life & all of its love, loss, grief, healing, empowerment, & inspirations.]]>
author: Amanda Lovelace
name: Katie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2018/09/19
date added: 2018/09/19
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In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned � from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren � an enigmatic artist and single mother � who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother–daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town � and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost . . .]]>
author: Celeste Ng
name: Katie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2018/09/09
date added: 2018/09/09
shelves:
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This completely original collection of poetry and prose will not only delight her avid fans but is sure to capture the imagination of a whole new audience. With the turn of every page,Ěý Sea of Strangers Ěýinvites you to go beyond love and loss to explore themes of self-discovery and empowerment as you navigate your way around the human heart.
Ěý±Ő±Ő>
author: Lang Leav
name: Katie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2018/08/22
date added: 2018/08/22
shelves:
review:
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The third book in the bestselling Mindfulness Essentials series, a back-to-basics collection from world-renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that introduces everyone to the essentials of mindfulness practice.
Nhat Hanh brings his signature clarity, compassion, and humor to the thorny question of how to love. He distills one of our strongest emotions down to four essentials: you can only love another when you feel true love for yourself; love is understanding; understanding brings compassion; deep listening and loving speech are key ways of showing our love.
Pocket-sized, with original two color illustrations by Jason DeAntonis, How to Love shows that when we feel closer to our loved ones, we are also more connected to the world as a whole. With sections on Love vs. Need, Being in Love, Reverence, Intimacy, Children and Family, Reconciling with Parents, and more, How to Love includes meditations you can do alone or with your partner to go deep inside and expand your own capacity to love.
Scientific studies indicate that meditation contributes tremendously to well-being, general health, and longevity. How to Love is a unique gift for those who want a comprehensive yet simple guide to understanding the many different kinds of love, along with meditative practices that can expand the understanding of and capacity for love, appropriate for those practicing in any spiritual tradition, whether seasoned practitioners or new to meditation.]]>
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Katie
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2018/08/21
date added: 2018/08/22
shelves:
review:
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Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time's a ticking, and she needs a change—there's nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She's going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!
Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.
Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic—the possibilities are endless.]]>
author: Christine Riccio
name: Katie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/08/19
shelves: to-read
review:
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author: Tahereh Mafi
name: Katie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2018/05/15
date added: 2018/05/15
shelves:
review:
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author: Rupi Kaur
name: Katie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2017/10/18
date added: 2017/10/18
shelves:
review:
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Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.]]>
author: John Green
name: Katie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/10/18
date added: 2017/10/17
shelves:
review:
I don't know how I'm supposed to properly review this. I don't know if I can really do it justice. But, as with every new book john puts out, this is my new favorite of his.
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Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.]]>
author: Angie Thomas
name: Katie
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2017/08/14
date added: 2017/08/14
shelves:
review:
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They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.
While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.
A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]>
author: John Steinbeck
name: Katie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 2
read at: 2017/07/26
date added: 2017/07/26
shelves:
review:
I'm sure this book is good for discussion in an academic context. I didn't enjoy this story. I thought the friendship between George and Lennie was nice, but the ending was just??? I know that's not very descriptive but all I really have are question marks. Also, I understand that this book was written in the 1930's, but it really bothered me that every woman mentioned was some kind of "tart" or otherwise "immoral" person. I will say that I liked the author's descriptions that had no dialogue, and that I liked Crooks' character. Other than that, this was mostly just meh.
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Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents� high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?]]>
author: Nicola Yoon
name: Katie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2017/07/25
date added: 2017/07/25
shelves:
review:
This book. Is so good. I can't believe it. The story is about two people falling in love but more than that, it's about how everything is connected to everything, and coincidence and fate...basically one of my favorite things to read about or just experience in general.
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Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.]]>
author: Nina LaCour
name: Katie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2017/07/24
date added: 2017/07/24
shelves:
review:
Nina lacour is becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors. This story was so simple, but so heartbreaking and sweet.
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It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.]]>
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: Katie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2017/07/21
date added: 2017/07/21
shelves: dnf
review:
I loved this so much! I can't believe it took me so long to read it, honestly. I love the characters, the real world mixed with magic. Basically I love everything and am SO GLAD there are four books in this series.
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Paris, World War I. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born.
Almost a century later in London, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again.]]>
author: Jojo Moyes
name: Katie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2017/07/03
date added: 2017/07/03
shelves:
review:
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But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she’s in love with Woods, Billie’s filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods…and maybe with Janie Lee, too.
Always considered “one of the guys,� Billie doesn’t want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. So she keeps her conflicting feelings to herself, for fear of ruining the group dynamic. Except it’s not just about keeping the peace, it’s about understanding love on her terms—this thing that has always been defined as a boy and a girl falling in love and living happily ever after. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it’s not that simple.]]>
author: Courtney C. Stevens
name: Katie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/06/21
shelves: to-read
review:
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It is split into four chapters, with each chapter dealing with a different pain. Healing a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them -- because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.]]>
author: Rupi Kaur
name: Katie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2017/02/22
date added: 2017/02/22
shelves:
review:
While I really enjoyed this, it wasn't as crazy amazing as I thought it would be. However, i feel like it came from a really honest place, so that's what made that fourth star happen.
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In This One Summer two stellar creators redefine the teen graphic novel. Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, the team behind Skim, have collaborated on this gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful story about a girl on the cusp of her teen age—a story of renewal and revelation.]]>
author: Mariko Tamaki
name: Katie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2017/01/02
date added: 2017/01/02
shelves:
review:
I'm going to put this at around a 3.5. This is just a nice little slice of life story that deals with a lot of sort of intense topics. That paired with the artwork (which is reaaally nice) makes for a story that I enjoyed quite a bit :)
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author: Zora Neale Hurston
name: Katie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/12/23
shelves: dnf, to-read
review:
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author: Kerry Cohen
name: Katie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/11/19
date added: 2016/11/19
shelves:
review:
this book was so dang good. The author takes us through her life by introducing us to all her female friends (and sometimes frenemies) she's had throughout her life. This is such a great book about friendship and how friendships shape us as people.
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Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.
That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.
When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.
Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, You Know Me Well is a story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.]]>
author: Nina LaCour
name: Katie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2016/08/25
date added: 2016/09/02
shelves:
review:
this is probably around a 3.5. I thought this story was cute and fun, meaningful, but still kind of surface level. I didn't expect anything else, considering it was only about 250 pages. I loved the setting of pride week in san francisco and thought it really made the story that much more nice.
ALSO can we talk about how the main character and i have the same name?? Because that never happens :P
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Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.]]>
author: John Tiffany
name: Katie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2016/08/14
date added: 2016/08/14
shelves:
review:
I need to collect my thoughts before rating /reviewing this. I shall return at a later time okay bye.
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Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.]]>
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Katie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/07/27
shelves: dnf
review:
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Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...]]>
author: John Green
name: Katie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/07/27
shelves: favorites
review:
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author: Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn
name: Katie
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/05/20
shelves: to-read, dnf
review:
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But that relief doesn't last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship—one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to 'fix' her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she's not exactly sure who that is.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.]]>
author: Emily M. Danforth
name: Katie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2016/05/01
date added: 2016/05/17
shelves:
review:
This was such a good, realistic story. I loved the backdrop of Montana and the coming of ageness was wonderful. This story spans from cam's childhood to her being 17/18 and those are my favorite coming of age stories. I thought the way the author portrayed the conversion camp was really interesting, but also really scary to see how it changed these characters. Cam's character development was really nice and felt really natural. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants more lgbtq+ness in their reading.
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Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.
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At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.
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author: Kerstin Gier
name: Katie
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/08
date added: 2016/03/31
shelves:
review:
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author: Margaret Atwood
name: Katie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2016/03/30
date added: 2016/03/30
shelves:
review:
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Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, Celaena, an assassin, is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]>
EDIT 2/26/16
I'm taking this down to a solid three. ]]>
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Katie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2015/02/20
date added: 2016/02/27
shelves:
review:
This comes in at about a 3.7 for me. It was kind of hard for me to really get into this, and I honestly don't know if that's a me thing or a book thing, but either way, that's what happened. Around the midpoint, I actually started to really enjoy the story and then the last hundred pages made me want to pick up the second book in the series (Before the last one hundred pages, I was pretty sure I was going to give this a solid 3 star rating if that's any indication). Overall, I liked the plot, I loved the characters, and it seems like this book is setting up for a really cool series and I'm excited to continue on with it.
EDIT 2/26/16
I'm taking this down to a solid three.
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author: Abigail Tarttelin
name: Katie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/07
date added: 2016/01/07
shelves:
review:
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The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]>
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Katie
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:
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But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other—and the power of their friendship—can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.]]>
author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
name: Katie
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2015/12/30
date added: 2015/12/30
shelves:
review:
this book is seriously so cute and wonderful. it was so much different than what I expected going into it and ugh I just want everyone to read this.
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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 sets 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—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 is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters.]]>
Once again, Rainbow Rowell writes another favorite book of mine. When I read Fangirl, I thought the Simon Snow parts were kind of goofy, especially since the magic system involved spells that were just normal phrases. It is definitely funny in parts, but like anything else of Rainbow's, it's cute and sweet and well written and everything ends nicely. I really love this book so much. ]]>
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: Katie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/11/17
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: favorites
review:
*mild spoilers*
Once again, Rainbow Rowell writes another favorite book of mine. When I read Fangirl, I thought the Simon Snow parts were kind of goofy, especially since the magic system involved spells that were just normal phrases. It is definitely funny in parts, but like anything else of Rainbow's, it's cute and sweet and well written and everything ends nicely. I really love this book so much.
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They were just pretending. Until they weren’t. And now Lara Jean has to learn what it's like to be in a real relationship and not just a make-believe one.
But when another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him suddenly return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?
In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Lara Jean is about to find out that falling in love is the easy part.]]>
author: Jenny Han
name: Katie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/09/29
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: favorites
review:
SO FINALLY IM FINISHED WITH THIS. Don't let how long it took me to read this mislead you because I love this book and really, really love this duology. Such a cute end to a great story. I wish there were going to be more books in this series because, have I mentioned I LOVE THEM.
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Marina Keegan’s star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash.
As her family, friends, and classmates, deep in grief, joined to create a memorial service for Marina, her unforgettable last essay for the Yale Daily News, “The Opposite of Loneliness,� went viral, receiving more than 1.4 million hits. She had struck a chord.
Even though she was just twenty-two when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation. The Opposite of Loneliness is an assemÂblage of Marina’s essays and stories that, like The Last Lecture, articulates the universal struggle that all of us face as we figure out what we aspire to be and how we can harness our talents to make an impact on the world.]]>
author: Marina Keegan
name: Katie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/08/10
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: favorites
review:
I don't think I could just not give this book five stars. I started reading it at work one day, and I couldn't put it down. I got attached to pretty much every story and its characters and I absolutely loved the nonfiction section as well. Overall, this is fantastic and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone and everyone.
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Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.]]>
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Katie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:
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Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood . . . and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers.]]>
author: Alison Bechdel
name: Katie
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:
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With astonishing empathy and the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. Thirteen-year-old Ugwu is employed as a houseboy for a university professor full of revolutionary zeal. Olanna is the professor’s beautiful mistress, who has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charisma of her new lover. And Richard is a shy young Englishman in thrall to Olanna’s twin sister, an enigmatic figure who refuses to belong to anyone. As Nigerian troops advance and the three must run for their lives, their ideals are severely tested, as are their loyalties to one another.
Epic, ambitious, and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race—and the ways in which love can complicate them all. Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise and the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place, bringing us one of the most powerful, dramatic, and intensely emotional pictures of modern Africa that we have ever had.]]>
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Katie
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:
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author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Katie
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:
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Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]>
author: Donna Tartt
name: Katie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:
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Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.]]>
author: Alison Bechdel
name: Katie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2015/11/01
date added: 2015/11/01
shelves:
review:
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this. I thought it was cool how she related so much to classic literature, however a lot of it I either only vaguely understood or didn't understand at all. I'm interested to read her other book about her mother and see another part of this story. Overall, I'd recommend this, but it was a lot different from what I expected.
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In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]>
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Katie
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/08/16
shelves: to-read, dnf
review:
I put this down in january because it reminded me too much of the book thief and it weighs like a million pounds and didn't want to carry it around. my reasons for not finishing books are so valid.
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Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world famous author addresses some of life's most important questions with acuity and emotional force.]]>
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Katie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/08/06
shelves:
review:
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Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.]]>
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Katie
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2015/07/28
date added: 2015/07/29
shelves:
review:
I just read this whole thing on a plane and WOW. This is one of the best contemporaries I've read in a long time. I was wary of this book because it's new adult, but I really, really enjoyed it. Having older characters was a nice change and the story was seriously so fast and addicting. *flies to Amazon to order sequel*
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Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal…or his life?
Contains Volumes 1 and 2 of Death Note !
Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects—and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. Will Light’s noble goal succeed, or will the Death Note turn him into the very thing he fights against?]]>
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Katie
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/21
date added: 2015/07/21
shelves:
review:
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A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.]]>
author: Ransom Riggs
name: Katie
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2014/01/21
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves:
review:
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Taylor hasn't been to the summerhouse since she was twelve, and she definitely never planned on going back. Up at the lake she is confronted with people she thought she had left behind, like her former best friend Lucy, and Henry Crosby, her first crush, who's all grown up...and a lot cuter. Suddenly Taylor is surrounded by memories she'd rather leave in the past—but she can't run away this time.
As the days lying on the beach pass into nights gazing at the stars, Taylor realizes she has a second chance—with friends, with family, maybe even with love. But she knows that once the summer ends, there is no way to recapture what she stands to lose. From Morgan Matson, the PW Flying Start author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, this is a remarkable new novel about hope in the face of heartbreaking grief.]]>
author: Morgan Matson
name: Katie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2014/09/12
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves: favorites
review:
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At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting - he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.
From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd - whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself - Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.]]>
author: Patrick Ness
name: Katie
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2014/10/28
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves: favorites
review:
This was so beautiful and so tragic and so, so emotional.
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Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways... but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah's to tell; the later years are Jude's. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they'll have a chance to remake their world.
This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.
Printz Award Winner Stonewall Honor Book.]]>
author: Jandy Nelson
name: Katie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2015/03/13
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves: favorites
review:
OH MY GOSH this book was so beautiful. It was a little bit of a slow start for me, but wow. I loved everything about it.
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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.]]>
author: Jenny Han
name: Katie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/03/10
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves: favorites
review:
This is about a 3.7. I read this in one day. I honestly didn't want to put it down and I barely did. Jenny Han does contemporary really well. The way it ended was not how I thought it would when I started, which is always cool. I loved the relationship between the three sisters so much and found it really sweet and believable. Sometimes with contemporaries I find the mundanity of daily activities in the stories boring, but that didn't happen here. Which was really, really nice.
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She has seen both these dreams come true.
At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.
Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.
(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)
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author: Tina Fey
name: Katie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/03/16
date added: 2015/06/02
shelves:
review:
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The extraordinary journey that began in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children continues as Jacob Portman and his newfound friends journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. There, they hope to find a cure for their beloved headmistress, Miss Peregrine. But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.
Hollow City draws readers into a richly imagined world of telepathy and time loops, of sideshows and shapeshifters. Like its predecessor, this second novel in the Peculiar Children series blends thrilling fantasy with never-before-published vintage photography to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.]]>
author: Ransom Riggs
name: Katie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2014/07/09
date added: 2015/05/29
shelves:
review:
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Unfortunately, supernatural chores are never done. The Ephors have decided they’d rather train David than kill him. The catch: Harper has to come along for the ride, but she can’t stay David’s Paladin unless she undergoes an ancient trial that will either kill her . . . or make her more powerful than ever.]]>
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Katie
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/19
date added: 2015/05/19
shelves:
review:
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Until Greg's mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.
Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.
And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.]]>
author: Jesse Andrews
name: Katie
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2015/05/12
date added: 2015/05/12
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book and thought it was really funny at times, but overall, it was kind of disappointing. I guess it was just a lot of hype, but I think it'll make a pretty good movie, and I'm really excited to see it when it comes out :)
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Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.
There's only one she's not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel's convinced she's found her solution—Roman, a teenage boy who's haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner. Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other's broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together.]]>
author: Jasmine Warga
name: Katie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/04/19
date added: 2015/04/19
shelves:
review:
The beginning of this book was really difficult for me to read, but I'm really glad I stuck with it because I ended up really loving this story.
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Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.
Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.]]>
author: Stephanie Perkins
name: Katie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2015/04/13
date added: 2015/04/14
shelves:
review:
3.5
I had a hard time believing that this story could actually happen to a real human. That paired with some of the personality of isla kind of had me not so liking this one. However, the ending was so nice and sweet that I had to bump my rating an extra .5.
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Join Lennie on this heartbreaking and hilarious journey of profound sorrow and mad love, as she makes colossal mistakes and colossal discoveries, as she traipses through band rooms and forest bedrooms and ultimately right into your heart.
As much a celebration of love as a poignant portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often uproarious, and absolutely unforgettable.]]>
author: Jandy Nelson
name: Katie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2015/03/21
date added: 2015/03/21
shelves:
review:
This book was seriously so wonderful. It deals with grief in a way that was so spot on and beautiful. Jandy Nelson has this superhuman ability to articulate really hard to explain emotions completely perfectly and its just the best.
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Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.
Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?
The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.]]>
author: Josh Sundquist
name: Katie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2015/03/12
date added: 2015/03/12
shelves:
review:
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Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.]]>
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Katie
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/03/10
date added: 2015/03/12
shelves:
review:
I really, really liked this book. The initial premise was so intriguing to me, and the overall story was pretty unique (at least in terms of things I've read). I love Victoria Shwab's writing. She does such a great job of showing us this world without shoving it in our faces, and it's so fun to gradually learn more and more about the parallel Londons. The characters are also pretty great. I loved Kell, but I loved Lila even more, I think. The friendship that develops between them is so unique and fun to read. The side characters were also really likable. I'm so glad this is a series because I honesty just want more. So yeah this book was a good time.
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It should have taken Juliette a single touch to kill Warner. But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defense mechanism failed against the person she most needs protection from.
She and Adam were able to escape Warner’s clutches and join up with a group of rebels, many of whom have powers of their own. Juliette will finally be able to actively fight against The Reestablishment and try to fix her broken world. And perhaps these new allies can help her shed light on the secret behind Adam’s—and Warner’s—immunity to her killer skin.
Juliette’s world is packed with high-stakes action and tantalizing romance, perfect for fans of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and the Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken.
Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, raved: "A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young-adult literature—or any literature!"]]>
author: Tahereh Mafi
name: Katie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2014/10/04
date added: 2015/02/24
shelves:
review:
I was seriously addicted to this book. Such beautiful writing, such incredible character development. I want like thirty books in this series (not really, but you get the enthusiasm)
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Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him—and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.
With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.]]>
author: Rachel Hawkins
name: Katie
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2014/04/21
date added: 2015/02/24
shelves:
review:
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