jen's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:58:26 -0800 60 jen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Ulysses Annotated 10543 Ulysses. Annotations in this edition are keyed both to the reading text of the new critical edition of Ulysses published in 1984 and to the standard 1961 Random House edition and the current Modern Library and Vintage texts.

Gifford has incorporated over 1,000 additions and corrections to the first edition. The introduction and headnotes to sections provide general geographical, biographical and historical background. The annotations gloss place names, define slang terms, give capsule histories of institutions and political and cultural movements and figures, supply bits of local and Irish legend and lore, explain religious nomenclature and practices, trace literary allusions and references to other cultures.

The suggestive potential of minor details was enormously fascinating to Joyce, and the precision of his use of detail is a most important aspect of his literary method. The annotations in this volume illuminate details which are not in the public realm for most of us.]]> 698 James Joyce 0520067452 jen 0 to-read 4.20 1922 Ulysses Annotated
author: James Joyce
name: jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/02
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someday I'll make it through this book...
]]> <![CDATA[Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen]]> 8125811
It’s the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold’s third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.

Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home. As a series of extraordinary events alter her perspective–and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself–Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began.

Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen marks the debut of a talented new literary voice.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 304 Susan Gregg Gilmore 0307407292 jen 0 to-read, summer-reading 4.06 2008 Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
author: Susan Gregg Gilmore
name: jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read, summer-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4)]]> 8130423 In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.]]> 361 Rick Riordan jen 3 4.44 2008 The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4)
author: Rick Riordan
name: jen
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2008
rating: 3
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date added: 2023/10/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?]]> 6452731
Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, the moral limits of markets―Sandel relates the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.

Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise―an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.]]> 308 Michael J. Sandel 0374180652 jen 0 currently-reading 4.30 2007 Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: jen
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and A Fifty-Year Search]]> 6791212
Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, grew up to be a top Washington lawyer and a leading Republican official in the Reagan and Bush administrations. But he was a gay man in a homophobic party where he had to conceal not only his sexuality but, eventually, the fact that he had AIDS. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent where he was his desperate quest to find his mother before he died left a legacy that was to unfold with unexpected consequences for all involved.

The Lost Child of Philomena Lee is the tale of a mother and a son whose lives were scarred by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. A compelling narrative of human love and loss, Martin Sixsmith's moving account is heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive.]]> 452 Martin Sixsmith 0230744273 jen 0 to-read 3.63 2009 The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son and A Fifty-Year Search
author: Martin Sixsmith
name: jen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/02
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]]> Year of Wonders 4965
Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition.

As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.

As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. ]]> 304 Geraldine Brooks 0142001430 jen 0 to-read 4.00 2001 Year of Wonders
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient, #2)]]> 39338454
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.]]> 320 Helen Hoang 0451490827 jen 0 3.80 2019 The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient, #2)
author: Helen Hoang
name: jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/19
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]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 jen 0 currently-reading 4.22 2018 Circe
author: Madeline Miller
name: jen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow, #3)]]> 52190991 Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages -- and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.]]> 579 Rainbow Rowell 1250254337 jen 4 4.11 2021 Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow, #3)
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/01/05
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]]> The Liar's Dictionary 53284801
Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement.

Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby's multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. His disaffection compels him to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom.

In the present day, Mallory, a young intern employed by the publisher, is tasked with uncovering these mountweazels before the work is digitized. She also has to contend with threatening phone calls from an anonymous caller. Is the change in the definition of marriage really that upsetting? And does the caller really intend for the Swansby's staff to 'burn in hell'?

As these two narratives combine, both Winceworth and Mallory discover how they might negotiate the complexities of the often nonsensical, relentless, untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path we call life. An exhilarating debut novel from a formidably brilliant young writer, The Liar's Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language.]]> 288 Eley Williams 0385546777 jen 0 to-read 3.30 2020 The Liar's Dictionary
author: Eley Williams
name: jen
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning History for Young People)]]> 42816856 Spanning more than 400 years, this classic bottom-up history examines the legacy of Indigenous peoples' resistance, resilience, and steadfast fight against imperialism.

Going beyond the story of America as a country "discovered" by a few brave men in the "New World," Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.

The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history.]]> 280 Debbie Reese 0807049395 jen 0 to-read 4.36 2019 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning History for Young People)
author: Debbie Reese
name: jen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/15
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]]> <![CDATA[An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning American History, #3)]]> 20588662 The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples

Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.

With growing support for movements such as the campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples� Day and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, An Indigenous Peoples� History of the United States is an essential resource providing historical threads that are crucial for understanding the present. In An Indigenous Peoples� History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. Shockingly, as the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: “The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them.�

Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples� history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States is a 2015 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature.]]> 320 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 080700040X jen 0 to-read 4.38 2014 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning American History, #3)
author: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
name: jen
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> Hamnet 43890641 Hamnet is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child.

Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet.

Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history.

A New York Times Notable Book (2020), Best Book of 2020: Guardian, Financial Times, Literary Hub, and NPR.]]> 372 Maggie O'Farrell 1472223799 jen 0 to-read 4.16 2020 Hamnet
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> The Night Watchman 43721059
Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation� bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination� that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run�?

Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.

Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.

In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.]]> 464 Louise Erdrich 0062671200 jen 0 currently-reading 4.05 2020 The Night Watchman
author: Louise Erdrich
name: jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008]]> 11798200
Informed by the latest, sometimes provocative scholarship and including more than seven hundred images—ancient maps, fine art, documents, photographs, cartoons, posters�Life Upon These Shores focuses on defining events, debates, and controversies, as well as the signal achievements of people famous and obscure. Gates takes us from the sixteenth century through the ordeal of slavery, from the Civil War and Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era and the Great Migration; from the civil rights and black nationalist movements through the age of hip-hop to the Joshua generation. By documenting and illuminating the sheer diversity of African American involvement in American history, society, politics, and culture, Gates bracingly disabuses us of the presumption of a single “black experience.�

Life Upon These Shores is a book of major importance, a breathtaking tour de force of the historical imagination.]]> 512 Henry Louis Gates Jr. 0307593428 jen 0 to-read 4.49 2011 Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008
author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
name: jen
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2011
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]]> <![CDATA[Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (Scholastic Focus)]]> 39983558
This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will come face-to-face with the people and events of Reconstruction's noble democratic experiment, its tragic undermining, and the drawing of a new "color line" in the long Jim Crow era that followed. In introducing young readers to them, and to the resiliency of the African American people at times of progress and betrayal, Professor Gates shares a history that remains vitally relevant today.]]> 240 Henry Louis Gates Jr. 1338262041 jen 0 to-read 4.05 2019 Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (Scholastic Focus)
author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
name: jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song]]> 55513324 From the New York Times-bestselling author of Stony the Road and one of our most important voices on the African-American experience, a powerful new history of the Black church in America as the Black community's abiding rock and its fortress.

The companion book to the upcoming PBS series.

For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, segregated West Virginia town, the church was his family and his community's true center of gravity. Within those walls, voices were lifted up in song to call forth the best in each other, and to comfort each other when times were at their worst. In this book, his tender and magisterial reckoning with the meaning of the Black church in American history, Gates takes us from his own experience onto a journey across more than four hundred years and spanning the entire country. At road's end, we emerge with a new understanding of the centrality of the Black church to the American story--as a cultural and political force, as the center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as an unparalleled incubator of talent, and as a crucible for working through the community's most important issues, down to today.

In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black church has always been more than a sanctuary; it's been a place to nourish the deepest human needs and dreams of the African-American community. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meeting houses were subject to surveillance, and often destruction. So it continued, long after slavery's formal eradication; church burnings and church bombings by the Ku Klux Klan and others have always been a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the struggle for equality for the African-American community. The past often isn't even past--Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in Charleston's Emanuel AME Church 193 years after the church was first burned down by whites following a thwarted slave rebellion.

But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the vital center of the civil rights movement, and produced many of its leaders, from the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on, but at the same time there have always been churches and sects that eschewed a more activist stance, even eschewed worldly political engagement altogether. That tension can be felt all the way to the Black Lives Matter movement and the work of today. Still and all, as a source of strength and a force for change, the Black church is at the center of the action at every stage of the American story, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.]]> 320 Henry Louis Gates Jr. 1984880330 jen 0 to-read 4.07 2021 The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song
author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
name: jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)]]> 42201431
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035.]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501128035 jen 0 to-read 3.88 2019 The Unhoneymooners (Unhoneymooners, #1)
author: Christina Lauren
name: jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> Mexican Gothic 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 jen 0 to-read 3.66 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: jen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> Red, White & Royal Blue 41150487
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?]]> 448 Casey McQuiston 1250316774 jen 0 to-read 4.06 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> 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 jen 0 to-read 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> The Hating Game 25883848
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman

Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.

Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.

If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.

Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game. ​​]]> 387 Sally Thorne jen 0 to-read 3.93 2016 The Hating Game
author: Sally Thorne
name: jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> The Guest List 51933429
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 330 Lucy Foley jen 0 to-read 3.64 2020 The Guest List
author: Lucy Foley
name: jen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> The Four Winds 53138081 Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250178602]]> 464 Kristin Hannah 1250178606 jen 0 to-read 4.27 2021 The Four Winds
author: Kristin Hannah
name: jen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Better Off Dead (Jack Reacher, #26)]]> 56663329 336 Lee Child 1984818503 jen 0 to-read 3.62 2021 Better Off Dead (Jack Reacher, #26)
author: Lee Child
name: jen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 jen 0 to-read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]> 408 Madeline Miller jen 0 to-read 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: jen
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 44767458
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.]]> 658 Frank Herbert 059309932X jen 0 to-read 4.33 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: jen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1965
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> The Midnight Library 52578297
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?]]> 288 Matt Haig 0525559477 jen 0 to-read 3.96 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: jen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
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.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 jen 0 to-read 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: jen
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> The Love Hypothesis 56732449 When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships—but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor—and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. And when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding. . . six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.]]> 356 Ali Hazelwood 0593336828 jen 0 to-read 4.10 2021 The Love Hypothesis
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> The Glass Menagerie 92517
The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by the editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, Robert Bray, reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes."
(back cover)]]> 104 Tennessee Williams 0811214044 jen 0 3.73 1945 The Glass Menagerie
author: Tennessee Williams
name: jen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1945
rating: 0
read at: 2021/08/21
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> Dress Coded 52739872

Molly Frost is FED UP...

Because Olivia was yelled at for wearing a tank top.

Because Liza got dress coded and Molly didn't, even though they were wearing the exact same outfit.

Because when Jessica was pulled over by the principal and missed a math quiz, her teacher gave her an F.

Because it's impossible to find shorts that are longer than her fingertips.

Because girls' bodies are not a distraction.

Because middle school is hard enough.

And so Molly starts a podcast where girls can tell their stories, and before long, her small rebellion swells into a revolution. Because now the girls are standing up for what's right, and they're not backing down.]]> 303 Carrie Firestone 1984816438 jen 3 4.15 2020 Dress Coded
author: Carrie Firestone
name: jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/04
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> When She Woke 11045709 When She Woke is a fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, who embarks on a path of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith.

Bellwether Prize Winner Hillary Jordan's provocative new novel is the fiercely imagined story of a woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed -- their skin color is genetically altered to match the class of their crime -- and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder.]]> 344 Hillary Jordan 1565126297 jen 3 3.67 2011 When She Woke
author: Hillary Jordan
name: jen
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/30
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)]]> 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune jen 4 4.37 2020 The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)
author: T.J. Klune
name: jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/13
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Russian Cage (Gunnie Rose, #3)]]> 54303131
Picking up right where A Longer Fall left off, this thrilling third installment follows Lizbeth Rose as she takes on one of her most dangerous missions rescuing her estranged partner, Prince Eli, from the Holy Russian Empire. Once in San Diego, Lizbeth is going to have to rely upon her sister Felicia, and her growing Grigori powers to navigate her way through this strange new world of royalty and deception in order to get Eli freed from jail where he’s being held for murder.

Russian Cage continues to ramp up the momentum with more of everything Harris� readers adore her for with romance, intrigue, and a deep dive into the mysterious Holy Russian Empire.]]> 304 Charlaine Harris 1481494996 jen 4 3.98 2021 The Russian Cage (Gunnie Rose, #3)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/19
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose, #2)]]> 46221899 #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.

In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straight-forward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.]]> 291 Charlaine Harris 1481494953 jen 4 3.92 2020 A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose, #2)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: jen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/18
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> <![CDATA[An Easy Death (Gunnie Rose, #1)]]> 38136877
She may be young, but Gunnie Rose has acquired a fearsome reputation and the wizards are at a desperate crossroads, even if they won't admit it. They're searching frantically to locate the only man whose blood they believe can save their tsar's life.

A powerful enemy sends enemies who want their mission to fail. The trio are set upon by a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose is a gunnie who has never failed a client, but her oath will test all of her skills and resolve to get them all out alive.]]> 336 Charlaine Harris jen 4 3.75 2018 An Easy Death (Gunnie Rose, #1)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: jen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/17
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> We Run the Tides 53402121 An achingly beautiful story of female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance set in the changing landscape of San Francisco 

Teenage Eulabee and her magnetic best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know Sea Cliff’s homes and beaches, its hidden corners and eccentric characters—as well as the upscale all-girls� school they attend. One day, walking to school with friends, they witness a horrible act—or do they? Eulabee and Maria Fabiola vehemently disagree on what happened, and their rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance—a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.        

Suspenseful and poignant, We Run the Tides is Vendela Vida’s masterful portrait of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre–tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, We Run the Tides is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion.Ěý±Ő±Ő> 272 Vendela Vida 0062936239 jen 3 3.62 2021 We Run the Tides
author: Vendela Vida
name: jen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/24
date added: 2021/11/13
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]]> Dracul 38363799 The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's--and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen--a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen--and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.]]> 497 Dacre Stoker 0735219346 jen 0 to-read 4.15 2018 Dracul
author: Dacre Stoker
name: jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle]]> 42397849
Burnout. Many women in America have experienced it. What’s expected of women and what it’s really like to be a woman in today’s world are two very different things—and women exhaust themselves trying to close the gap between them. How can you “love your body� when every magazine cover has ten diet tips for becoming “your best self�? How do you “lean in� at work when you’re already operating at 110 percent and aren’t recognized for it? How can you live happily and healthily in a sexist world that is constantly telling you you’re too fat, too needy, too noisy, and too selfish?

Sisters Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, are here to help end the cycle of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Instead of asking us to ignore the very real obstacles and societal pressures that stand between women and well-being, they explain with compassion and optimism what we’re up against—and show us how to fight back. In these pages you’ll learn

� what you can do to complete the biological stress cycle—and return your body to a state of relaxation
� how to manage the “monitor� in your brain that regulates the emotion of frustration
� how the Bikini Industrial Complex makes it difficult for women to love their bodies—and how to defend yourself against it
� why rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are keys to recovering and preventing burnout

With the help of eye-opening science, prescriptive advice, and helpful worksheets and exercises, all women will find something transformative in these pages—and will be empowered to create positive change. Emily and Amelia aren’t here to preach the broad platitudes of expensive self-care or insist that we strive for the impossible goal of “having it all.� Instead, they tell us that we are enough, just as we are—and that wellness, true wellness, is within our reach.]]> 277 Emily Nagoski 198481706X jen 4 3.93 2019 Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
author: Emily Nagoski
name: jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/16
date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> Firekeeper’s Daughter 52346471
After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?]]> 496 Angeline Boulley jen 4 4.32 2021 Firekeeper’s Daughter
author: Angeline Boulley
name: jen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Lucifer, Volume 1: Cold Heaven]]> 27209296 The antihero who made his debut in The Sandman and starred in his own hit series is back in a new series by best-selling writer Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles)!
As this new series begins, God is dead—and Gabriel has accused Lucifer of His murder. Lucifer had motive and opportunity, but claims he can prove his innocence. If Gabriel finds the killer and takes the culprit into custody, Lucifer's sins will be forgotten, and he'll be welcomed back to the Silver City. So, despite the fact that Lucifer just opened a new nightclub on Earth and is hiding a mysterious wound, the two brothers set off to solve their Father's murder. Their investigation will span Heaven, Hell, Earth, and beyond in this antagonistic buddy-cop noir with an angelic flare.
This daring new graphic novel reintroduces the former King of Hell to a new generation of readers watching Fox's new 2016 series Lucifer!

Collecting: Lucifer 1-6]]> 144 Holly Black 1401261930 jen 0 to-read 3.74 2016 Lucifer, Volume 1: Cold Heaven
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Heart of the Moors: An Original Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Novel]]> 45454619 352 Holly Black 1368057551 jen 0 to-read 3.89 2019 Heart of the Moors: An Original Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Novel
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)]]> 46777 Welcome to the realm of very scary faeries!

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms - a struggle that could very well mean her death.]]> 272 Holly Black 0689867042 jen 0 to-read 3.72 2002 Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> White Cat (Curse Workers, #1) 6087756
Cassel is cursed. Cursed by the memory of the fourteen year old girl he murdered. Life at school is a constant trial. Life at home even worse. No-one at home is ever going to forget that Cassel is a killer. No-one at home is ever going to forget that he isn't a magic worker.

Cassel's family are one of the big five crime families in America. Ever since magic was prohibited in 1929 magic workers have been driven underground and into crime. And while people still need their touch, their curses, their magical killings, their transformations, times have been hard. His granddad has been driven to drink, his mother is in prison and his brothers detest him as the only one of their family who can't do magic.

But there is a secret at the centre of Cassel's family and he's about to inherit it. It's terrfying and that's the truth.

The White Cat is a stunning novel of a world changed by magic. In this world only 1% of the population can work magic but they have the power of nightmares.]]> 310 Holly Black jen 0 to-read 3.80 2010 White Cat (Curse Workers, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Darkest Part of the Forest]]> 20958632
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries� seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does�

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?]]> 328 Holly Black 0316213071 jen 0 currently-reading 3.87 2015 The Darkest Part of the Forest
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Coldest Girl in Coldtown 12813630
One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.]]> 419 Holly Black 0316213101 jen 4 3.84 2013 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2013
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5)]]> 53439886
Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue.

Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone . Revealing a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame’s enigmatic high king, Cardan, his tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan’s perspective.

This new installment in the Folk of the Air series is a return to the heart-racing romance, danger, humor, and drama that enchanted readers everywhere. Each chapter is paired with lavish and luminous full-color art, making this the perfect collector’s item to be enjoyed by both new audiences and old.]]> 200 Holly Black jen 4 4.15 2020 How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2020
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)]]> 26032912 He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.

Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.

Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.

And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity�

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy.]]> 321 Holly Black 0316310409 jen 4 4.33 2019 The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2019
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)]]> 26032887 The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.]]> 336 Holly Black 0316310336 jen 4 4.27 2019 The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)]]> 26032825 Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.]]> 370 Holly Black 0316310271 jen 4 4.01 2018 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)
author: Holly Black
name: jen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Match (It Happened in Charleston, #1)]]> 53257881 Sometimes, love finds you when you least expect it...

Having worked for Southern Service Paws for a few years now, I like to think I’m prepared for just about any client meeting under the sun. I am dead wrong.

The day I meet with single dad, Jacob Broaden, about potentially matching his daughter with one of our service dogs, I learn a few valuable lessons.

1) Always set my alarm clock.
2) Single dads are way hotter than I previously thought.
3) It is possible to go from fantasizing about kissing someone to wishing they would be run over by a truck in a matter of two minutes.

Unfortunately, I don’t hold that opinion of him for very long. Not when he shows me a different side of himself—one that’s sweet as maple syrup and hot as apple pie fresh out of the oven. And after a few days of working closely with him and his daughter, he starts looking at me with fire in his eyes, making me dream of something I probably shouldn’t�
A family.

The Match is a feel-good, closed-door romantic comedy! Perfect for readers who enjoy sweet, sizzling chemistry with passionate kissing only. ]]> 284 Sarah Adams jen 3 3.95 2020 The Match (It Happened in Charleston, #1)
author: Sarah Adams
name: jen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2020
rating: 3
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date added: 2021/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)]]> 51603444 What would you change if you could travel back in time?

 Down a small alleyway in the heart of Tokyo, there’s an underground café that’s been serving carefully brewed coffee for over a hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers its customers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time.

The rules, however, are far from simple: you must sit in one particular seat, and you can’t venture outside the café, nor can you change the present. And, most important, you only have the time it takes to drink a hot cup of coffee—or risk getting stuck forever.

Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of traveling to another time: a heartbroken lover looking for closure, a nurse with a mysterious letter from her husband, a waitress hoping to say one last goodbye and a mother whose child she may never get the chance to know.

Heartwarming, wistful and delightfully quirky, Before the Coffee Gets Cold explores the intersecting lives of four women who come together in one extraordinary café, where the service may not be quick, but the opportunities are endless.]]> 227 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1488077215 jen 0 to-read 3.80 2015 Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #1)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Deadline 275844 Had big things planned. Now what he has is some very bad news and only one year left to make his mark on the world.

How can a pint-sized, smart-ass seventeen-year-old do anything significant in the nowheresville of Trout, Idaho?

First, Ben makes sure that no one else knows what is going on—not his superstar quarterback brother, Cody, not his parents, not his coach, no one. Next, he decides to become the best 127-pound football player Trout High has ever seen; to give his close-minded civics teacher a daily migraine; and to help the local drunk clean up his act.

And then there's Dallas Suzuki. Amazingly perfect, fascinating Dallas Suzuki, who may or may not give Ben the time of day. Really, she's first on the list.

Living with a secret isn't easy, though, and Ben's resolve begins to crumble . . . especially when he realizes that he isn't the only person in Trout with secrets.]]> 316 Chris Crutcher 0060850892 jen 0 to-read 3.93 2007 Deadline
author: Chris Crutcher
name: jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]> 376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 jen 0 to-read 4.11 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)]]> 52439531
To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.]]> 386 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1368052401 jen 0 to-read 4.13 2020 The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: jen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts]]> 42478640
Tuesday Mooney is a loner. She keeps to herself, begrudgingly socializes, and spends much of her time watching old Twin Peaks and X-Files DVDs. But when Vincent Pryce, Boston’s most eccentric billionaire, dies—leaving behind an epic treasure hunt through the city, with clues inspired by his hero, Edgar Allan Poe—Tuesday’s adventure finally begins.

Puzzle-loving Tuesday searches for clue after clue, joined by a ragtag crew: a wisecracking friend, an adoring teen neighbor, and a handsome, cagey young heir. The hunt tests their mettle, and with other teams from around the city also vying for the promised prize—a share of Pryce’s immense wealth—they must move quickly. Pryce’s clues can't be cracked with sharp wit alone; the searchers must summon the courage to face painful ghosts from their pasts (some more vivid than others) and discover their most guarded desires and dreams.

A deliciously funny ode to imagination, overflowing with love letters to art, from The Westing Game to Madonna to the Knights of the Round Table, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts is the perfect read for thrill seekers, wanderers, word lovers, and anyone looking for an escape to the extraordinary.]]> 359 Kate Racculia 0358023939 jen 0 to-read 3.84 2019 Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
author: Kate Racculia
name: jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Great Believers 45304101 A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

The Great Believers has become a critically acclaimed, indelible piece of literature; it was selected as one of New York Times Best 10 Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Buzzfeed Book of the Year, a Skimm Reads pick, and a pick for the New York Public Library's Best Books of the year.]]> 421 Rebecca Makkai 073522353X jen 0 currently-reading 4.26 2018 The Great Believers
author: Rebecca Makkai
name: jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/12
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? A Story About Women and Economics]]> 23206098 240 Katrine Marçal 1846275644 jen 0 to-read 3.63 2012 Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? A Story About Women and Economics
author: Katrine Marçal
name: jen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney]]> 44900650
'A magnificent novel, full of wit, warmth and tenderness' Andrew McMillan

'Smart, serious and entertaining' Bernardine Evaristo

How do you begin to find yourself when you only know half of who you are?

As Nnenna Maloney approaches womanhood she longs to connect with her Igbo-Nigerian culture. Her once close and tender relationship with her mother, Joanie, becomes strained as Nnenna begins to ask probing questions about her father, who Joanie refuses to discuss.

Nnenna is asking big questions of how to 'be' when she doesn't know the whole of who she is. Meanwhile, Joanie wonders how to love when she has never truly been loved. Their lives are filled with a cast of characters asking similar questions about identity and belonging whilst grappling with the often hilarious encounters of everyday Manchester.

Okechukwu Nzelu brings us a funny and heart-warming story that covers the expanse of race, gender, class, family and redemption, with a fresh and distinctive new voice. Perfect for fans of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and Zadie Smith's White Teeth .

'Effortlessly capture[s] the tricky nuance of life, love, race, sexuality and familial relationships' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

'Edifying and hilarious, The Private of Joys of Nnenna Maloney is a beautiful debut that you won't want to put down' Derek Owusu]]> 329 Okechukwu Nzelu 0349701024 jen 0 to-read 3.60 2019 The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney
author: Okechukwu Nzelu
name: jen
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Dear Mrs. Bird (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #1)]]> 36373413 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Lilac Girls.

London 1940, bombs are falling. Emmy Lake is Doing Her Bit for the war effort, volunteering as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Services. When Emmy sees an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle, her dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent seem suddenly achievable. But the job turns out to be typist to the fierce and renowned advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Emmy is disappointed, but gamely bucks up and buckles down.

Mrs Bird is very clear: Any letters containing Unpleasantness—must go straight in the bin. But when Emmy reads poignant letters from women who are lonely, may have Gone Too Far with the wrong men and found themselves in trouble, or who can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she is unable to resist responding. As the German planes make their nightly raids, and London picks up the smoldering pieces each morning, Emmy secretly begins to write letters back to the women of all ages who have spilled out their troubles.

Prepare to fall head over heels with Emmy and her best friend, Bunty, who are spirited and gutsy, even in the face of events that bring a terrible blow. As the bombs continue to fall, the irrepressible Emmy keeps writing, and readers are transformed by AJ Pearce’s hilarious, heartwarming, and enormously moving tale of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and ordinary people in extraordinary times.]]> 281 A.J. Pearce 1501170066 jen 0 to-read 3.76 2018 Dear Mrs. Bird (The Emmy Lake Chronicles, #1)
author: A.J. Pearce
name: jen
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/05/25
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]]> The Last (Endling, #1) 35887524 A New York Times bestseller from the beloved author of the action-packed Animorphs series and the award-winning The One and Only Ivan. In this first book of an epic middle grade series, Katherine Applegate takes us on an unforgettable journey.

Byx is the youngest member of her dairne pack. Believed to possess remarkable abilities, her mythical doglike species has been hunted to near extinction in the war-torn kingdom of Nedarra.

After her pack is hunted down and killed, Byx fears she may be the last of her species. The Endling. So Byx sets out to find safe haven, and to see if the legends of other hidden dairnes are true.

Along the way, she meets new allies—both animals and humans alike—who each have their own motivations for joining her quest. And although they begin as strangers, they become their own kind of family—one that will ultimately uncover a secret that may threaten every creature in their world.

Building on the success of her critically acclaimed novels The One and Only Ivan, Crenshaw, and Wishtree, while also returning to her action-packed fantasy roots of Animorphs, the Endling series is Katherine Applegate at her finest. With its enthralling characters, unique setting, and gripping adventure, this series is the perfect next read for fans of Rick Riordan, Brian Jacques, and Tui T. Sutherland.]]> 383 Katherine Applegate 0062335529 jen 0 4.18 2018 The Last (Endling, #1)
author: Katherine Applegate
name: jen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/04/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Išlik kovotoja: kaip priimti savo painų, bet gražų gyvenimą]]> 40554045
Akimirksniu į populiariausių „New York Times" knygų gretas įšokusioje prisiminimų knygoje „Išlik kovotoja: kaip priimti savo painų, bet gražų gyvenimą" ji aprašo klaidų ir sudėtingą savo gyvenimo kelią, dalijasi jaudinančiomis, įkvepiančiomis ir padrąsinančiomis esė. Autorė ragina patikėti savimi, akina drąsai ir gerumui, kviečia nesivaikyti tobulumo, neapsunkinti motinystės, santuokos, draugystės apsimetinėjant, kad tai lengva; ji moko mylėti save, kitus ir gyvenimą, ką jis bebūtų jums paruošęs.

Glennon Doyle � internetinės bendruomenės Momastery.com įkūrėja, filantropė. Bendradarbiauja su leidiniais Family Circle, Women's Day, Glamour UK, The Huffington Post ir kitais. Su šeima gyvena Floridoje.]]> 272 Glennon Doyle Melton 5415024840 jen 5 to-read 3.27 2013 Išlik kovotoja: kaip priimti savo painų, bet gražų gyvenimą
author: Glennon Doyle Melton
name: jen
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/03/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Dearly Beloved 43822731
Charles is destined to succeed his father as an esteemed professor of history at Harvard, until an unorthodox lecture about faith leads him to ministry. How then, can he fall in love with Lily—fiercely intellectual, elegantly stern—after she tells him with certainty that she will never believe in God? And yet, how can he not?

James, the youngest son in a hardscrabble Chicago family, spent much of his youth angry at his alcoholic father and avoiding his anxious mother. Nan grew up in Mississippi, the devout and beloved daughter of a minister and a debutante. James's escape from his desperate circumstances leads him to Nan and, despite his skepticism of hope in all its forms, her gentle, constant faith changes the course of his life.

The Dearly Beloved follows these two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment. Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy. It's a poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives.]]> 342 Cara Wall 198210452X jen 0 to-read 4.03 2019 The Dearly Beloved
author: Cara Wall
name: jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/12/04
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]]> The Tiger's Wife 11784464 The Jungle Book and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.� But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her—the legend of the tiger’s wife.]]> 338 Téa Obreht 0385343841 jen 0 to-read 3.47 2011 The Tiger's Wife
author: TĂ©a Obreht
name: jen
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/11/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed]]> 37570546 From a psychotherapist, and national advice columnist comes a thought-provoking new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world -- where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.]]> 415 Lori Gottlieb 1328662055 jen 0 to-read 4.36 2019 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
author: Lori Gottlieb
name: jen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/09/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver]]> 34272476
“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.]]> 456 Mary Oliver 0399563245 jen 0 currently-reading 4.58 2017 Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
author: Mary Oliver
name: jen
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/08/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion]]> 29100194 New York Post Best Book of 2016.

We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don’t have enough of it.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In Against Empathy, Bloom reveals empathy to be one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it, but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion.

Basing his argument on groundbreaking scientific findings, Bloom makes the case that some of the worst decisions made by individuals and nations—who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy distorts our judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage. Without empathy, Bloom insists, our decisions would be clearer, fairer, and—yes—ultimately more moral.

Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, Against Empathy shows us that, when it comes to both major policy decisions and the choices we make in our everyday lives, limiting our impulse toward empathy is often the most compassionate choice we can make.]]> 285 Paul Bloom 0062339338 jen 0 to-read 3.55 2016 Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion
author: Paul Bloom
name: jen
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/07/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Benefits of Being an Octopus]]> 35890044
Seventh-grader Zoey has her hands full as she takes care of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works her shift at the pizza parlor. Not that her mom seems to appreciate it. At least there’s Lenny, her mom’s boyfriend—they all get to live in his nice, clean trailer.

At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they’re in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it’s best if no one notices them.

Zoey thinks how much easier everything would be if she were an octopus: eight arms to do eight things at once. Incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision. Powerful protective defenses.

Unfortunately, she’s not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club. Even though Zoey resists participating, debate ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia’s situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they’re better than her. Can Zoey find the courage to speak up, even if it means risking the most stable home she’s ever had?

This moving debut novel explores the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of one girl, living on the edges of society, trying to find her way forward.
--annbradenbooks]]> 256 Ann Braden 1510737480 jen 4 4.20 2018 The Benefits of Being an Octopus
author: Ann Braden
name: jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/06/25
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sick From Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction]]> 13613696
In Sick from Freedom, Downs recovers the untold story of one of the bitterest ironies in American history--that the emancipation of the slaves, seen as one of the great turning points in U.S. history, had devastating consequences for innumerable freed people. Drawing on massive new research into the records of the Medical Division of the Freedmen's Bureau-a nascent national health system that cared for more than one million freed slaves-he shows how the collapse of the plantation economy released a plague of lethal diseases. With emancipation, African Americans seized the chance to move, migrating as never before. But in their journey to freedom, they also encountered yellow fever, smallpox, cholera, dysentery, malnutrition, and exposure. To address this crisis, the Medical Division hired more than 120 physicians, establishing some forty underfinanced and understaffed hospitals scattered throughout the South, largely in response to medical emergencies. Downs shows that the goal of the Medical Division was to promote a healthy workforce, an aim which often excluded a wide range of freedpeople, including women, the elderly, the physically disabled, and children. Downs concludes by tracing how the Reconstruction policy was then implemented in the American West, where it was disastrously applied to Native Americans.

The widespread medical calamity sparked by emancipation is an overlooked episode of the Civil War and its aftermath, poignantly revealed in Sick from Freedom.
]]> 280 Jim Downs 0199758727 jen 0 to-read 3.93 2012 Sick From Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction
author: Jim Downs
name: jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II]]> 41449260 The dramatic, untold true story of the extraordinary women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to sabotage the Nazis and pave the way for Allied victory in World War II.

In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Churchill believed Britain was locked in an existential battle and created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharp-shooting. Their job, he declared, was "to set Europe ablaze!" But with most men on the frontlines, the SOE did something unprecedented: it recruited women. Thirty-nine women answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. Half were caught, and a third did not make it home alive.

In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the story of three of these women. There's Odette Sansom, a young mother who feels suffocated by domestic life and sees the war as her ticket out; Lise de Baissac, an unflappable aristocrat with the mind of a natural leader; and Andrée Borrel, the streetwise organizer of the Paris Resistance. Together, they derailed trains, blew up weapons caches, destroyed power and phone lines, and gathered crucial intelligence—laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Stylishly written and rigorously researched, this is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance, in which women continue to play a vital role.]]> 320 Sarah Rose 045149508X jen 0 to-read 3.73 2019 D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
author: Sarah Rose
name: jen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Sun Is Also a Star 36509599
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?]]> 353 Nicola Yoon jen 0 to-read 4.11 2016 The Sun Is Also a Star
author: Nicola Yoon
name: jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Proposal (The Wedding Date, #2)]]> 37584991 The author of The Wedding Date serves up a novel about what happens when a public proposal doesn't turn into a happy ending, thanks to a woman who knows exactly how to make one on her own...

When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise--or happen in front of 45,000 people.

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part--they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...

At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up--in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes...]]> 325 Jasmine Guillory 0399587683 jen 3 3.45 2018 The Proposal (The Wedding Date, #2)
author: Jasmine Guillory
name: jen
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 37702972
Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell, Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

(length: 12 hours, 12 minutes)]]> 10 Delia Owens 0525640363 jen 0 to-read 4.29 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Shouting at the Rain 41386643 6 Lynda Mullaly Hunt 052549409X jen 0 to-read 4.12 2019 Shouting at the Rain
author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt
name: jen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House 24885831
After seven years tucked away at an East coast boarding school, Delilah Blue returns to her small Kansas hometown to find that not much has changed. Her parents are still uptight and disinterested, her bedroom is exactly the way she left it, and the outcast Gavin Timothy still looks like he’s crawled out of one of her dark, twisted drawings.

Delilah is instantly smitten.

Gavin has always lived in the strange house: an odd building isolated in a stand of trees where the town gives in to mild wilderness. The house is an irresistible lure for Delilah, but the tall fence surrounding it exists for good reason, and Gavin urges Delilah to be careful. Whatever lives with him there isn’t human, and isn’t afraid of hurting her to keep her away.]]> 384 Christina Lauren 1481413716 jen 3 3.46 2015 The House
author: Christina Lauren
name: jen
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/07
shelves:
review:
Creepy Older YA book. I don’t normally like creepy but this book had just enough. The ending was a little too neat but it was an enjoyable read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland]]> 26156452 In this haunting modern Dickensian story that is a literary tour de force, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Dan Barry chronicles a shameful case of exploitation and abuse in America’s heartland, involving a group of developmentally disabled men and the advocates who helped them find justice and reclaim their lives

In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, a group of intellectually disabled men, all from Texas, lived in a tired old schoolhouse. Every morning, well before dawn, they were bussed to a processing plant to eviscerate turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. From 1974 until 2009, the men lived in near servitude, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse—until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious government lawyer helped these men achieve their freedom.

New York Times columnist Dan Barry reveals how these men in an Iowa schoolhouse remained nearly forgotten for more than three decades. Drawing on exhaustive interviews, he dives deeply into their lives, recording their memories and suffering, their tender moments of joy and persistent hopefulness—their endurance of harrowing circumstances. Barry explores why this small heartland town remained all but blind to the men’s plight, details how those responsible for such profound neglect justified their actions, and chronicles the lasting impact of a dramatic court case that has spurred advocates—as well as President Obama—to push for just pay and improved working conditions for people with disabilities.

A luminous work of social justice, told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is inspired storytelling and a clarion call for vigilance—an American tale that holds lasting reverberations for all of us.]]> 352 Dan Barry 0062372130 jen 4 4.12 2016 The Boys in the Bunkhouse: Servitude and Salvation in the Heartland
author: Dan Barry
name: jen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/30
date added: 2019/05/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones]]> 40244063 The instant New York Times bestseller. Over 1 million copies sold!

Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
- make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
- overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- design your environment to make success easier;
- get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 306 James Clear jen 0 to-read 4.41 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
author: James Clear
name: jen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.]]> 40163165 New York Times bestsellers, Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she's showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.

When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it's necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we're choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we're scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can't do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start.

Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question:

How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?

In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love.

Brown writes, "One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of skills and practices that are 100 percent teachable. It's learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It's why we're here."

Whether you've read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you're new to Brené Brown's work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.]]> 320 Brené Brown 0399592520 jen 0 to-read 4.25 2018 Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
author: Brené Brown
name: jen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Have Always Lived in the Castle]]> 89724 Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret.

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features an afterword by Jonathan Lethem.]]> 152 Shirley Jackson 0143039970 jen 0 to-read 3.93 1962 We Have Always Lived in the Castle
author: Shirley Jackson
name: jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> After Alice 24331115 Wicked comes a magical new twist on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Lewis's Carroll's beloved classic

When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?

In this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings � and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too late � and tumbles down the rabbit hole herself.

Ada brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. If Euridyce can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. Either way, everything that happens next is After Alice.]]> 273 Gregory Maguire 0060548959 jen 0 to-read 2.79 2015 After Alice
author: Gregory Maguire
name: jen
average rating: 2.79
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> Finn 102077
Finn sets a tragic figure loose in a landscape at once familiar and mythic. It begins and ends with a lifeless body–flayed and stripped of all identifying marks–drifting down the Mississippi. The circumstances of the murder, and the secret of the victim’s identity, shape Finn’s story as they will shape his life and his death.

Along the way Clinch introduces a cast of unforgettable characters: Finn� s terrifying father, known only as the Judge; his sickly, sycophantic brother, Will; blind Bliss, a secretive moonshiner; the strong and quick-witted Mary, a stolen slave who becomes Finn’s mistress; and of course young Huck himself. In daring to re-create Huck for a new generation, Clinch gives us a living boy in all his human complexity–not an icon, not a myth, but a real child facing vast possibilities in a world alternately dangerous and bright.

Finn is a novel about race; about paternity in its many guises; about the shame of a nation recapitulated by the shame of one absolutely unforgettable family. Above all, Finn reaches back into the darkest waters of America’s past to fashion something compelling, fearless, and new.]]> 287 Jon Clinch 1400065917 jen 0 to-read 3.70 2007 Finn
author: Jon Clinch
name: jen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unmarriageable 39926661 In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry—until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.

A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won’t make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and have children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire the girls to dream of more.

When an invitation arrives to the biggest wedding their small town has seen in years, Mrs. Binat, certain that their luck is about to change, excitedly sets to work preparing her daughters to fish for rich, eligible bachelors. On the first night of the festivities, Alys’s lovely older sister, Jena, catches the eye of Fahad “Bungles� Bingla, the wildly successful—and single—entrepreneur. But Bungles’s friend Valentine Darsee is clearly unimpressed by the Binat family. Alys accidentally overhears his unflattering assessment of her and quickly dismisses him and his snobbish ways. As the days of lavish wedding parties unfold, the Binats wait breathlessly to see if Jena will land a proposal—and Alys begins to realize that Darsee’s brusque manner may be hiding a very different man from the one she saw at first glance.

Told with wry wit and colorful prose, Unmarriageable is a charming update on Jane Austen’s beloved novel and an exhilarating exploration of love, marriage, class, and sisterhood.

]]> 352 Soniah Kamal 1524799726 jen 4 3.73 2019 Unmarriageable
author: Soniah Kamal
name: jen
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/18
date added: 2019/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes, #1)]]> 41154302 Award-winning author Sonali Dev launches a new series about the Rajes, an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep.

Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules:

·       Never trust an outsider

·       Never do anything to jeopardize your brother’s political aspirations

·       And never, ever, defy your family

Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes.

Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha’s arrogance. And then he discovers that she’s the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life.

As the two clash, their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts. But before a future can be savored there’s a past to be reckoned with...

A family trying to build home in a new land.

A man who has never felt at home anywhere.

And a choice to be made between the two.

Ěý±Ő±Ő> 481 Sonali Dev jen 0 to-read 3.65 2019 Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes, #1)
author: Sonali Dev
name: jen
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States]]> 40121985 A pathbreaking history of the United States' overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire

We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an "empire," exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories--the islands, atolls, and archipelagos--this country has governed and inhabited?

In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. We travel to the Guano Islands, where prospectors collected one of the nineteenth century's most valuable commodities, and the Philippines, site of the most destructive event on U.S. soil. In Puerto Rico, Immerwahr shows how U.S. doctors conducted grisly experiments they would never have conducted on the mainland and charts the emergence of independence fighters who would shoot up the U.S. Congress.

In the years after World War II, Immerwahr notes, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it put innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture to use, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of space. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history.]]> 513 Daniel Immerwahr 0374172145 jen 0 to-read 4.47 2019 How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
author: Daniel Immerwahr
name: jen
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Love Warrior 31845516 #1 New York Times Bestseller

Oprah's Book Club 2016 Selection

A memoir of marriage and self-discovery by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton, Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are all born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.]]> 272 Glennon Doyle Melton 1250128544 jen 5 4.05 2016 Love Warrior
author: Glennon Doyle Melton
name: jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/04/03
shelves:
review:

]]> The Essential Rumi 304079 The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems.

Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of readers, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever.

The Essential Rumi continues to be the bestselling of all Rumi books, and the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.]]> 416 Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi 0062509594 jen 0 to-read 4.40 1273 The Essential Rumi
author: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
name: jen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1273
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less]]> 18077875 Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized?
Are you often busy but not productive?
 Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the EssentialistThe Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.  It is not  a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. 

By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy � instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Essentialism is not one more thing � it’s a whole new way of doing everything. A must-read for any leader, manager, or individual who wants to learn how to do less, but better, in every area of their lives, Essentialism  is a movement whose time has come.]]> 260 Greg McKeown 0804137382 jen 0 to-read 4.05 2011 Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
author: Greg McKeown
name: jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Memories of My Melancholy Whores]]> 5947099
Tender, knowing, and slyly comic, Memories of My Melancholy Whores is an exquisite addition to the master’s work.
--back cover]]> 115 Gabriel García Márquez 1400095948 jen 0 to-read 3.59 2004 Memories of My Melancholy Whores
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: jen
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pride 35068632 Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.]]> 304 Ibi Zoboi jen 4 3.74 2018 Pride
author: Ibi Zoboi
name: jen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Boy in the Striped Pajamas]]> 39999
Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter one.]]> 224 John Boyne 0385751079 jen 1 children-s-lit 4.17 2006 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
author: John Boyne
name: jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 2009/08/07
date added: 2019/02/05
shelves: children-s-lit
review:
I feel like I should've liked this book more but found the storyline to be too contrived. It was completely unbelievable that the child of a Nazi charged with running Auschwitz could be so naive and ignorant. I found his character to be insulting. I don't think this is a book children should read.
]]> The Third Hotel 36348514
Shortly after Clare arrives in Havana, Cuba, to attend the annual Festival of New Latin American Cinema, she finds her husband, Richard, standing outside a museum. He’s wearing a white linen suit she’s never seen before, and he’s supposed to be dead. Grief-stricken and baffled, Clare tails Richard, a horror film scholar, through the newly tourist-filled streets of Havana, clocking his every move. As the distinction between reality and fantasy blurs, Clare finds grounding in memories of her childhood in Florida and of her marriage to Richard, revealing her role in his death and reappearance along the way.

Filled with subtle but striking meditations on grief, marriage, art, misogyny, and the loneliness of travel, The Third Hotel is a singular, propulsive, brilliantly shape-shifting novel from an inventive author at the height of her narrative powers.]]> 212 Laura van den Berg 0374168350 jen 0 to-read 3.22 2018 The Third Hotel
author: Laura van den Berg
name: jen
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Girls Burn Brighter 34275212
When Poornima first meets Savitha, she feels something she thought she lost for good when her mother died: hope. Poornima's father hires Savitha to work one of their sari looms, and the two girls are quickly drawn to one another. Savitha is even more impoverished than Poornima, but she is full of passion and energy. She shows Poornima how to find beauty in a bolt of indigo cloth, a bowl of yogurt rice and bananas, the warmth of friendship. Suddenly their Indian village doesn't feel quite so claustrophobic, and Poornima begins to imagine a life beyond the arranged marriage her father is desperate to lock down for her. But when a devastating act of cruelty drives Savitha away, Poornima leaves behind everything she has ever known to find her friend again. Her journey takes her into the darkest corners of India's underworld, on a harrowing cross-continental journey, and eventually to an apartment complex in Seattle. Alternating between the girls� perspectives as they face relentless obstacles, Girls Burn Brighter introduces two heroines who never lose the hope that burns within them.

In breathtaking prose, Shobha Rao tackles the most urgent issues facing women today: domestic abuse, human trafficking, immigration, and feminism. At once a propulsive page-turner and a heart-wrenching meditation on friendship, Rao's debut novel is a literary tour de force.]]> 309 Shobha Rao 1250074258 jen 0 to-read 3.75 2018 Girls Burn Brighter
author: Shobha Rao
name: jen
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating]]> 40189670

Just friends. Just friends. JUST FRIENDS. If they repeat it enough, maybe it’ll be true . . .


Hazel knows she’s a lot to take � and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and taste for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter and tendency to say exactly the wrong thing will. Their loss. Not everyone can handle a Hazel.


Josh has known Hazel since college. From the first night they met � when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes � to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.


Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them . . . right?

]]> 309 Christina Lauren 1501165852 jen 0 3.91 2018 Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
author: Christina Lauren
name: jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Blood Water Paint 35540804 A debut novel based on the true story of the iconic painter, Artemisia Gentileschi.

Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome's most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.

He will not consume
my every thought.
I am a painter.
I will paint.

I will show you
what a woman can do.]]> 298 Joy McCullough 0735232113 jen 0 to-read 4.15 2018 Blood Water Paint
author: Joy McCullough
name: jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Frankenstein: The 1818 Text 35031085 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780143131847.

Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.

This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.]]> 260 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0143131842 jen 0 to-read 4.02 1818 Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1818
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger]]> 39939208 New York Times bestselling author of All the Single Ladies comes a vital, incisive exploration into the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement.

In the year 2018, it seems as if women’s anger has suddenly erupted into the public conversation. But long before Pantsuit Nation, before the Women’s March, and before the #MeToo movement, women’s anger was not only politically catalytic—but politically problematic. The story of female fury and its cultural significance demonstrates the long history of bitter resentment that has enshrouded women’s slow rise to political power in America, as well as the ways that anger is received when it comes from women as opposed to when it comes from men.

With eloquence and fervor, Rebecca tracks the history of female anger as political fuel—from suffragettes marching on the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Here Traister explores women’s anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is perceived based on its owner; as well as the history of caricaturing and delegitimizing female anger; and the way women’s collective fury has become transformative political fuel—as is most certainly occurring today. She deconstructs society’s (and the media’s) condemnation of female emotion (notably, rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.

Highlighting a double standard perpetuated against women by all sexes, and its disastrous, stultifying effect, Traister’s latest is timely and crucial. It offers a glimpse into the galvanizing force of women’s collective anger, which, when harnessed, can change history.]]> 320 Rebecca Traister 1501181807 jen 0 to-read 4.37 2018 Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger
author: Rebecca Traister
name: jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger]]> 38532207 A transformative book urging twenty-first century-women to embrace their anger and harness it as a tool for lasting personal and societal change.

Women are angry, and it isn’t hard to figure out why.

We are underpaid and overworked. Too sensitive, or not sensitive enough. Too dowdy or too made-up. Too big or too thin. Sluts or prudes. We are harassed, told we are asking for it, and asked if it would kill us to smile. Yes, yes it would.

Contrary to the rhetoric of popular “self-help� and an entire lifetime of being told otherwise, our rage is one of the most important resources we have, our sharpest tool against both personal and political oppression. We’ve been told for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet our anger is a vital instrument, our radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power.

We are so often told to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements in this world would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Rage Becomes Her makes the case that anger is not what gets in our way, it is our way, sparking a new understanding of one of our core emotions that will give women a liberating sense of why their anger matters and connect them to an entire universe of women no longer interested in making nice at all costs.

Following in the footsteps of classic feminist manifestos like The Feminine Mystique and Our Bodies, Ourselves, Rage Becomes Her is an eye-opening book for the twenty-first century woman: an engaging, accessible credo offering us the tools to re-understand our anger and harness its power to create lasting positive change.]]> 364 Soraya Chemaly 1501189557 jen 0 to-read 4.35 2018 Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger
author: Soraya Chemaly
name: jen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower]]> 33574165
Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.]]> 288 Brittney Cooper 1250112575 jen 0 to-read 4.38 2018 Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
author: Brittney Cooper
name: jen
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/02
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