David's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 05 May 2025 01:03:08 -0700 60 David's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Death in Venice and Other Tales]]> 53064 384 Thomas Mann 0141181737 David 3 3.92 Death in Venice and Other Tales
author: Thomas Mann
name: David
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Captive (In Search of Lost Time Vol 5)]]> 20898183 Marcel Proust David 5 memoir, paris 3.90 1923 The Captive (In Search of Lost Time Vol 5)
author: Marcel Proust
name: David
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1923
rating: 5
read at: 2015/04/02
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: memoir, paris
review:

]]> Lonely Planet Discover India 21276062 Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher

Lonely Planet's Discover India is your passport to all the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see, what to skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Be awed by the Taj Mahal, take a sacred dip in Varanasi, soak up rays and creature comforts in Goa, or shop 'til you drop in Delhi; all with your trusted travel companion. Discover the best of India and begin your journey now!

Inside Lonely Planet's Discover India:



Full-colour maps and images throughout

Highlights and itineraries show you the simplest way to tailor your trip to your own personal needs and interests

Insider tips save you time and money, and help you get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Essential info at your fingertips - including hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, and prices

Honest reviews for all budgets - including eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, and hidden gems that most guidebooks miss

Cultural insights give you a richer and more rewarding travel experience - including history, architecture, art, cinema, cuisine, the Indian way of life, religion, customs/etiquette, landscapes, wildlife, and more

Free, convenient pull-out Delhi map (included in print version), plus over 63 colour maps

Useful features - including Top Itineraries, Walking Tours, Month-by-Month (annual festival calendar), and Family Travel

Coverage of Delhi and the Taj Mahal, Mumbai (Bombay), Rajasthan, Goa, Kerala, Darjeeling, Varanasi, and the northern mountains, and more
The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Discover India, our easy-to-use guide, is perfect for travellers who seek the most popular attractions a destination has to offer. Filled with inspiring and colourful photos, this guide focuses on the best of the best.


Looking for a comprehensive guide that recommends a wide range of experiences, both popular and offbeat, and extensively covers all the country has to offer? Check out Lonely Planet's India guide.
Looking for a guide for Delhi, Kerala, Goa or Mumbai? Check out Lonely Planet's Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra guide, Lonely Planet's South India & Kerala guide, and Lonely Planet's Goa & Mumbai guide for a comprehensive look at all those cities have to offer.
Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Daniel McCrohan, Michael Benanav, Joe Bindloss, Lindsay Brown, Mark Elliott, Paul Harding, Trent Holden, Amy Karafin, Bradley Mayhew, Kate Morgan, John Noble, Kevin Raub, and Sarina Singh.

About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.

TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012 and 2013 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' -The New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' -Fairfax Media (Australia)]]> 440 Lonely Planet 1742205666 David 3 india Discover India by Lonely Planet is one of two guidebooks we used on a four week trip to India. The other is India � DK Eyewitness Travel. Both were useful. Lonely Planet doesn’t have the depth and detail of DK, but it is light enough to carry around while seeing the sights. The maps and photos are very good. This is probably the better book for the early planning.]]> 4.00 2011 Lonely Planet Discover India
author: Lonely Planet
name: David
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/01
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: india
review:
Discover India by Lonely Planet is one of two guidebooks we used on a four week trip to India. The other is India � DK Eyewitness Travel. Both were useful. Lonely Planet doesn’t have the depth and detail of DK, but it is light enough to carry around while seeing the sights. The maps and photos are very good. This is probably the better book for the early planning.
]]> <![CDATA[Selected Shorts: Edith Wharton (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story)]]> 105978 1 Symphony Space 0971921873 David 4 stories 4.19 Selected Shorts: Edith Wharton (Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story)
author: Symphony Space
name: David
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2011/03/17
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves: stories
review:
I did not expect these stories to be my cup of tea, but was pleasantly surprised. Roman Fever was my favorite. The twist at the end was elegant. The other three stories poked fun at the upper-class twits of her day. They were reminiscent of stories by Saki, but not as concise.
]]> The Doors of Perception 3188964 The Doors of Perception is a philosophical essay, released as a book, by Aldous Huxley. First published in 1954, it details his experiences when taking mescaline.

The book takes the form of Huxley's recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon in May 1953. The book takes its title from a phrase in William Blake's 1793 poem 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'.

Huxley recalls the insights he experienced, which range from the "purely aesthetic" to "sacramental vision". He also incorporates later reflections on the experience and its meaning for art and religion.]]> 208 Aldous Huxley David 3 3.91 1956 The Doors of Perception
author: Aldous Huxley
name: David
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1956
rating: 3
read at: 2016/12/06
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Cleaner 178565822
Every night, she cleans. On the fourth floor of an unnamed office in an unnamed city, the night cleaner comes and does what she does best—sorts out the messes of the daytime employees. None of them know her, but she knows everything about them: Sad Intern’s dreams to get promoted, Résumé Woman’s nasty flight-risk behavior, Mr. Buff’s secret smoking habit (not very conducive to his fitness journey).

She’s the office mastermind, the one everyone needs, and no one even knows she exists. And tonight, while scrolling through your emails, she’ll discover the secret you’ve been hiding—the one that will put everyone’s job at risk.

After all, protecting the employees is her responsibility: whether it’s from rats and window smudges or from the sinister CEO who may be driving the company into ruin. And you’re about to find out that, sometimes, your most powerful enemy is the one you don’t even see.]]> 304 Brandi Wells David 0 to-read 2.94 The Cleaner
author: Brandi Wells
name: David
average rating: 2.94
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lady Chatterley's Lover 49583709
With her soft brown hair, lithe figure and big, wondering eyes, Constance Chatterley is possessed of a certain vitality. Yet she is deeply unhappy; married to an invalid, she is almost as inwardly paralyzed as her husband Clifford is paralyzed below the waist. It is not until she finds refuge in the arms of Mellors the game-keeper, a solitary man of a class apart, that she feels regenerated. Together they move from an outer world of chaos towards an inner world of fulfillment.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Ěýtitles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theĚýseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateĚýtranslations by award-winning translators.]]> 400 D.H. Lawrence 014303961X David 4 3.48 1928 Lady Chatterley's Lover
author: D.H. Lawrence
name: David
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1928
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Youth, a Narrative 392274
"By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself—or is it youth alone? Who can tell? But you here—you all had something out of life: money, love—whatever one gets on shore—and, tell me, wasn’t that the best time, that time when we were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing, except hard knocks—and sometimes a chance to feel your strength—that only—what you all regret?"]]> 30 Joseph Conrad 1406922269 David 4 stories, survival


However, the reality experienced by second mate Marlow on an old ship named Judea was harsh and dangerous. Conrad spent years in the British merchant marine and knew what he wrote.

There is more to this story than meets the eye. For an idea of what is beneath the surface, see this excellent review by Agnieszka at /review/show...

The story ends 20 years later, with Marlow recalling his life at sea.
“By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself - or is it youth alone? Who can tell?�




One of nine woodcuts by Hans Alexander Mueller, circa 1942, illustrating this story.]]> 3.65 1898 Youth, a Narrative
author: Joseph Conrad
name: David
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1898
rating: 4
read at: 2018/06/14
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves: stories, survival
review:
This saying on my old canvas tote bag paints a pretty picture of sailing the seas.



However, the reality experienced by second mate Marlow on an old ship named Judea was harsh and dangerous. Conrad spent years in the British merchant marine and knew what he wrote.

There is more to this story than meets the eye. For an idea of what is beneath the surface, see this excellent review by Agnieszka at /review/show...

The story ends 20 years later, with Marlow recalling his life at sea.
“By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself - or is it youth alone? Who can tell?�




One of nine woodcuts by Hans Alexander Mueller, circa 1942, illustrating this story.
]]> <![CDATA[ChatGPT acts as though it has strong ethical intuitions, even though it says it hasn’t any]]> 78816542 64 Manny Rayner David 5 to-read 3.83 2023 ChatGPT acts as though it has strong ethical intuitions, even though it says it hasn’t any
author: Manny Rayner
name: David
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Novelist as a Vocation 60387307 A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author’s own novels.

Haruki Murakami’s myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians. Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.]]> 224 Haruki Murakami 0451494644 David 0 to-read 3.90 2015 Novelist as a Vocation
author: Haruki Murakami
name: David
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body: A Guide for Occupants]]> 43582376 A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe.

Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.

A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.]]> 450 Bill Bryson 0385539304 David 5 favorites, medicine, science Excellent 4.30 2019 The Body: A Guide for Occupants
author: Bill Bryson
name: David
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/12
date added: 2022/09/12
shelves: favorites, medicine, science
review:
Excellent
]]> <![CDATA[The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age]]> 54785547
Anthony Comstock, special agent to the Post Office, was one of the most important men in the lives of nineteenth-century women. His eponymous law, passed in 1873, penalized the mailing of contraception and obscenity with harsh sentences and steep fines; his name was soon equated with repression and prudery.

Between 1873 and the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in 1920, eight remarkable women were tried under the Comstock Law. These "sex radicals" supported contraception, sexual education, gender equality, and a woman's right to sexual pleasure. They took on Comstock in explicit, bold, personal writing, seeking to redefine work, family, sex, and love for a new era.

The Man Who Hated Women tells the overlooked story of their valiant attempts to fight Comstock in court and the press. They were publishers, editors, and doctors, including the first woman presidential candidate, Victoria C. Woodhull; the birth control activist Margaret Sanger; and the anarchist Emma Goldman. In their willingness to go against a monomaniac who viewed reproductive rights as a threat to the American family, they paved the way for modern-day feminism. Risking imprisonment and death, they redefined contraceptive access as a human civil liberty.]]> 400 Amy Sohn 1250174813 David 5 3.74 2021 The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age
author: Amy Sohn
name: David
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/07
date added: 2022/08/07
shelves: audiobook, brooklyn-writers, crime, history, new-york-city, read-by-author
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1)]]> 54626223 From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.

“Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked…� To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver’s Row don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home.

Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn’t ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn’t ask questions, either.

Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the “Waldorf of Harlem”—and volunteers Ray’s services as the fence. The heist doesn’t go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes.

Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?

Harlem Shuffle’s ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It’s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.

But mostly, it’s a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.]]> 318 Colson Whitehead 0385545134 David 0 3.67 2021 Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1)
author: Colson Whitehead
name: David
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/19
shelves: currently-reading, audiobook, new-york-city
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops]]> 53237298 A cantankerously funny view of books and the people who love them. It does take all kinds and through the misanthropic eyes of a very grumpy bookseller, we see them all--from the "Person Who Doesn't Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover)" to the "Parents Secretly After Free Childcare."

From behind the counter, Shaun Bythell catalogs the customers who roam his shop in Wigtown, Scotland. There's the Expert (divided into subspecies from the Bore to the Helpful Person), the Young Family (ranging from the Exhausted to the Aspirational), Occultists (from Conspiracy Theorist to Craft Woman).

Then there's the Loiterer (including the Erotica Browser and the Self-Published Author), the Bearded Pensioner (including the Lycra Clad), and the The Not-So-Silent Traveller (the Whistler, Sniffer, Hummer, Farter, and Tutter). Two bonus sections include Staff and, finally, Perfect Customer--all add up to one of the funniest book about books you'll ever find.

Shaun Bythell (author of Confessions of a Bookseller) and his mordantly unique observational eye make this perfect for anyone who loves books and bookshops.

"Bythell is having fun and it's infectious."--Scotsman

"Virtuosic venting ... misanthropy with bursts of sweetness."�Guardian

"All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into."--Literary Review

"Any reader finding this book in their stocking on Christmas morning should feel lucky...contains plenty to amuse--an excellent diversion"--Bookmunch]]> 128 Shaun Bythell 1567926924 David 3 audiobook Descriptions by goodreader Petra X are more entertaining.]]> 3.46 2020 Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops
author: Shaun Bythell
name: David
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/07
date added: 2022/03/07
shelves: audiobook
review:
Brief descriptions of (usually annoying) bookshop customers.
Descriptions by goodreader Petra X are more entertaining.
]]> <![CDATA[What I Talk About When I Talk About Running]]> 2195464
Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a panorama of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back.

By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in running.]]> 188 Haruki Murakami David 4 3.87 2007 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
author: Haruki Murakami
name: David
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/25
date added: 2022/02/27
shelves: audiobook, memoir, new-york-city
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Camp Paradox: A Memoir of Stolen Innocence]]> 22024593
Barbara Graham’s latest book, Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother, was a New York Times best seller. Her essays have appeared in many magazines, including Glamour, More, National Geographic Traveler, O the Oprah Magazine, Psychotherapy Networker, Self, Time, Utne Reader, and Vogue and have been collected in numerous anthologies. She has written for Web sites hosted by AARP, Beliefnet, Grandparents.com, Huffington Post, and NPR, among others, and is a columnist for PurpleClover.com.

Barbara’s plays have been published by Dramatists� Play Service and produced off-Broadway and at theaters around the country.

Visit her at Barbaragrahamonline.com and .

"This beautifully written account of a girl's soul-shattering experience is a teaching story. Graham shares her journey from trauma to transcendence and reminds us that facing pain honestly transforms it into redemption.�
—Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and The Green Boat

“Barbara Graham’s memoir Camp Paradox is a clear, insightful, and important story that needs to be heard. Although we’ve made great strides in exposing the sexual abuse of children, the sexual abuse of girls by women is still a subject rarely talked about. But this is not only a book about suffering. It’s also a book about healing—about reclaiming our selves and becoming whole again. Camp Paradox is engaging from the opening paragraph all the way through to the suspenseful and rewarding ending.�
—Ellen Bass, author The Courage to Heal and many books of poetry, most recently, Like a Beggar

“This eye-opening story of violation and love, romance and rape, is unlike any memoir that I know of. Witty, heartbreaking, yet finally hopeful, Graham tells her initiation story of summer camp sex and betrayal with clear-eyed compassion and unsparing truth.�
—Mark Matousek, author Sex, Death, Enlightenment

This is a short e-book published by Shebooks--high quality fiction, memoir, and journalism for women, by women.]]> 59 Barbara Graham David 2 3.85 2014 Camp Paradox: A Memoir of Stolen Innocence
author: Barbara Graham
name: David
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/18
date added: 2022/02/18
shelves:
review:

]]> James Joyce in 90 Minutes 44761960 Paul Strathern David 4 3.62 James Joyce in 90 Minutes
author: Paul Strathern
name: David
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/15
date added: 2022/02/15
shelves: audiobook, history, irish-writers
review:
I wish I knew about this book before I started Ulysses.
]]> Ulysses 338798
According to Declan Kiberd, "Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking". Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Ulysses is the Latinised name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between the poem and the novel, with structural correspondences between the characters and experiences of Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus, in addition to events and themes of the early 20th-century context of modernism, Dublin, and Ireland's relationship to Britain.

The novel is highly allusive and also imitates the styles of different periods of English literature. Since its publication, the book has attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from an obscenity trial in the United States in 1921 to protracted textual "Joyce Wars." The novel's stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—replete with puns, parodies, and allusions—as well as its rich characterisation and broad humour have led it to be regarded as one of the greatest literary works in history; Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.']]> 783 James Joyce David 5
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
Plot synopsis:
Man walks around Dublin.
Nothing important happens.

You probably knew that.
In this large community of good readers, excellent readers, and writers of outstanding reviews, I’m standing out as barely mediocre. So the idea of my reviewing Ulysses is absurd. But I did finish it, after 3 starts. In lieu of a review, I’ll just give some tips to help those who gave up, or never started it.

First, read the GR reviews (and comments), especially the one by Paul Bryant. [Edit 12-7-2014] Paul’s magnum opus exceeded the GR size limits, and had to be posted in 2 parts.




Q. Whoa, that review is longer than a short story. How can that help me?
A. Print it out, and keep a copy handy. It’s an episode by episode review, so just refer to it before starting the next episode. You could also see Wikipedia.


Q. Do you recommend any other reviews?
A. [Edit 9-10-2014] Fionnuala's review is excellent. Also see the GR group Odysseus to Ulysses. “This group will be reading first Homer's The Odyssey, for which we plan to take around two months, and then James Joyce's Ulysses, which may take about three months.� They are starting Ulysses in October, 2014.

Q. I saw Jessica’s comment: “See, here's a new problem I've identified with Joyce: he needs to be read in a mental Irish accent, which I find exhausting to keep up.� That’s discouraging. What should I do?
A. Do what I did; take the easy way out; get an audiobook.

Q. GR lists at least 9 different audio editions. Which do you recommend?
A. The first audio book I chose was a disaster, which I’ll explain later. For my third attempt, I found the 2004 edition by Naxos Audiobooks, read by Irish actors Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan. It is 27 hours of beautiful reading by wonderful voices. Don’t confuse this with the abridged 1994 edition by the same publisher and readers. Thank you New York Public Library.

Q. [Edit 12-7-2014] Is there anything wrong with the Jim Norton reading?
A. I found nothing wrong, but there is one thing to consider. The recording has a high dynamic range. The inner thoughts of Bloom are soft and gentle, while the bellowing of Buck Mulligan is at full volume. This is what you would expect from a stage and screen actor of Norton’s caliber. If you are listening to speakers in a room, then it will sound great. If you are using headphones or earbuds, you will need to adjust the volume frequently. Just use a headset with a convenient volume control.

Q. What was the audiobook you didn’t like?
A. That was by Recorded Books, read by Donal Donnelly and Miriam Healy-Louie. It has an interesting introduction, noting the many editions, copyrights, and editing errors in the book’s history. Episode 18, Molly’s soliloquy, was read beautifully by Miriam Healy-Louie. Unfortunately, the rest of the recording was flat and painfully slow (43 hours long).

Q. Won’t I miss a lot by listening instead of reading?
A. That depends on how you listen. Regardless of how careful you listen, there will be misunderstandings. It helps to have a paper or PDF copy handy. Take this example from Episode 11: “Bloom ungyved his crisscrossed hands …� I heard �unjived�, and thought it might refer to hand jive, a term not used during Joyce’s lifetime. Since I didn’t have a paper copy, I checked a public domain PDF for the correct spelling. Gyve = a shackle or fetter, especially for the leg. Cited usage: Romeo and Juliet - “Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves …� One advantage of PDF is quick word or phrase searches.

Q. Do I need a reader’s guide to understand the classical references?
A. Not unless you are writing a dissertation. Don’t ruin a good reading experience with too much analysis. Would you really enjoy episode 13, Nausicaa, as much if you knew that Gerty, the charming young woman on the beach, represented Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous of Phaeacia? No, you would be too busy thinking about Homer, and miss the fun part that follows. [Edit 9-28-2014] I’ve changed my mind. I’ve just started a rereading, and will be referring to A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by William York Tindall.
/book/show/1...
It covers Joyce’s major works, and devotes 114 pages to Ulysses. That’s brief enough to not interfere with the main reading. Even more helpful is the GR discussion group Odysseus to Ulysses. [Edit 2-15-2022] I wish I had read James Joyce in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern before starting Ulysses. It provides helpful information about Joyce and Irish culture.

Q. What’s up with this goofy Q & A format?
A. Sorry about that. It’s just a gimmick. All of episode 17 is Q & A.

Q. Your other reviews are so short. Why is this one longer?
A. So short! Excuse me, how about concise and to the point. This review is longer because it needs to be. Like Paul says: “It’s a big book.� Or Ambrose Bierce: “The covers of this book are too far apart.�

Q. I don’t think I’ll like all the stream-of-consciousness. Can I skip it?
A. No, don’t skip it. It’s the best part. You will love it if you get the right introduction. Try listening to The Waves by Virginia Woolf. Or better yet, start at the end, with episode 18, Penelope. This is Molly’s soliloquy, and my favorite part. All of the episodes can stand alone. There is almost no continuity, so order is not important.

Q. Wait. Isn’t episode 18 all one sentence?
A. That depends on the edition. Apparently, Paul’s copy is 90 pages in one sentence with no punctuation. Both of my PDF copies have 3 periods, so that must mean 3 sentences. Wikipedia says it has 8 run-on sentences without punctuation. If you are interested in very long sentences, see this blog post by Ed Park in the NY Times:


Q. [Edit 9-28-2014] What’s this nonsense about 90 pages and no punctuation! Surely, you’re joking. That’s unreadable.
A. It’s no joke. It reads and flows because it’s stream-of-consciousness. If you think that’s hard to read, consider a rabbi reading a Torah (304,805 letters on a parchment scroll, with no punctuation).

Q. Do you have any other advice?
A. Yes. Start reading now, before Bloomsday, June 16. And make a commitment to finish before the next Bloomsday. [Edit 9-10-2014] When you start, don’t stop until the final yes.



[Epilog 12-7-2014] The second time around was even more enjoyable. Special thanks to Kalliope, Book Portrait, and ReemK10 (Paper Pills), the moderators of the GR group Odysseus to Ulysses. The discussions and links to other references make this group a valuable resource. I hope GR will keep the entire discussion online indefinitely.]]> 3.72 1922 Ulysses
author: James Joyce
name: David
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1922
rating: 5
read at: 2011/05/13
date added: 2022/02/15
shelves: favorites, s-o-c, irish-writers
review:
First posted in 2011. [Revision dates in brackets]

**** SPOILER ALERT ****
Plot synopsis:
Man walks around Dublin.
Nothing important happens.

You probably knew that.
In this large community of good readers, excellent readers, and writers of outstanding reviews, I’m standing out as barely mediocre. So the idea of my reviewing Ulysses is absurd. But I did finish it, after 3 starts. In lieu of a review, I’ll just give some tips to help those who gave up, or never started it.

First, read the GR reviews (and comments), especially the one by Paul Bryant. [Edit 12-7-2014] Paul’s magnum opus exceeded the GR size limits, and had to be posted in 2 parts.




Q. Whoa, that review is longer than a short story. How can that help me?
A. Print it out, and keep a copy handy. It’s an episode by episode review, so just refer to it before starting the next episode. You could also see Wikipedia.


Q. Do you recommend any other reviews?
A. [Edit 9-10-2014] Fionnuala's review is excellent. Also see the GR group Odysseus to Ulysses. “This group will be reading first Homer's The Odyssey, for which we plan to take around two months, and then James Joyce's Ulysses, which may take about three months.� They are starting Ulysses in October, 2014.

Q. I saw Jessica’s comment: “See, here's a new problem I've identified with Joyce: he needs to be read in a mental Irish accent, which I find exhausting to keep up.� That’s discouraging. What should I do?
A. Do what I did; take the easy way out; get an audiobook.

Q. GR lists at least 9 different audio editions. Which do you recommend?
A. The first audio book I chose was a disaster, which I’ll explain later. For my third attempt, I found the 2004 edition by Naxos Audiobooks, read by Irish actors Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan. It is 27 hours of beautiful reading by wonderful voices. Don’t confuse this with the abridged 1994 edition by the same publisher and readers. Thank you New York Public Library.

Q. [Edit 12-7-2014] Is there anything wrong with the Jim Norton reading?
A. I found nothing wrong, but there is one thing to consider. The recording has a high dynamic range. The inner thoughts of Bloom are soft and gentle, while the bellowing of Buck Mulligan is at full volume. This is what you would expect from a stage and screen actor of Norton’s caliber. If you are listening to speakers in a room, then it will sound great. If you are using headphones or earbuds, you will need to adjust the volume frequently. Just use a headset with a convenient volume control.

Q. What was the audiobook you didn’t like?
A. That was by Recorded Books, read by Donal Donnelly and Miriam Healy-Louie. It has an interesting introduction, noting the many editions, copyrights, and editing errors in the book’s history. Episode 18, Molly’s soliloquy, was read beautifully by Miriam Healy-Louie. Unfortunately, the rest of the recording was flat and painfully slow (43 hours long).

Q. Won’t I miss a lot by listening instead of reading?
A. That depends on how you listen. Regardless of how careful you listen, there will be misunderstandings. It helps to have a paper or PDF copy handy. Take this example from Episode 11: “Bloom ungyved his crisscrossed hands …� I heard �unjived�, and thought it might refer to hand jive, a term not used during Joyce’s lifetime. Since I didn’t have a paper copy, I checked a public domain PDF for the correct spelling. Gyve = a shackle or fetter, especially for the leg. Cited usage: Romeo and Juliet - “Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves …� One advantage of PDF is quick word or phrase searches.

Q. Do I need a reader’s guide to understand the classical references?
A. Not unless you are writing a dissertation. Don’t ruin a good reading experience with too much analysis. Would you really enjoy episode 13, Nausicaa, as much if you knew that Gerty, the charming young woman on the beach, represented Nausicaa, the daughter of King Alcinous of Phaeacia? No, you would be too busy thinking about Homer, and miss the fun part that follows. [Edit 9-28-2014] I’ve changed my mind. I’ve just started a rereading, and will be referring to A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by William York Tindall.
/book/show/1...
It covers Joyce’s major works, and devotes 114 pages to Ulysses. That’s brief enough to not interfere with the main reading. Even more helpful is the GR discussion group Odysseus to Ulysses. [Edit 2-15-2022] I wish I had read James Joyce in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern before starting Ulysses. It provides helpful information about Joyce and Irish culture.

Q. What’s up with this goofy Q & A format?
A. Sorry about that. It’s just a gimmick. All of episode 17 is Q & A.

Q. Your other reviews are so short. Why is this one longer?
A. So short! Excuse me, how about concise and to the point. This review is longer because it needs to be. Like Paul says: “It’s a big book.� Or Ambrose Bierce: “The covers of this book are too far apart.�

Q. I don’t think I’ll like all the stream-of-consciousness. Can I skip it?
A. No, don’t skip it. It’s the best part. You will love it if you get the right introduction. Try listening to The Waves by Virginia Woolf. Or better yet, start at the end, with episode 18, Penelope. This is Molly’s soliloquy, and my favorite part. All of the episodes can stand alone. There is almost no continuity, so order is not important.

Q. Wait. Isn’t episode 18 all one sentence?
A. That depends on the edition. Apparently, Paul’s copy is 90 pages in one sentence with no punctuation. Both of my PDF copies have 3 periods, so that must mean 3 sentences. Wikipedia says it has 8 run-on sentences without punctuation. If you are interested in very long sentences, see this blog post by Ed Park in the NY Times:


Q. [Edit 9-28-2014] What’s this nonsense about 90 pages and no punctuation! Surely, you’re joking. That’s unreadable.
A. It’s no joke. It reads and flows because it’s stream-of-consciousness. If you think that’s hard to read, consider a rabbi reading a Torah (304,805 letters on a parchment scroll, with no punctuation).

Q. Do you have any other advice?
A. Yes. Start reading now, before Bloomsday, June 16. And make a commitment to finish before the next Bloomsday. [Edit 9-10-2014] When you start, don’t stop until the final yes.



[Epilog 12-7-2014] The second time around was even more enjoyable. Special thanks to Kalliope, Book Portrait, and ReemK10 (Paper Pills), the moderators of the GR group Odysseus to Ulysses. The discussions and links to other references make this group a valuable resource. I hope GR will keep the entire discussion online indefinitely.
]]> Virginia Woolf in 90 Minutes 108640 124 Paul Strathern 1566636507 David 3 audiobook, history 3.55 2005 Virginia Woolf in 90 Minutes
author: Paul Strathern
name: David
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/11
date added: 2022/02/11
shelves: audiobook, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative]]> 58393129 Memoir meets craft masterclass in this “daring, honest, psychologically insightful� exploration of how we think and write about intimate experiences—“a must read for anybody shoving a pen across paper or staring into a screen or a past" (Mary Karr).

In this bold and exhilarating mix of memoir and master class, Melissa Febos tackles the emotional, psychological, and physical work of writing intimately while offering an utterly fresh examination of the storyteller’s life and the questions which run through it.

How might we go about capturing on the page the relationships that have formed us? How do we write about our bodies, their desires and traumas? What does it mean for an author’s way of writing, or living, to be dismissed as “navel-gazing”—or else hailed as “so brave, so raw�? And to whom, in the end, do our most intimate stories belong?

Drawing on her own path from aspiring writer to acclaimed author and writing professor—via addiction and recovery, sex work and Harvard night school—Melissa Febos has created a captivating guide to the writing life, and a brilliantly unusual exploration of subjectivity, privacy, and the power of divulgence. Candid and inspiring, Body Work will empower readers and writers alike, offering ideas—and occasional notes of caution—to anyone who has ever hoped to see themselves in a story.]]> 171 Melissa Febos 1646220854 David 0 to-read 4.23 2022 Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative
author: Melissa Febos
name: David
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dandelion Wine 50033
Woven into the novel are the following short stories: Illumination, Dandelion Wine, Summer in the Air, Season of Sitting, The Happiness Machine, The Night, The Lawns of Summer, Season of Disbelief, The Last--the Very Last, The Green Machine, The Trolley, Statues, The Window, The Swan, The Whole Town's Sleeping, Goodbye Grandma, The Tarot Witch, Hotter Than Summer, Dinner at Dawn, The Magical Kitchen, Green Wine for Dreaming.]]> 239 Ray Bradbury 0671037706 David 0 currently-reading 4.07 1957 Dandelion Wine
author: Ray Bradbury
name: David
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Jew of Treblinka: A Survivor's Memory, 1942-1943]]> 34766110 1 Chil Rajchman 1538435241 David 5 5.00 1997 The Last Jew of Treblinka: A Survivor's Memory, 1942-1943
author: Chil Rajchman
name: David
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/01
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves: audiobook, history, survival, war, memoir
review:

]]> Klara and the Sun 59999991 Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.

Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?]]> 303 Kazuo Ishiguro 0593311299 David 0 to-read 3.71 2021 Klara and the Sun
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: David
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everybody Fights: So Why Not Get Better at It?]]> 54287720 A USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller

Learn how to fight better and end arguments feeling closer, more loved, and better understood by your partner.Ěý

We take our cars in for oil changes. We mow our lawns and pull weeds. Why don’t we do maintenance on our marriages? This relationship is the most important one we will ever have, so why not get better at it?

For the last several years, Penn and Kim Holderness of The Holderness Family have done the hard maintenance and the research to learn how to fight better. With the help of their marriage coach Dr. Christopher Edmonston, they break down their biggest (and in some cases, funniest) fights. How did a question about chicken wings turn into a bra fight (no, not a bar fight; a bra fight)? How did a roll of toilet paper lead to tears, resentment, and a stint in the guest bedroom?

With their trademark sense of humor and complete vulnerability, Penn and Kim share their ten most common Fight Fails and how to combat them. Throughout the book, they offer scripts for how to start, continue, and wrap up hard conversations. Couples will emerge equipped to engage and understand, not do battle—and maybe laugh a little more along the way.Ěý

In Everybody Fights, couples will learn how to


use “magic words� to navigate conflict
break free of secret contracts
banish the three Ds—distraction, denial, and delay
carry their own individual baggage while helping each other deal with theirsĚý
Penn and Kim want you to know you’re not alone. Everybody fights. Marriage is messy. Marriage is work. But marriage is worth it. Fight for it.]]> 230 Kim Holderness 0785235728 David 3 4.31 2021 Everybody Fights: So Why Not Get Better at It?
author: Kim Holderness
name: David
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/26
date added: 2021/12/26
shelves: audiobook, memoir, read-by-author, self-help
review:
Good advice, delivered in a light hearted banter.
]]> Call Us What We Carry 56805404 The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, Amanda Gorman’s remarkable new collection reveals an energizing and unforgettable voice in American poetry. Call Us What We Carry is Gorman at her finest. Including “The Hill We Climb,� the stirring poem read at the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, and bursting with musical language and exploring themes of identity, grief, and memory, this lyric of hope and healing captures an important moment in our country’s consciousness while being utterly timeless.

The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.]]> 228 Amanda Gorman 0593465067 David 4 4.27 2021 Call Us What We Carry
author: Amanda Gorman
name: David
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/25
date added: 2021/12/26
shelves: audiobook, essays, history, read-by-author
review:
Ranked #1 in the 12-26-2021 NY Times Book Review.
]]> <![CDATA[Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive]]> 57423646 A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt—In a Nutshell

You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You're mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door.

So what, exactly, is your immune system?

Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you've been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body.

Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body's defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.

Enlivened by engaging graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.]]> 341 Philipp Dettmer 0593241312 David 0 to-read 4.59 2021 Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive
author: Philipp Dettmer
name: David
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman]]> 469548 250 Ken Auletta 158567088X David 4 3.83 1985 Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman
author: Ken Auletta
name: David
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/03
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: crime, investing, audiobook, new-york-city
review:
Good reporting of bad behavior on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers crashed and burned like other firms during the subprime mortgage crisis.
]]> <![CDATA[The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, 3 Vols]]> 4910977 In the greatest work of history in the English language, Edward Gibbon compresses thirteen turbulent centuries into a gripping epic narrative. It is history in the grand eighteenth-century manner, a well-researched drama charged with insight, irony, and incisive character analysis. In elegant prose, Gibbon presents both the broad pattern of events and the significant revealing detail. He delves into religion, politics, sexuality, and social mores with equal authority and aplomb. While subsequent research revealed minor factual errors about the early Empire, Gibbon's bold vision, witty descriptions of a vast cast of characters, and readiness to display his own beliefs and prejudices result in an astonishing work of history and literature, at once powerfully intelligent and enormously entertaining.

Based on David Womersley's definitive three-volume Penguin Classics edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, this abridgement contains complete chapters from all three volumes, linked by extended bridging passages, vividly capture the style, the argument, and the architecture of the whole work.]]> 2777 Edward Gibbon David 5 history 4.18 1776 The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, 3 Vols
author: Edward Gibbon
name: David
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1776
rating: 5
read at: 2010/03/25
date added: 2021/11/24
shelves: history
review:
Only finished the first volume. Wonderful writing. Glad I didn't live then.
]]> A Previous Life 56268846


'Elegant, filthy � and quite possibly the queerest thing you will read all year.' - Guardian


'Intriguing and inventive.' - Electric Literature, "Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of the Year"


'A dizzyingly enticing and kaleidoscopic take on the spectrum of sexual experiences.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review
_____________

A daring, category-confounding, and ruthlessly funny novel from National Book Award honored author Edmund White that explores polyamory and bisexuality, aging and love.

Sicilian aristocrat and musician, Ruggero, and his younger American wife, Constance, agree to break their marital silence and write their Confessions. Until now they had a ban on speaking about the past, since transparency had wrecked their previous marriages. As the two alternate reading the memoirs they’ve written about their lives, Constance reveals her multiple marriages to older men, and Ruggero details the affairs he’s had with men and women across his lifetime―most importantly his passionate affair with the author Edmund White.

Sweeping outward from the isolated Swiss ski chalet where the couple reads to travel through Europe and the United States, White’s new novel pushes for a broader understanding of sexual orientation and pairs humor and truth to create his most fascinating and complex characters to date. As in all of White’s earlier novels, this is a searing, scintillating take on physical beauty and its inevitable decline. But in this experimental new mode―one where the author has laid himself bare as a secondary character―White explores the themes of love and age through numerous eyes, hearts and minds.

Delightful, irreverent, and experimental, A Previous Life proves once more why White is considered a master of American literature.]]> 288 Edmund White 1635577276 David 0 to-read 2.94 2022 A Previous Life
author: Edmund White
name: David
average rating: 2.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong]]> 33146881
History is filled with brilliant ideas that gave rise to disaster, and this book explores the most fascinating—and significant—missteps: from opium's heyday as the pain reliever of choice to recognition of opioids as a major cause of death in the U.S.; from the rise of trans fats as the golden ingredient for tastier, cheaper food to the heart disease epidemic that followed; and from the cries to ban DDT for the sake of the environment to an epidemic-level rise in world malaria.

These are today's sins of science—as deplorable as mistaken past ideas about advocating racial purity or using lobotomies as a cure for mental illness. These unwitting errors add up to seven lessons both cautionary and profound, narrated by renowned author and speaker Paul A. Offit. Offit uses these lessons to investigate how we can separate good science from bad, using some of today's most controversial creations—e-cigarettes, GMOs, drug treatments for ADHD—as case studies. For every "Aha!" moment that should have been an "Oh no," this book is an engrossing account of how science has been misused disastrously—and how we can learn to use its power for good.]]> 277 Paul A. Offit 1426217994 David 5 /review/show...]]> 4.16 2017 Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong
author: Paul A. Offit
name: David
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/15
date added: 2021/11/01
shelves: audiobook, crime, medicine, science, history
review:
The Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong is well researched and fascinating. Each story could be a complete book. For more information, see the review by Petra-X at /review/show...
]]> <![CDATA[Patti Smith at the Minetta Lane: Words and Music]]> 43402057 Patti Smith David 5 music, memoir, new-york-city 3.98 2018 Patti Smith at the Minetta Lane: Words and Music
author: Patti Smith
name: David
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/22
date added: 2021/10/18
shelves: music, memoir, new-york-city
review:

]]> Fault Lines 56304464 Combining the incisive intimacy of Sally Rooney with the sharp wit of Helen Fielding, a compulsively readable and astonishingly relatable debut novel about marriage, motherhood, love, self and the vibrant, surprising city that is modern Tokyo.

Mizuki is a Japanese housewife. She has a hardworking husband, two adorable children, and a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It’s everything a woman could want, yet sometimes she wonders whether she would rather throw herself off the high-rise balcony than spend another evening not talking to her husband and hanging up laundry.

Then, one rainy night, she meets Kiyoshi, a successful restaurateur. In him, she rediscovers freedom, friendship, and the neon, electric pulse of the city she has always loved. But the further she falls into their relationship, the clearer it becomes that she is living two lives—and in the end, we can choose only one.

Funny, provocative, and startlingly honest, Fault Lines is for anyone who has ever looked in the mirror and asked, who am I and how did I get here? A bittersweet love story and a piercing portrait of female identity, it introduces Emily Itami as a debut novelist with astounding resonance and wit.]]> 224 Emily Itami 0063099802 David 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Fault Lines
author: Emily Itami
name: David
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments]]> 612271 182 Ronald W. Doerfler 0884150879 David 0 to-read 3.95 1993 Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments
author: Ronald W. Doerfler
name: David
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crown Heights (Kindle Single) 36157859 The true story behind the major motion picture from Amazon Studios.

Childhood friends from Trinidad, Colin Warner and Carl King grew into men on opposite sides of prison bars after Colin was arrested for murder in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. With no evidence against him, Colin was wrongfully convicted and wrongfully imprisoned for more than two decades. But time and walls could not break the friends� bond. Carl’s extraordinary resolve, sacrifice, and courage were Colin’s last rays of hope in a harrowing struggle for freedom and justice. Whatever it took, Carl was not going to leave his best friend behind.]]> 103 Colin Warner 1503953122 David 5 ]]> 4.25 2017 Crown Heights (Kindle Single)
author: Colin Warner
name: David
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/17
date added: 2021/09/20
shelves: audiobook, brooklyn-writers, crime, history, memoir, new-york-city, survival
review:
True crime and the harsh reality of being framed.

]]> Klara and the Sun 54120408
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?]]> 303 Kazuo Ishiguro 059331817X David 0 to-read 3.71 2021 Klara and the Sun
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: David
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Promised Land 55361205
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,� and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.]]> 768 Barack Obama 1524763187 David 5 4.32 2020 A Promised Land
author: Barack Obama
name: David
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/27
date added: 2021/07/17
shelves: audiobook, favorites, memoir, history
review:

]]> The Heart of a Woman 5160 The Heart of a Woman, her turbulent life breaks wide open with joy as the singer-dancer enters the razzle-dazzle of fabulous New York City. There, at the Harlem Writers Guild, her love for writing blazes anew.

Her compassion and commitment lead her to respond to the fiery times by becoming the northern coordinator of Martin Luther King's history-making quest. A tempestuous, earthy woman, she promises her heart to one man only to have it stolen, virtually on her wedding day, by a passionate African freedom fighter.

Filled with unforgettable vignettes of famous characters, from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X, The Heart of a Woman sings with Maya Angelou's eloquent prose her fondest dreams, deepest disappointments, and her dramatically tender relationship with her rebellious teenage son. Vulnerable, humorous, tough, Maya speaks with an intimate awareness of the heart within all of us.]]> 288 Maya Angelou 0375500723 David 0 to-read 4.23 1981 The Heart of a Woman
author: Maya Angelou
name: David
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> In the Dream House 43317482 251 Carmen Maria Machado 1644450038 David 5 There are over 140 very short chapters, that seemed like a blend of diary pages and stream of consciousness.
Fortunately, it is read by the author, in a mesmerizing, sometimes haunting voice.
]]> 4.41 2019 In the Dream House
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: David
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/11
date added: 2021/06/13
shelves: audiobook, lgbt, memoir, nsfw, s-o-c
review:
It’s not the usual memoir.
There are over 140 very short chapters, that seemed like a blend of diary pages and stream of consciousness.
Fortunately, it is read by the author, in a mesmerizing, sometimes haunting voice.

]]> Seven Pillars of Wisdom 51953145 398 T.E. Lawrence David 4 history, memoir, war 3.95 1926 Seven Pillars of Wisdom
author: T.E. Lawrence
name: David
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/10
date added: 2021/06/13
shelves: history, memoir, war
review:

]]> Thicker Than Water 54815214
Tyler Shultz had been in the workforce for less than a year when he emailed Elizabeth Holmes, his employer and the CEO and founder of Theranos, with concerns that the company’s lab practices were faulty, ignored quality control, and were potentially dangerous to patients. The COO fired back with a dismissive and insulting email, to which Tyler “Consider this my two weeks� notice.�

From there, his life spun out of control at the hand of Elizabeth, her team of high-powered lawyers, and the patriarch of Tyler’s own family George Shultz - one of America’s most prominent statesmen - who sat among the top of the Theranos board of directors. And yet, Tyler forged on. To protect his own conscience, the honor and reputation of his grandfather, and the health of patients worldwide.

Thicker than Water is Tyler’s as-told-to story - a harrowing and heartbreaking roller coaster of biomedical drama, family intrigue, and redemption - that will ultimately make you feel as though you are at a dinner party, seated next to a brilliant friend with one hell of a story.]]> 4 Tyler Shultz David 3 4.16 2020 Thicker Than Water
author: Tyler Shultz
name: David
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/04/26
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves: audiobook, medicine, memoir, science, crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Upon Reflection: Words + Music]]> 57528861 86 Sting David 4 audiobook, memoir, music 4.10 Upon Reflection: Words + Music
author: Sting
name: David
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/29
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves: audiobook, memoir, music
review:

]]> 84, Charing Cross Road 368916
[text from the back cover of the book]]]> 106 Helene Hanff David 4 4.17 1970 84, Charing Cross Road
author: Helene Hanff
name: David
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/27
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Children of the Land 43452893
“You were not a ghost even though an entire country was scared of you. No one in this story was a ghost. This was not a story.�

When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary.

With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. He writes of the Sunday afternoon when he opened the door to an ICE officer who had one hand on his holster, of the hours he spent making a fake social security card so that he could work to support his family, of his father’s deportation and the decade that he spent waiting to return to his wife and children only to be denied reentry, and of his mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her children and grandchildren so that she could be reunited with her estranged husband and retire from a life of hard labor.

Children of the Land distills the trauma of displacement, illuminates the human lives behind the headlines and serves as a stunning meditation on what it means to be a man and a citizen.]]> 384 Marcelo Hernández Castillo 0062825607 David 0 to-read 3.97 2020 Children of the Land
author: Marcelo Hernández Castillo
name: David
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Three Women 42201100 A riveting true story about the sex lives of three real American women, based on nearly a decade of reporting.

Hailed as “a dazzling achievement� (Los Angeles Times) and “riveting page-turner that explores desire, heartbreak, and infatuation in all its messy, complicated nuance� (The Washington Post), Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women has captivated readers, booksellers, and critics—and topped bestseller lists—worldwide.

In suburban Indiana we meet Lina, a homemaker and mother of two whose marriage, after a decade, has lost its passion. Starved for affection, Lina battles daily panic attacks and, after reconnecting with an old flame through social media, embarks on an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming. In North Dakota we meet Maggie, a seventeen-year-old high school student who allegedly has a clandestine physical relationship with her handsome, married English teacher; the ensuing criminal trial will turn their quiet community upside down. Finally, in an exclusive enclave of the Northeast, we meet Sloane—a gorgeous, successful, and refined restaurant owner—who is happily married to a man who likes to watch her have sex with other men and women.

Based on years of immersive reporting and told with astonishing frankness and immediacy, Three Women is both a feat of journalism and a triumph of storytelling, brimming with nuance and empathy. “A work of deep observation, long conversations, and a kind of journalistic alchemy� (Kate Tuttle, NPR), Three Women introduces us to three unforgettable women—and one remarkable writer—whose experiences remind us that we are not alone.]]> 306 Lisa Taddeo 1451642296 David 0 to-read 3.72 2019 Three Women
author: Lisa Taddeo
name: David
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> News of the World 32600737 Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.

In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.� Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.

Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.]]> 212 Paulette Jiles 0062409212 David 0 to-read 4.08 2016 News of the World
author: Paulette Jiles
name: David
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hemingway Stories 56160029 304 Ernest Hemingway 1982179465 David 0 to-read 4.07 2021 The Hemingway Stories
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: David
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[First Person Singular: Stories]]> 54614599 A riveting new collection of short stories from the beloved, internationally acclaimed, Haruki Murakami.

The eight masterful stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator: a lonely man. Some of them (like With the Beatles, Cream and On a Stone Pillow ) are nostalgic looks back at youth. Others are set in adulthood--Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova, Carnaval, Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey and the stunning title story. Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Haruki himself is present, as in The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides. The stories all touch beautifully on love and loss, childhood and death . . . all with a signature Murakami twist.']]> 245 Haruki Murakami 0593318072 David 0 to-read 3.58 2020 First Person Singular: Stories
author: Haruki Murakami
name: David
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mindset: The New Psychology of Success]]> 34403537 A previously published edition of this ISBN can be found here.

Now updated with new research � the book that has changed millions of lives.

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset � those who believe that abilities are fixed � are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset � those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love � to transform their lives and your own.]]> 276 Carol S. Dweck 1400062756 David 3 audiobook, self-help 3.89 2006 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
author: Carol S. Dweck
name: David
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2020/12/30
date added: 2020/12/30
shelves: audiobook, self-help
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Red Notebook: True Stories]]> 463 The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, The Music of Chance, Mr. Vertigo, and Timbuktu. He has also published a number of highly original non-fiction: The Invention of Solitude, Hand to Mouth, and The Art of Hunger. In The Red Notebook, Auster again explores events from the real world large and small, tragic and comic―that reveal the unpredictable, shifting nature of human experience. A burnt onion pie, a wrong number, a young boy struck by lightning, a man falling off a roof, a scrap of paper discovered in a Paris hotel room―all these form the context for a singular kind of ars poetica, a literary manifesto without theory, cast in the irreducible forms of pure story telling.]]> 104 Paul Auster 0811214982 David 0 to-read 3.85 1993 The Red Notebook: True Stories
author: Paul Auster
name: David
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Royal Game 1220459 The Royal Game crackles with suspense; it is the story of a man who outwits the Gestapo and finds the courage to go on living. Whilst in prison, he finds sanctuary in "imaginary" chess, but later on engages in a confrontation with the chess prodigy of the day.]]> 96 Stefan Zweig 1901285111 David 4 audiobook, novella, stories 4.24 1942 The Royal Game
author: Stefan Zweig
name: David
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1942
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/15
date added: 2020/12/15
shelves: audiobook, novella, stories
review:
“The doctor also warned me back then, expressly warned me. Everyone who has fallen into a mania, remains in danger forever. And with a chess poisoning, even if cured, it is better not to come close to any chess board.�
]]> <![CDATA[Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles]]> 6677197 Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul, The Viking Press, New York.

The life of Mary Stuart, one of the tragic figures in the history of the world, who was so easily put into the hands of destiny by early "everything in earthly power" without being able to hold it, soon after her death experienced very different representations: from the "hymn who defended her like a saint" to the very opposite. She was—so much is certain—an attractive, passionate, intelligent, and proud woman, but probably less a queen than she still felt. "How was Maria Stuart? Was she really involved in her second husband's murder, was not she? "The case began to interest Stefan Zweig when he read a handwritten account of her execution at the British Museum in London. "I asked for a really reliable book. Nobody could tell me anything, and in such a searching and inquiring way I involuntarily got involved in the comparison and had started, without really knowing, a book about Maria Stuart..." Thus this admirably intuitive and at the same time largely objective novelistic biography was born.]]> 366 Stefan Zweig 1443725161 David 0 to-read 3.82 1935 Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles
author: Stefan Zweig
name: David
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Get in Trouble 22125258
Link has won an ardent following for her ability to take readers deep into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe with each new story. In “The Summer People,� a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house. In “I Can See Right Through You,� a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show. In “The New Boyfriend,� a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll.

Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids...These are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded in sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailty—and the hidden strengths—of human beings. In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.]]> 336 Kelly Link 0804179689 David 0 3.67 2015 Get in Trouble
author: Kelly Link
name: David
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/01
shelves: currently-reading, stories, audiobook
review:

]]> Men Without Women 33652490 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all.

Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic.]]> 242 Haruki Murakami 0385689454 David 4 3.75 2014 Men Without Women
author: Haruki Murakami
name: David
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/01
date added: 2020/12/01
shelves: japanese-fiction, audiobook, stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship]]> 61354 —Joyce Carol Oates, bestselling author

“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.�
—Leonard Cohen, songwriter

A book length collaboration between two underground legends, Charles Bukowski and Robert Crumb. In The Captain is Out to Lunch , Bukowski's last journals candidly and humorously reveal the events in the writer's life as death draws inexorably nearer, thereby illuminating our own lives and natures, and to give new meaning to what was once only familiar.

Crumb has illustrated the text with 12 full-page drawings and a portrait of Bukowski.]]> 144 Charles Bukowski 1574230581 David 0 3.97 1999 The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
author: Charles Bukowski
name: David
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2020/08/22
date added: 2020/11/18
shelves: bukowski, memoir, nsfw, stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference]]> 51764686 The groundbreaking speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist who has become the voice of a generation, including her historic address to the United Nations

In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day in order to protest the climate crisis. Her actions sparked a global movement, inspiring millions of students to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference brings you Greta in her own words, for the first time. Collecting her speeches that have made history across the globe, from the United Nations to Capitol Hill and mass street protests, her book is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it.]]> 112 Greta Thunberg 014313356X David 5 3.81 2019 No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
author: Greta Thunberg
name: David
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/18
date added: 2020/11/18
shelves: audiobook, essays, science, survival
review:

]]> Being Right or Making Money 22576119 STAY A STEP AHEAD OF THE MARKETS BY REJECTING GUESSES ABOUT THE FUTURE AND TRUSTING TECHNIQUES THAT WORK

Today there are as many investment opinions as there are people. But as many a scorned investor can attest, predicting the future isn't easy. In fact, Being Right or Making Money, Third Edition explains that reliably predicting the future is often not even possible. The good news is that it isn't necessary either. Once you stop trying so hard to be right about the future, you can start making money.

Being Right or Making Money, Third Edition contains a position trading strategy that any serious investor will want to keep nearby. Using the unbiased, objective standard in this book, you can stay on-target for profit in all market conditions. You'll learn how to create asset allocation models in both stocks and bonds, how to make sense out of contrarian opinion, and how to use indicators to keep you focused, no matter what.

You won't find any shock-and-awe investing tactics in this book. Instead, Being Right or Making Money, Third Edition presents the solid trading model that has made Ned Davis Research Group a go-to source for market wisdom.]]> 256 Ned Davis 1118992067 David 0 currently-reading 3.23 2014 Being Right or Making Money
author: Ned Davis
name: David
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage]]> 41022133 AĚýNew York TimesĚý#1 Bestseller
A New York Times and Washington Post notable book, and one of theĚýFinancial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,ĚýSlate,ĚýMother Jones, The Daily Beast, and BookPage's best books of the year

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of PilgrimageĚýis the long-awaited new novel—a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan—from the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami.

Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.]]> 308 Haruki Murakami 0385352115 David 4 audiobook, japanese-fiction 3.93 2013 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
author: Haruki Murakami
name: David
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/05
date added: 2020/11/05
shelves: audiobook, japanese-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages]]> 427965 Whose Bible Is It? will be welcomed by the many fans of Elaine Pagels’s books & Adam Nicolson’s God’s Secretaries.
Preface
The Bible, the whole Bible & nothing but the Bible?
The God who speaks
The truth in Hebrew-
Moses speaking Greek
Beyond written Torah: Talmud & continuing revelation
The law & the prophets fulfilled
Formation of a second Testament
The peoples of the Book
Back to the sources
The Bible only
The Canon & the critics
A message for the whole human race
The strange new world within the Bible
Alternative canons of the Tanakh/Old Testament
New Testament
Notes & Further Reading]]> 288 Jaroslav Pelikan 0670033855 David 4 audiobook, history 3.87 2005 Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages
author: Jaroslav Pelikan
name: David
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/18
date added: 2020/10/29
shelves: audiobook, history
review:

]]> Seize the Day 52782 114 Saul Bellow 0142437611 David 3 audiobook, new-york-city 3.56 1957 Seize the Day
author: Saul Bellow
name: David
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1957
rating: 3
read at: 2020/10/21
date added: 2020/10/21
shelves: audiobook, new-york-city
review:

]]> The Mind's Eye 7937653 263 Oliver Sacks 033050889X David 5 3.92 2010 The Mind's Eye
author: Oliver Sacks
name: David
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/10
date added: 2020/10/18
shelves: science, essays, medicine, memoir
review:

]]> Pachinko 34051011
Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters—strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis—survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.]]> 496 Min Jin Lee David 4 audiobook, korean-writers 4.35 2017 Pachinko
author: Min Jin Lee
name: David
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/17
date added: 2020/10/17
shelves: audiobook, korean-writers
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Choice: Embrace the Possible]]> 30753738
The horrors of the Holocaust didn’t break Edith. In fact, they helped her learn to live again with a life-affirming strength and a truly remarkable resilience. The Choice is her unforgettable story.]]> 289 Edith Eger 1501130781 David 0 to-read 4.59 2017 The Choice: Embrace the Possible
author: Edith Eger
name: David
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Forever 148465
Through the eyes of Cormac O'Connor -- granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan -- we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know the city's buried secrets -- the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope.]]> 613 Pete Hamill 0316735698 David 3 3.95 2002 Forever
author: Pete Hamill
name: David
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2020/02/04
date added: 2020/10/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Fauci 55573499 176 Michael Specter David 4 4.12 2020 Fauci
author: Michael Specter
name: David
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/09
date added: 2020/10/09
shelves: brooklyn-writers, history, medicine, new-york-city, pod-cast, audiobook
review:

]]> Daisy Miller 16204 164 Henry James 1592243002 David 3 3.38 1879 Daisy Miller
author: Henry James
name: David
average rating: 3.38
book published: 1879
rating: 3
read at: 2020/10/05
date added: 2020/10/05
shelves:
review:

]]> A Saint from Texas 51079279 From Edmund White, a bold and sweeping new novel that traces the extraordinary fates of twin sisters, one destined for Parisian nobility and the other for Catholic sainthood.

Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are twin sisters, born on a humble patch of East Texas prairie but bound for far grander fates. Just as an untold fortune of oil lies beneath their daddy's land, both girls harbor their own secrets and dreams-ones that will carry them far from Texas and from each other. As the decades unfold, Yvonne will ascend the highest ranks of Parisian society as Yvette gives herself to a lifetime of worship and service in the streets of JericĂł, Colombia. And yet, even as they remake themselves in their radically different lives, the twins find that the bonds of family and the past are unbreakable.

Spanning the 1950s to the recent past, Edmund White's marvelous novel serves up an immensely pleasurable epic of two Texas women as their lives traverse varied worlds: the swaggering opulence of the Dallas nouveau riche, the airless pretention of the Paris gratin, and the strict piety of a Colombian convent. For nearly half a century, Edmund White's work has revitalized American literature, blithely breaking down boundaries of class and sexuality, and A Saint in Texas is one of his most joyous, gorgeously written, and piercing works to date.]]> 288 Edmund White 163557255X David 3 paris, lgbt 2.94 2020 A Saint from Texas
author: Edmund White
name: David
average rating: 2.94
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2020/09/30
date added: 2020/09/30
shelves: paris, lgbt
review:

]]> The Zimmermann Telegram 10364433
How Britain managed to inform America of Germany's plan without revealing that the German codes had been broken makes for an incredible, true story of espionage, intrigue, and international politics, as only Barbara W. Tuchman could tell it.]]> 0 Barbara W. Tuchman 1441706275 David 4 history, war 3.99 1958 The Zimmermann Telegram
author: Barbara W. Tuchman
name: David
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/29
date added: 2020/09/29
shelves: history, war
review:

]]> The River of Consciousness 34128230 From the best-selling author of Gratitude, On the Move, and Musicophilia, a collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks's passionate engagement with the most compelling and seminal ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience.

Oliver Sacks, a scientist and a storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories (Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars) in which he introduced and explored many now familiar disorders--autism, Tourette's syndrome, face blindness, savant syndrome. He was also a memoirist who wrote with honesty and humor about the remarkable and strange encounters and experiences that shaped him (Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, Gratitude). Sacks, an Oxford-educated polymath, had a deep familiarity not only with literature and medicine but with botany, animal anatomy, chemistry, the history of science, philosophy, and psychology. The River of Consciousness is one of two books Sacks was working on up to his death, and it reveals his ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless project to understand what makes us human.]]> 256 Oliver Sacks 0385352565 David 5 /user/show/4...
]]> 3.93 2017 The River of Consciousness
author: Oliver Sacks
name: David
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2020/09/09
date added: 2020/09/10
shelves: essays, memoir, science, history, medicine
review:
First published 2 years after his death, these essays touch on a wide variety of topics, some not covered in the 14 of his books that I’ve read. There is an excellent review of this book, by William2, at /user/show/4...

]]> <![CDATA[Hippie Woman Wild: A Memoir of Life & Love on an Oregon Commune]]> 46201877
At 23, Carol Schlanger was an insecure upper middle class radical. Her parents spoiled her and she expected the universe to follow. It didn’t. After being expelled from Yale, losing a coveted Broadway lead, and seeing a suicide splatter at her feet, she left NYC for the Great Northwest, to live in nature with a man “who made everything beautiful with his hands.� At that time she chose love and nature, over art and career ... until she didn’t. Carol Schlanger put “hidden� cash down on an abandoned homestead�160 acres. The commune followed—all 13 jammed tight into a broken-down cabin with no phone, no electricity, and no running water. They were dependent on each other for every human need and survival. But then freeloading and free love threatened the hard-won utopia. After struggling through infidelity, rape, and childbirth, all except the father of her child left when Carol refused to share land ownership. When, as a lone wilderness “wife,� she accidentally set their house on fire, she realized she couldn’t survive in isolation. Strapping her toddler into a battered old Chevy, she headed to Los Angeles to reclaim her life as a mother, her power as an artist, and her responsibility as an adult. This time her Texan followed her. This is both their love story, and a love story for an explosive, mind-altering era.]]> 291 Carol Schlanger 1948018462 David 5 memoir, favorites, survival 4.04 2019 Hippie Woman Wild: A Memoir of Life & Love on an Oregon Commune
author: Carol Schlanger
name: David
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/24
date added: 2020/07/25
shelves: memoir, favorites, survival
review:
There are 47 books on my memoir shelf. This one is my favorite, by far. Best of all, I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author.
]]> <![CDATA[The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz]]> 49199917
On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally-and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.

Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports-some released only recently-Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill's "Secret Circle," including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann.

The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when-in the face of unrelenting horror-Churchill's eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together."--]]> 18 Erik Larson David 4 history, survival, war 4.07 2020 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
author: Erik Larson
name: David
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/24
date added: 2020/07/24
shelves: history, survival, war
review:

]]> Dearly 50706476 A new book of poetry from internationally acclaimed, award-winning and bestselling author Margaret Atwood

InĚýDearly, Margaret Atwood’s first collection of poetry in over a decade, Atwood addresses themes such as love, loss, the passage of time, the nature of nature and - zombies. Her new poetry is introspective and personal in tone, but wide-ranging in topic. In poem after poem, she casts her unique imagination and unyielding, observant eye over the landscape of a life carefully and intuitively lived.


While many are familiar with Margaret Atwood’s fiction—including her groundbreaking and bestselling novelsĚýThe Handmaid’s Tale,ĚýThe Testaments,ĚýOryx and Crake, among others—she has, from the beginning of her career, been one of our most significant contemporary poets. And she is one of the very few writers equally accomplished in fiction and poetry.ĚýĚýThis collection is a stunning achievement that will be appreciated by fans of her novels and poetry readers alike.]]> 124 Margaret Atwood 006303249X David 0 to-read 3.75 2020 Dearly
author: Margaret Atwood
name: David
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Arabian Nights 826831 43 Anonymous 9626340290 David 4 3.22 800 The Arabian Nights
author: Anonymous
name: David
average rating: 3.22
book published: 800
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/22
date added: 2020/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz]]> 33573806 Good Things Happen Slowly is his memoir. It's the story of the first openly gay, HIV-positive jazz player, and a deep look into the cloistered jazz culture that made such a status both transgressive and groundbreaking. It is a remarkable, at times lyrical evocation of New York in the twilight days of post-Stonewall hedonism, and a powerfully brave narrative of the illness that led to Hersch's two-month-long coma in 2007, from which he would emerge to create some of the finest, most direct and emotionally compelling music of his career.]]> 320 Fred Hersch 1101904348 David 5 This is an excellent memoir.
Before reading this book, I recommend watching this film, The Ballad of Fred Hersch, 1:14:14, free on Vimeo at:


]]> 4.19 Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz
author: Fred Hersch
name: David
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/12
date added: 2020/05/26
shelves: lgbt, memoir, new-york-city, survival, music
review:

This is an excellent memoir.
Before reading this book, I recommend watching this film, The Ballad of Fred Hersch, 1:14:14, free on Vimeo at:



]]> The Member of the Wedding 330244
The novel that became an award-winning play and a major motion picture and that has charmed generations of readers, Carson McCullers's classic The Member of the Wedding is now available in small-format trade paperback for the first time.

"A marvelous study of the agony of adolescence" (Detroit Free Press), The Member of the Wedding showcases Carson McCullers at her most sensitive, astute, and lasting best.

An alternate-cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.]]> 163 Carson McCullers 0618492399 David 5 brooklyn-writers 3.82 1946 The Member of the Wedding
author: Carson McCullers
name: David
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1946
rating: 5
read at: 2018/01/02
date added: 2020/05/21
shelves: brooklyn-writers
review:

]]> The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 37380 359 Carson McCullers 0618084746 David 5 3.99 1940 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
author: Carson McCullers
name: David
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1940
rating: 5
read at: 2015/03/03
date added: 2020/05/21
shelves: scheduled-2015, 2015-reading-women, favorites, brooklyn-writers
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair)]]> 19706303 Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez’s never-before-told story of surviving a harrowing childhood and of how she found success—both in and out of the Hollywood limelight.ĚýRosie Perez first caught our attention with her fierce dance in the title sequence of Do the Right Thing and has since defined herself as a funny and talented actress who broke boundaries for Latinas in the film industry. What most people would be surprised to learn is that the woman with the big, effervescent personality has a secret straight out of a Dickens novel. At the age of three, Rosie’s life was turned upside down when her mentally ill mother tore her away from the only family she knew and placed her in a Catholic children’s home in New York’s Westchester County. Thus began her crazily discombobulated childhood of being shuttled between “the Home,â€� where she and other kids suffered all manners of cruelty from nuns, and various relativesâ€� apartments in Brooklyn.ĚýMany in her circumstances would have been defined by these harrowing experiences, but with the intense determination that became her trademark, Rosie overcame the odds and made an incredible life for herself. She brings her journey vividly to life on each page of this memoir—from the vibrant streets of Brooklyn to her turbulent years in the Catholic home, and finally to film and TV sets and the LA and New York City hip-hop scenes of the 1980s and â€�90s.Ěý ĚýMore than a page-turning read, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life is a story of survival. By turns heartbreaking and funny, it is ultimately the inspirational story of a woman who has found a hard-won place of strength and peace.]]> 338 Rosie PĂ©rez David 0 currently-reading 4.11 2014 Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair)
author: Rosie PĂ©rez
name: David
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/05/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Milkman 41086837 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780571338757.

In this unnamed city, to be interesting is dangerous. Middle sister, our protagonist, is busy attempting to keep her mother from discovering her maybe-boyfriend and to keep everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when first brother-in-law sniffs out her struggle, and rumours start to swell, middle sister becomes 'interesting'. The last thing she ever wanted to be. To be interesting is to be noticed and to be noticed is dangerous.

Milkman is a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences.]]> 352 Anna Burns David 0 to-read 3.59 2018 Milkman
author: Anna Burns
name: David
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> An Unwritten Novel 42894278 30 Virginia Woolf 1731380216 David 3 3.20 1920 An Unwritten Novel
author: Virginia Woolf
name: David
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1920
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/02
date added: 2020/03/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[American Daughter: A Memoir of Intergenerational Trauma, a Mother's Dark Secrets, and a Daughter's Quest for Redemption]]> 51007098 INSTANT AMAZON BEST SELLER

"American Daughter–in the tradition of classics like The Glass Castle, LA Diaries and White Oleander–explores in unsparing details the complex interplay between intimate family ties, generational abuse and cataclysmic losses."

� Gina Frangello, Author of Every Kind of Wanting and A Life in Men, Editor of The Coachella Review

For 50 years, Stephanie Thornton Plymale kept her past a fiercely guarded secret.

No one outside her immediate family would ever have guessed that her childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: a mentally ill mother who was in and out of jails and psych wards throughout Stephanie's formative years, neglect, hunger, poverty, homelessness, truancy, foster homes, a harrowing lack of medical care, and ongoing sexual abuse.

Stephanie, in turn, knew very little about the past of her mother, from whom she remained estranged during most of her adult life. All this changed with a phone call that set a journey of discovery in motion, leading to a series of shocking revelations that forced Stephanie to revise the meaning of almost every aspect of her very compromised childhood.

American Daughter is at once the deeply moving memoir of a troubled mother-daughter relationship and a meditation on trauma, resilience, transcendence, and redemption. Stephanie's story is unique but its messages are universal, offering insight into what it means to survive, to rise above, to heal, and to forgive.]]> 296 Stephanie Thornton Plymale David 0 to-read 4.29 2021 American Daughter: A Memoir of Intergenerational Trauma, a Mother's Dark Secrets, and a Daughter's Quest for Redemption
author: Stephanie Thornton Plymale
name: David
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Naked in the Woods: My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune]]> 23604106
Naked in the Woods chronicles Grundstein’s shift from reluctant hippie to committed utopian—sacrificing phones, electricity, and running water to live on 160 acres of remote forest with nothing but a drafty cabin and each other.Ěý Grundstein, (whose husband left, seduced by “freer loveâ€�) faced tough choices. Could she make it as a single woman in man’s country? Did she still want to? How committed was she to her new life? Although she reveled in the shared transcendence of communal life deep in the natural world, disillusionment slowly eroded the dream. Brotherhood frayed when food became scarce. Rifts formed over land ownership. Dogma and reality clashed.

Many people, baby boomers and millennials alike, have romantic notions about the 1960s and 70s. Grundstein’s vivid account offers an unflinching, authentic portrait of this iconic and often misreported time in American history. Accompanied by a collection of distinctive photographs she took at the time, Naked in the Woods draws readers into a period of convulsive social change and raises timeless how far must we venture to find the meaning we seek, and is it ever far out enough to escape our ingrained human nature?]]> 224 Margaret Grundstein 087071807X David 5 memoir, survival 3.80 2014 Naked in the Woods: My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune
author: Margaret Grundstein
name: David
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2020/02/21
date added: 2020/02/23
shelves: memoir, survival
review:

]]> Afterward 1696917 32 Edith Wharton 1419105086 David 0 currently-reading 3.56 1910 Afterward
author: Edith Wharton
name: David
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1910
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/12/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Crossing the Water 295148 64 Sylvia Plath 0060907894 David 0 to-read 4.12 1971 Crossing the Water
author: Sylvia Plath
name: David
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> In the Dream House: A Memoir 42188604 252 Carmen Maria Machado David 0 to-read 4.56 2019 In the Dream House: A Memoir
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: David
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Devil's Dictionary 1623500 145 Ambrose Bierce 0486204871 David 0 to-read 4.07 1911 The Devil's Dictionary
author: Ambrose Bierce
name: David
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Year of the Monkey 44776548 Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year.

Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs–including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger’s words, “Anything is possible: after all, it’s the Year of the Monkey.� For Smith–inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing–the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.

Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.

Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.]]> 171 Patti Smith 0525657681 David 5 3.81 2019 Year of the Monkey
author: Patti Smith
name: David
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/20
date added: 2019/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Blonde 357734 Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star.]]> 738 Joyce Carol Oates 006093493X David 5 3.88 2000 Blonde
author: Joyce Carol Oates
name: David
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/01
date added: 2019/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Talking While Female & Other Dangerous Acts]]> 45999493
Although rooted in the incredibly diverse spectrum that is the US Latina experience, this collection of stories is crafted for anyone who has ever felt invisible, powerless, or alone. This compilation provides a platform and much needed space for the many generations of women who have been tucked away into the corners of our history, erased, and ignored and shines a light on vibrant voices of today celebrating our power to heal, transform, and rise again. From interviewing public figures as problematic as Fidel Castro, to experiencing a leaky brain and the miraculous feats of modern medicine or losing a loved one to the brutalities of Alzheimer's, these storytellers share it all. Modeling vulnerability for the listener, we are given access to somber reflections on the current administration's impact on the marginalized - from those in violent cycles of poverty to those experiencing the gentrification crisis firsthand, to a passionate call to remember the children still in cages. This collection wouldn't be complete without vital stories of incredibly heartwarming coming-out experiences and journeys abroad that uplift us and remind us of our ability to overcome anything that comes our way.

Original stories by: Liza Ann Acosta, Maria Alexandria Beech, Sarah Bogdanski, Gabriela Bonet, Franceli Chapman, Antonieta Carpio, Marissa Chibas, Gina Cornejo, Ginna Diaz, Mari DeOleo, Melissa DuPrey, Georgina Escobar, Cristina Frias, Virginia Grise, Christina Igaraividez, Isabel Jimenez, Maya Malan-Gonzalez, Alexandra Meda, Jasminne Mendez, Elisa Noemi, Elizabeth Nungaray, Karari Olvera, Jessica Perez, Lorna Silva, Gabriela Ortega.

Created by Teatro Luna & Teatro Luna West - an ensemble creating original theatrical productions, digital media, and direct-action events toward a social justice purpose.

Directed by Alexandra Meda

Co-produced by Christina Igaraividez and Alexandra Meda

Original music by Maria Chavez & Mark VanHare

Sound design by Fan Zhang

©2019 Audible (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.]]> 190 Teatro Luna David 0 to-read 3.95 2019 Talking While Female & Other Dangerous Acts
author: Teatro Luna
name: David
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Short Stories of Saki 71196 718 Saki 0394604288 David 4 stories 4.13 1930 The Short Stories of Saki
author: Saki
name: David
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1930
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/08/29
shelves: stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Human Kind: A Doctor's Stories From The Heart Of Medicine]]> 37941832
Every doctor is haunted by memories of difficult relationships with patients, of the decisions made, and the outcomes that followed. People whom, despite all of their patience, persistence, the best communication, diagnostic and reasoning skills, they haven't helped. People for whose unique suffering it seems medicine has nothing to offer.

Dr. Peter Dorward explores the many ethical dilemmas that GPs must face every day, to explain why it is that despite vast resources, time, skill and dedication, medicine is so often destined to fail. His recollections include his worst failures and biggest challenges, ranging from the everyday, the tragic, the grotesque, the villainous and the humorous. The Human Kind presents a fresh understanding of the difficult relationship between doctor and patient, and the challenges which both must face.]]> 352 Peter Dorward 1472943902 David 0 to-read 3.73 The Human Kind: A Doctor's Stories From The Heart Of Medicine
author: Peter Dorward
name: David
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Harry Clarke 38203037
A sexually charged and wickedly funny thriller starring Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crudup, Harry Clarke is the story of a shy Midwestern man leading an outrageous double life as the titular cocky Londoner. Moving to New York City and presenting himself as an Englishman, he charms his way into a wealthy family's life as the seductive and precocious Harry, whose increasingly risky and dangerous behavior threatens to undo more than his persona.

Harry Clarke was originally produced by The Vineyard Theatre, in association with Audible, in New York in 2017. In a rave review of the stage production, The New York Times hailed Crudup's performance in a "a sly role terrifically suited to his gifts." And The Hollywood Reporter praised Crudup's "tour-de-force performance; effortlessly delineating his multiple characters, switching accents at the drop of a hat."

Also included is David Cale's Obie Award-winning solo play Lillian, performed by the author. A perfect companion character to the enigmatic Harry Clarke, Lillian - as described by The New York Times - "is a luminous embodiment of the ineffable in life, a reminder that even the most mundane existence is shaped by currents beyond comprehension."

©2017 David Cale (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC.]]> 4 David Cale David 4 3.21 2018 Harry Clarke
author: David Cale
name: David
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/26
date added: 2019/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis]]> 41716904 Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises.

Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Australia after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past?

Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet.]]> 512 Jared Diamond David 0 to-read 3.87 2019 Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
author: Jared Diamond
name: David
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dreaming in Cuban 41021622 274 Cristina GarcĂ­a David 4 3.66 1992 Dreaming in Cuban
author: Cristina GarcĂ­a
name: David
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/21
date added: 2019/05/22
shelves: brooklyn-writers, history, memoir, new-york-city
review:

]]> Small Fry: A Memoir 39218044
Small Fry is Lisa Brennan-Jobs's poignant story of a childhood spent between two imperfect but extraordinary homes. Scrappy, wise, and funny, young Lisa is an unforgettable guide through her parents' fascinating and disparate worlds. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is an enthralling book by an insightful new literary voice.]]> 383 Lisa Brennan-Jobs 0802128238 David 4 memoir, brooklyn-writers 3.76 2018 Small Fry: A Memoir
author: Lisa Brennan-Jobs
name: David
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/22
date added: 2019/05/22
shelves: memoir, brooklyn-writers
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lucky Suit (The Guys Who Got Away, #6)]]> 43796237 Listening Length: 2 hours and 25 minutes

Kristen Leonard is done with setups. She’s not interested in your son or your nephew or your butcher or the guy who mows your lawn, thank you very much, grandma! After all, she’s a modern woman—she’ll take her chances on the algorithms of online dating to find her ideal man. Before long, she meets a man who might just be the one—he’s hilarious, quick-witted, and full of heart. And when she meets up with Cameron in real life, he certainly looks exactly like his profile picture…but something’s not quite right.

There’s really no telling what brought them together and all bets are off as to whether or not they can trust their hearts over their heads. After all, can you fall in love with someone you’re not sure you really even know?]]> 3 Lauren Blakely David 1 no-finish-no-like 3.43 2019 Lucky Suit (The Guys Who Got Away, #6)
author: Lauren Blakely
name: David
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2019/04/02
date added: 2019/05/22
shelves: no-finish-no-like
review:

]]> Not Even My Name 255049 Not Even My Name is a rare eyewitness account of the horrors of a little-known, often denied genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of Armenian and Pontic Greek minorities in Turkey were killed during and after World War I. As told by Sano Halo to her daughter, Thea, this is the story of her survival of the death march at age ten that annihilated her family, and the mother-daughter pilgrimage to Turkey in search of Sano's home seventy years after her exile. Sano, a Pontic Greek from a small village near the Black Sea, also recounts the end of her ancient, pastoral way of life in the Pontic Mountains.

In the spring of 1920, Turkish soldiers arrived in the village and shouted the proclamation issued by General Kemal AttatĂĽrk: "You are to leave this place. You are to take with you only what you can carry . . . " After surviving the march, Sano was sold into marriage at age fifteen to a man three times her age who brought her to America. Not Even My Name follows Sano's marriage, the raising of her ten children, and her transformation from an innocent girl who lived an ancient way of life in a remote place to a woman in twentieth-century New York City.

Although Turkey actively suppresses the truth about the murder of almost three million of its Christian minorities--Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian--during and after World War I, and the exile of millions of others, here is a first-hand account of the horrors of that genocide.]]> 328 Thea Halo 0312277016 David 0 to-read 4.26 2000 Not Even My Name
author: Thea Halo
name: David
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Never Let Me Go 6334 288 Kazuo Ishiguro 1400078776 David 0 to-read 3.85 2005 Never Let Me Go
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: David
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World � and Why Things Are Better Than You Think]]> 40933227 Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends�what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse).

Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. ]]> 342 Hans Rosling 1250107814 David 5 science 4.41 2018 Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
author: Hans Rosling
name: David
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/04/15
date added: 2019/04/15
shelves: science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dandelion Wine (Green Town, #1)]]> 18132465 338 Ray Bradbury David 0 to-read 4.16 1957 Dandelion Wine (Green Town, #1)
author: Ray Bradbury
name: David
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Winter's Bone 112525
Ree's father has disappeared before. The Dolly clan has worked the shadowy side of the law for generations, and arrests (and attempts to avoid them) are part of life in Rathlin Valley. But the house is all they have, and Ree's father would never forfeit it to the bond company unless something awful happened. With two young brothers depending on her and a mother who's entered a kind of second childhood, Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive, or else see her family turned out into the unforgiving cold.

Sixteen-year-old Ree, who has grown up in the harsh poverty of the Ozarks, learns quickly that asking questions of the rough Dolly clan can be a fatal mistake. She perseveres past obstacles of every kind and finally confronts the top figures in the family's hierarchy.

Along the way to a shocking revelation, Ree discovers unexpected depths in herself and in a family network that protects its own at any cost.]]> 225 Daniel Woodrell David 4 3.83 2006 Winter's Bone
author: Daniel Woodrell
name: David
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/01
date added: 2019/04/01
shelves:
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 David 5 3.59 2004 Memories of My Melancholy Whores
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: David
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/05
date added: 2019/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]>