en-US Fri, 11 Apr 2025 20:04:01 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 201291411
When Lily Barden discovers her best friend Johanna’s hand in marriage is being awarded as the main prize at a tournament, she is determined to stop it. Disguised as a knight, she infiltrates the contest, preparing to fight for Jo’s hand. But her conduct ruffles feathers, and when a dangerous incident escalates out of Lily’s control, Jo must help her escape.

Finding safety with a local brewster, Lily and Jo soon settle into their new freedom, and amongst blackberry bushes and lakeside walks an unexpected relationship blossoms. But when Jo’s past catches up with her and Lily’s reckless behaviour threatens their newfound happiness, both women realise that choices must always come at a cost. The question they need to ask is if the cost is worth the price of love…]]> 336 Emma Denny 000867339X prapti 0 3.92 2024
author: Emma Denny
name: prapti
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> 7790524
But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin.

Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.]]> 263 Patrick Süskind 0141041153 prapti 5 3.86 1985
author: Patrick Süskind
name: prapti
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> 55880201 Would you share your deepest secrets to save a friend?

In a tranquil neighbourhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining.

At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits and twinkling chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But there's a catch: if they don't leave the castle by five o'clock, they will be punished.

As time passes, a devastating truth emerges: only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved.

Tender, playful, gripping, Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a mesmerizing tale about the importance of reaching out, confronting anxiety and embracing human connection.]]> 354 Mizuki Tsujimura prapti 0 currently-reading 4.17 2017
author: Mizuki Tsujimura
name: prapti
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 20821284
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.]]> 337 Jacqueline Woodson 0399252517 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.14 2014
author: Jacqueline Woodson
name: prapti
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
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]]> 37887580 1799 MsKingBean89 prapti 5 4.77 2018
author: MsKingBean89
name: prapti
average rating: 4.77
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
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]]> 43208407 ‘For a very long time, the days went by, each just like the day before, then I began to think, and everything changed�

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.]]> 188 Jacqueline Harpman 152911179X prapti 5 4.24 1995
author: Jacqueline Harpman
name: prapti
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> 221860173
Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.]]> 183 Han Kang 1846276039 prapti 3 3.70 2007
author: Han Kang
name: prapti
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> 821099 220 L.M. Montgomery 1576463214 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.99 1911
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: prapti
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1911
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> 37678644 'Amok' is one of the most intense and incisive of the tales that brought Stefan Zweig worldwide fame.]]> 88 Stefan Zweig 1782274510 prapti 3 3.85 1922
author: Stefan Zweig
name: prapti
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1922
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
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men will rly do anything but go to therapy
]]> 9287014 Librarian note: alternate covers for this edition can be found here

The magical Peter Pan comes to the night nursery of the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael. He teaches them to fly, then takes them through the sky to Never-Never Land, where they find Red Indians, wolves, Mermaids and... Pirates.

The leader of the pirates is the sinister Captain Hook. His hand was bitten off by a crocodile, who, as Captain Hook explains 'liked me arm so much that he has followed me ever since, licking his lips for the rest of me'. After lots of adventures, the story reaches its exciting climax as Peter, Wendy and the children do battle with Captain Hook and his band.]]> 269 J.M. Barrie 1853261203 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.70 2005
author: J.M. Barrie
name: prapti
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> 57390604
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.]]> 417 Zoulfa Katouh 0316351377 prapti 5 4.48 2022
author: Zoulfa Katouh
name: prapti
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/19
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]]> 49849088
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s compelling tale of a young woman’s seduction by a female vampire was a source of influence for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which it predates by over a quarter century. Carmilla was originally serialized from 1871 to 1872 and went on to inspire adaptations in film, opera, and beyond, including the cult classic web series by the same name.

Carmilla kicks Dracula’s ass. Alluring, macabre, oneiric—the novella unfolds in endlessly strange directions every time I revisit it. And at its core, a pair of indelible female characters, whose attraction to each other is so undeniable that the text itself seems unable to contain them. I can’t think of a better guide through this ethereal, infuriating book than Carmen Machado—whose Borgesian imagination unearths for us the possibilities buried in its pages.

—Jordan Hall, co-creator & writer of Carmilla: The Series]]> 141 J. Sheridan Le Fanu 1941360386 prapti 0 3.95 1872
author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
name: prapti
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> 36436059 Do I wish to keep up with the times? No. My wish simply is to live my life as fully as I can'

The great American poet, novelist and environmental activist argues for a life lived slowly.]]> 48 Wendell Berry 0241337569 prapti 3 3.66 1987
author: Wendell Berry
name: prapti
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
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]]> 56533994 Librarian's Note: an alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....]]> 288 Peter Brown 1848127278 prapti 4 4.21 2016
author: Peter Brown
name: prapti
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> 52544164 Brilliant, heartbreaking and highly original, Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, and a testament to the redemptive power of storytelling.

This is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born. It tells of Vietnam, of the lasting impact of war, and of his family's struggle to forge a new future. And it serves as a doorway into parts of Little Dog's life his mother has never known - episodes of bewilderment, fear and passion - all the while moving closer to an unforgettable revelation.]]> 246 Ocean Vuong 1529110688 prapti 0 3.87 2019
author: Ocean Vuong
name: prapti
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar prapti 5 all-time-favs 3.87 2019
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: prapti
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: all-time-favs
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]]> 61384820
Bobbing along in this stream of multiple lives for more than a decade-from Manju's boredom in 'rurban' Rampur and Gold's anger at having to compete with Western women for male attention in Delhi's nightclubs, to Zahira's break from domestic abuse in Ahmedabad-Bhattacharya gleans the details on what Indian women think about men, money, movies, beauty, helplessness, agency and love. A most unusual and compelling book on the female gaze, this is the story of how women have experienced post-liberalization India.]]> 0 Shrayana Bhattacharya 9698729798 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.25 2021
author: Shrayana Bhattacharya
name: prapti
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 39808497 272 Franz Kafka 1784874000 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.93 1952
author: Franz Kafka
name: prapti
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1952
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 55648820
When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York's Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry - or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.

Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva's not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered...

With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781538719107.]]> 336 Tia Williams prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.98 2021
author: Tia Williams
name: prapti
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 41212753
With no other options, Rin joins forces with the powerful Dragon Warlord, who has a plan to conquer Nikan, unseat the Empress, and create a new Republic. Rin throws herself into his war. After all, making war is all she knows how to do.

But the Empress is a more powerful foe than she appears, and the Dragon Warlord’s motivations are not as democratic as they seem. The more Rin learns, the more she fears her love for Nikan will drive her away from every ally and lead her to rely more and more on the Phoenix’s deadly power. Because there is nothing she won’t sacrifice for her country and her vengeance

The sequel to R.F. Kuang’s acclaimed debut THE POPPY WAR, THE DRAGON REPUBLIC combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating effect.]]> 654 R.F. Kuang 0062662635 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.36 2019
author: R.F. Kuang
name: prapti
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> 53029302 Nostalgic fans of the Miyazaki film and newcomers alike--soar into the modern classic about a young witch and her clever cat that started it all!

Half-witch Kiki never runs from a challenge. So when her thirteenth birthday arrives, she's eager to follow a witch's tradition: choose a new town to call home for one year.

Brimming with confidence, Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily bring happiness to the townspeople. But gaining the trust of the locals is trickier than she expected. With her faithful, wise-cracking black cat, Jiji, by her side, Kiki forges new friendships and builds her inner strength, ultimately realizing that magic can be found in even the most ordinary places.

Blending fantasy with the charm of everyday life, this enchanting new translation will inspire both new readers and dedicated fans.]]> 193 Eiko Kadono 1984896660 prapti 4 4.17 1985
author: Eiko Kadono
name: prapti
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
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]]> 199354786 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 384 Emily Henry 0241624142 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.28 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: prapti
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> 33912183 “It was the start of spring. It was raining. That was the day that she brought me home.�

This is the story of Miyu, a woman who lives alone with her cat, Chobi. As Miyu navigates the world of adulthood, she discovers both the freedom and loneliness that come with living independently, and Chobi learns of the outside world through her actions. Time drifts slowly for Miyu and her cat, but the harsh realities of the world soon catch up…]]> 180 Makoto Shinkai 1945054409 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.70 2016
author: Makoto Shinkai
name: prapti
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> 55502861
Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.]]> 336 India Holton 0593200160 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.64 2021
author: India Holton
name: prapti
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> 215366091 An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family, from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.]]> 448 Sally Rooney 0571365477 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.04 2024
author: Sally Rooney
name: prapti
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/08
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]]> 59733531
The long-awaited new work from the author of Foster, Small Things Like These is an unforgettable story of hope, quiet heroism and tenderness.]]> 116 Claire Keegan 0571368700 prapti 4 4.21 2021
author: Claire Keegan
name: prapti
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
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]]> 207611551 A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.

Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences�

Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.

Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.]]> 336 Julie Leong 0593815912 prapti 0 to-read 3.82 2024
author: Julie Leong
name: prapti
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 12483882 Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against "them" -- a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.]]> 103 Osamu Dazai 1935548085 prapti 5 4.02 1939
author: Osamu Dazai
name: prapti
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/28
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]]> 147779009 A powerful novel of the saving grace of language and human connection, from the celebrated author of The Vegetarian.

'Breathtaking . . . She is simply my favourite living writer to read, and think with, and see the world with' Max Porter
__________________

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.

Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human connection, a novel to awaken the senses, vividly conjuring the essence of what it means to be alive.

Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won.
__________________

'Another stunning gem: quiet, sharply faceted, and devastating' Kirkus

'Han Kang's vivid and at times violent storytelling will wake up even the most jaded of literary palates' Independent

'Han Kang is a writer like no other. In a few lines, she seems to traverse the entirety of human experience' Katie Kitamura]]> 149 Han Kang 0241997062 prapti 4 3.55 2011
author: Han Kang
name: prapti
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
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]]> 123431496
Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn’t want her to make it out alive. And she’ll have to figure out who before she’s left alone� in the dark.

From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn.]]> 372 Tanvi Berwah 1728247659 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.50 2024
author: Tanvi Berwah
name: prapti
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 57626046
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral's family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they're lucky―survive.

When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family's financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can't afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral's only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.

But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders―including her ex-boyfriend―who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When a rebellion rises and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister's―before the whole island burns.

She grew up battling the monsters that live in the black seas, but it couldn't prepare her to face the cunning cruelty of the ruling elite.

Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and These Violent Delights, this South Asian-inspired fantasy is a gripping debut about the power of the elite, the price of glory, and one girl's chance to change it all.]]> 352 Tanvi Berwah 1728247624 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.46 2022
author: Tanvi Berwah
name: prapti
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 215079493
For the first few months all Yeongju does is cry, but the long hours in the shop also give her time to mull over what makes a good bookseller and store. As she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she eases into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again.]]> 303 Hwang Bo-Reum 1526662280 prapti 4 3.99 2022
author: Hwang Bo-Reum
name: prapti
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
review:
i think if i had read it at a different time, when i needed smth calm, peaceful and healing, perhaps i would’ve liked it more because i definitely do see its value. enjoyable characters, themes, and cosy bookstore vibes. if you’ve been feeling weighed down by the rush of life, perhaps you’ll find refuge in here.
]]> 203579233 Januaries is a collection of new and iconic short stories and novellas from New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, the tutelary spirit to a magical bridge rapidly approaches burnout. Meanwhile, congress enacts a complex auditing system designed to un-waste your youth, a banished fairy answers a Craigslist ad, a Victorian orphan gains literacy for her occult situationship, and a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away. Escape the slow trudge of mortality with these magical ruminations on life, death, and the love (or revenge) that outlasts both, featuring modified fairytales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry, and at least one set of actual wedding vows.]]> 391 Olivie Blake 1250330688 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.87 2024
author: Olivie Blake
name: prapti
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: prapti
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 55927316
It is recommended to be read after the first 5 chapters of The Burning God (Book #3).]]> 15 R.F. Kuang prapti 0 to-read 4.52 2020
author: R.F. Kuang
name: prapti
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 45857086 The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R. F. Kuang’s acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead.Ìý

Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation.Ìý

Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, though, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it?Ìý]]> 622 R.F. Kuang 0008339147 prapti 0 to-read 4.29 2020
author: R.F. Kuang
name: prapti
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]> 545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 prapti 5 4.16 2018
author: R.F. Kuang
name: prapti
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 123029113 A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.

Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power�

Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just know how to unlock the spell’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.

Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone...and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.]]> 336 Sangu Mandanna prapti 0 to-read 4.33 2025
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: prapti
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199798179 A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats� from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge�: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as �1847� or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,� “Spotify,� and “the collapse of the British Empire.� But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.]]> 339 Kaliane Bradley 1668045141 prapti 0 to-read 3.54 2024
author: Kaliane Bradley
name: prapti
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> 216172531
For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.

Flash forward months and months later and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Only…Liz will have none of it. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend…a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.]]> 448 Lynn Painter 1398536423 prapti 4 3.94 2024
author: Lynn Painter
name: prapti
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/22
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]]> 207639332
Except, maybe, a handsome, overachieving, book-reading senior from Sana’s college?

Pranav is the typical ‘cool guy� sought after by the entire college. He also happens to be Sana’s new friend, Aanchal’s, brother. But he’s nothing more than a friend! Sana already has the best boyfriend in the world!

had, before a drunk driver on New Year’s Eve obliterated her happiness.

Set in New Delhi, Fool Me Twice is an unconventional story that will stump readers expecting a good, old romance trope. We meet and fall in love with a young couple planning their futures together when life rudely hijacks the steering wheel. Exploring the ways a twenty-year-old navigates grief and life after a loss that shatters most fifty-year-olds, Fool Me Twice looks at the complexity of falling in love 'again' at an age where most are falling for the first time, and what it feels like to move on from mourning one great love to make room for another.]]> 248 Nona Uppal 935708827X prapti 3 3.67
author: Nona Uppal
name: prapti
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/30
date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> 197036035
On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform—one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?

But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out—and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer. That Night in the Library is a chilling literary mystery that transports readers to a world where secrets live in the dark, books breathe fears to life, and the only way out is to wait until morning.]]> 288 Eva Jurczyk 1728295696 prapti 2 this was such an intriguing premise, but the writing and story arc were such a letdown. the reveal is far from climactic and there was not enough character lore, not enough plot, and definitely not enough greek stuff. i didn’t hate it, but i didn’t particularly like it either. however, an extra .5 because i do love crazy student literature. ]]> 2.65 2024
author: Eva Jurczyk
name: prapti
average rating: 2.65
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:
2.5
this was such an intriguing premise, but the writing and story arc were such a letdown. the reveal is far from climactic and there was not enough character lore, not enough plot, and definitely not enough greek stuff. i didn’t hate it, but i didn’t particularly like it either. however, an extra .5 because i do love crazy student literature.
]]> 34852836
Emma, Norman and Ray are the brightest kids at the Grace Field House orphanage. And under the care of the woman they refer to as “Mom,� all the kids have enjoyed a comfortable life. Good food, clean clothes and the perfect environment to learn—what more could an orphan ask for? One day, though, Emma and Norman uncover the dark truth of the outside world they are forbidden from seeing.]]> 189 Kaiu Shirai 1421597128 prapti 0 4.38 2016
author: Kaiu Shirai
name: prapti
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 176443264 Cultish and host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, a delicious blend of cultural criticism and personal narrative that explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking.

Utilizing the linguistic insights of her “witty and brilliant� first book Wordslut and the sociological explorations of her breakout hit Cultish, Amanda Montell now turns her erudite eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.

“Magical thinking� can be broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external Think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency amid chaos, but in The Age of Magical Overthinking, Montell argues that in the modern information age, our brain’s coping mechanisms have been overloaded, and our irrationality turned up to an eleven.

In a series of razor sharp, deeply funny chapters, Montell delves into a cornucopia of the cognitive biases that run rampant in our brains, from how the “Halo effect� cultivates worship (and hatred) of larger than life celebrities, to how the “Sunk Cost Fallacy� can keep us in detrimental relationships long after we’ve realized they’re not serving us. As she illuminates these concepts with her signature brilliance and wit, Montell’s prevailing message is one of hope, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness for our anxiety-addled human selves. If you have all but lost faith in our ability to reason, Montell aims to make some sense of the senseless. To crack open a window in our minds, and let a warm breeze in. To help quiet the cacophony for a while, or even hear a melody in it.]]> 259 Amanda Montell 1668007975 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.45 2024
author: Amanda Montell
name: prapti
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 56179356
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.]]> 119 Alix E. Harrow 1250765358 prapti 0 3.58 2021
author: Alix E. Harrow
name: prapti
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 199310463
When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states.

In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice.

In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves.

Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?]]> 384 Rachel Lynn Solomon 1665901950 prapti 5 3.84 2024
author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
name: prapti
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
review:
i just love them so much� as individuals and as a couple. would read 100 books abt them. also this was catnip to my long distance relationship heart
]]> 9951114 140 Diana Wynne Jones 0007416857 prapti 3 3.56 2011
author: Diana Wynne Jones
name: prapti
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 58536037 A young, mixed-race vampire must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with her incessant hunger in this stunning debut novel from a writer-to-watch.

Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try Japanese food. Sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and iced-coffee, ice cream and cake, and foraged herbs and plants, and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But, Lydia can't eat any of these things. Her body doesn't work like those of other people. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London--where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.

Then there are the humans--the other artists at the studio space, the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men that follow her after dark, and Ben, a boyish, goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. In her windowless studio, where she paints and studies the work of other artists, binge-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and videos of people eating food on YouTube and Instagram, Lydia considers her place in the world. She has many of the things humans wish for--perpetual youth, near-invulnerability, immortality--but, she is miserable; she is lonely; and she is hungry--always hungry.

As Lydia develops as a woman and an artist, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her--between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.]]> 240 Claire Kohda 0063140888 prapti 0 to-read 3.46 2022
author: Claire Kohda
name: prapti
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 38633526
Our life is brief . . .

While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin.

As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it’s the only place she should be. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education.

As she quickly discovers, the institute’s "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.

A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.]]> 408 Marina Dyachenko 0062694596 prapti 0 to-read 4.00 2007
author: Marina Dyachenko
name: prapti
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> 39863194 A Bittersweet Romance

In this deeply moving first-person story, an introverted high school boy finds his classmate’s diary―and learns her biggest secret. Yamauchi Sakura is dying from a pancreatic disease and now he is the only one person outside her family to know the truth. The last thing the boy wants is to be her friend, but Sakura’s cheerful demeanor and their shared secret draw them together in this heartrending tale of friendship and mortality.]]> 442 Yoru Sumino 1642750328 prapti 4 4.39 2014
author: Yoru Sumino
name: prapti
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 199190261
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover settle into Hecate’s seemingly endless mansion and start getting acquainted with the fussy, terrifying animals. The trio has been warned not to touch anything, but while Percy and Annabeth are out at school, Grover can’t resist drinking a strawberry-flavored potion in the laboratory. It turns him into a giant frenzied goat, and after he rampages through the house, damaging everything in sight, and passes out, Hecuba and Gale escape. Now the friends have to find Hecate’s pets and somehow restore the house, all before Hecate gets back on Saturday. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.]]> 322 Rick Riordan 1368112382 prapti 0 4.14 2024
author: Rick Riordan
name: prapti
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
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]]> 52706058 One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time.

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is on the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case, but can this scruffy sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?]]> 189 Seishi Yokomizo 1782275002 prapti 3 3.63 1946
author: Seishi Yokomizo
name: prapti
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1946
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
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]]> 57932777
That girl didn’t want to die. She just wanted out of that house. She wanted out of that decorating scheme.

The five Lisbon sisters � beautiful, eccentric, and, now, gone –had always been a point of obsession for the entire neighborhood.

Although the boys that once loved them from afar have grown up, they remain determined to understand a tragedy that has defied explanation. The question persists � why did all five of the Lisbon girls take their own lives?

This lyrical and timeless tale of sex and suicide that transforms and mythologizes suburban middle-American life announced the arrival of one of the greatest American novelists of the last thirty years.

‘A flare from my own secret world, all the inchoate longings, and obsessions of being a teenager somehow rendered into book form� Emma Cline, author of The Girls]]> 243 Jeffrey Eugenides 000848516X prapti 0 3.56 1993
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: prapti
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
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]]> 212679091 I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.]]> 400 Judy I. Lin 1250357136 prapti 4 4.00 2022
author: Judy I. Lin
name: prapti
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/24
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
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]]> 56978089
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.]]> 374 Judy I. Lin 1250767083 prapti 4 3.81 2022
author: Judy I. Lin
name: prapti
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 30891847 steadily crescendos into a harrowing endingone that will have
you at the edge of your seats and one that you will never see coming.
Thinking of Ending Things is an edgy, haunting debut.
Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, this novel will pull you in from
the very first page]]and will never let you go.]]> 275 Iain Reid 1410494144 prapti 4 3.44 2016
author: Iain Reid
name: prapti
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X prapti 0 to-read 4.22 2020
author: Susanna Clarke
name: prapti
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 199295788 In this charming and emotionally resonant follow up to the internationally bestselling Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa paints a poignant and thoughtful portrait of life, love, and how much books and bookstores mean to the people who love them.

Set again in the beloved Japanese bookshop and nearby coffee shop in the Jimbocho neighborhood of Toyko, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop deepens the relationship between Takako, her uncle Satoru , and the people in their lives. A new cast of heartwarming regulars have appeared in the shop, including an old man who wears the same ragged mouse-colored sweater and another who collects books solely for the official stamps with the author’s personal seal.

Satoshi Yagisawa illuminates the everyday relationships between people that are forged and grown through a shared love of books. As time passes, Satoru, with Takako’s help, must choose whether to keep the bookshop open or shutter its doors forever. Making the decision will take uncle and niece on an emotional journey back to their family’s roots and remind them again what a bookstore can mean to an individual, a neighborhood, and a whole culture.]]> 176 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278715 prapti 0 3.90 2011
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: prapti
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/06
date added: 2024/09/08
shelves:
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]]> 60099660 actually invisible.
Ìý
When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.
Ìý
But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience—or even her life.

In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates� most scandalous secrets.]]> 346 Ann Liang 1335915842 prapti 5 4.01 2022
author: Ann Liang
name: prapti
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
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]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X prapti 5 4.05 2022
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: prapti
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
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]]> 17378508
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.]]> 391 Maggie Stiefvater 0545424968 prapti 4 4.26 2014
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: prapti
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/20
date added: 2024/08/20
shelves:
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]]> 58342887 Librarian note: An alternative cover for this ASIN can be found here.

When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.

The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath's own life and descent into mental illness, and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society and has sold millions of copies worldwide.]]> 244 Sylvia Plath prapti 4 4.01 1963
author: Sylvia Plath
name: prapti
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/07
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
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]]> 51323376
Over a year after being entrusted with Ginseng's care, Greta still can't chase away the cloud of mourning that hangs over the timid Tea Dragon. As she struggles to create something spectacular enough to impress a master blacksmith in search of an apprentice, she questions the true meaning of crafting, and the true meaning of caring for someone in grief.

Meanwhile, Minette receives a surprise package from the monastery where she was once training to be a prophetess. Thrown into confusion about her path in life, the shy and reserved Minette finds that the more she opens her heart to others, the more clearly she can see what was always inside.

Told with the same care and charm as the previous installments of the Tea Dragon series, The Tea Dragon Tapestry welcomes old friends and new into a heartfelt story of purpose, love, and growth.]]> 135 Kay O'Neill 1620107740 prapti 0 to-read 4.50 2021
author: Kay O'Neill
name: prapti
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 63898281
The original hero. A brand-new adventure.

Percy Jackson has saved the world multiple times - battling monsters, Titans, even giants - but these days the modern-day son of Poseidon is hoping for a regular final year at school.

Too bad the Greek gods have other plans, and three new quests for Percy to complete.

First up: the cupbearer of the gods, Ganymede, is missing his golden chalice. Not only is this embarrassing (why do the gods keep losing their magical items?), it's also potentially disastrous. One sip from the cup will turn any mortal into a powerful god. And the old gods do not take kindly to newbies.

Can Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover find the chalice before it falls into the wrong hands? And even if they do, will they be able to resist its awesome power. . .?

Readers new to the Percy Jackson universe and long-time fans will love this epic adventure - full of legendary heroes, mythical creatures, ancient Greek gods and enduring friendship - from the global bestseller Rick Riordan.]]> 269 Rick Riordan 0241647568 prapti 4 4.36 2023
author: Rick Riordan
name: prapti
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves:
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]]> 4556058
While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy's sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.]]> 381 Rick Riordan 1423101472 prapti 5 4.59 2009
author: Rick Riordan
name: prapti
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves:
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]]> 41716694
Amanda Montell, feminist linguist and staff features editor at online beauty and health magazine Byrdie.com, deconstructs language—from insults and cursing to grammar and pronunciation patterns—to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women form gaining equality. Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women use the word “like� as a filler? Or why certain gender neutral terms stick and others don’t? Or even how linguists have historically discussed women’s speech patterns? Wordslut is no stuffy academic study; Montell’s irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable but both downright hilarious and profound.]]> 304 Amanda Montell 006286887X prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 4.26 2019
author: Amanda Montell
name: prapti
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/17
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
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]]> 42369064 135 Kay O'Neill 1620106558 prapti 5 4.40 2019
author: Kay O'Neill
name: prapti
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves:
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]]> 34895950 Princess Princess Ever After comes The Tea Dragon Society, a charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons.

After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives—and eventually her own.]]> 71 Kay O'Neill 1620104415 prapti 5 4.35 2017
author: Kay O'Neill
name: prapti
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves:
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]]> 35058022
When Elena decided to camp out for the next Star Wars movie, she was expecting a celebration, a communion â€� a line full of people who love Star Wars so much, they have to share it.Ìý

She wasn’t expecting Ìý a freezing sidewalk, nowhere to pee, and three nights stuck with a boy who decided not to like her before they even met.

It’s enough to make a girl leave the line�

But Elena came here for Star Wars, and it will take more than bad weather and a dumb boy to squash her spirits.]]> 41 Rainbow Rowell 1938263286 prapti 4 4.15 2016
author: Rainbow Rowell
name: prapti
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/10
date added: 2024/07/12
shelves:
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]]> 51035594 In this riotous young adult romp for fans of Recommended for You and A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, a teen girl has the worst Valentine’s Day ever—only to relive it over and over again.

After living through a dumpster fire of a Valentine’s Day, Emilie Hornby escapes to her grandmother’s house for some comfort and a consolation pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She passes out on the couch, but when she wakes up, she’s back home in her own bed—and it’s Valentine’s Day all over again. And the next day? Another nightmare V-Day.

Emilie is stuck in some sort of time loop nightmare that she can’t wake up from as she re-watches her boyfriend, Josh, cheat on her day after day. In addition to Josh’s recurring infidelity, Emilie can’t get away from the enigmatic Nick, who she keeps running into—sometimes literally—in unfortunate ways.

How many days can one girl passively watch her life go up in flames? And when something good starts to come out of these terrible days, what happens when the universe stops doling out do-overs?]]> 304 Lynn Painter prapti 4 3.93 2022
author: Lynn Painter
name: prapti
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves:
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]]> 56817365
But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children � among them Petra and her family � have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.

Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet � and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard � or purged them altogether.

Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?]]> 320 Donna Barba Higuera 1646140893 prapti 4 4.05 2021
author: Donna Barba Higuera
name: prapti
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/04
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves:
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]]> 182484360
Lights. Camera. Lies.

18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And � could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.]]> 448 Holly Jackson 0593374207 prapti 4 4.09 2024
author: Holly Jackson
name: prapti
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
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]]> 55987278 How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy...]]> 408 Stephanie Garber 1250268397 prapti 5 all-time-favs 4.06 2021
author: Stephanie Garber
name: prapti
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves: all-time-favs
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]]> 26817985 427 L.M. Montgomery prapti 5 all-time-favs 4.51 1908
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: prapti
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1908
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves: all-time-favs
review:

]]> 29610266
A poignant tale of love and loneliness from Russia's foremost writer.

One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.]]> 128 Fyodor Dostoevsky 0241252083 prapti 5 all-time-favs 4.02 1848
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: prapti
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1848
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves: all-time-favs
review:

]]> 33809968 'It's true what they say - it's not we who control money, it's the money that controls us. When there's only a little, it behaves meekly; when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us.'

From a cramped, ant-infested house to a spacious bungalow, a family finds itself making a transition in many ways. The narrator, a sensitive young man, is numbed by the swirl around him. All he can do is flee every day to an old-world cafe, where he seeks solace from an oracular waiter. As members of the family realign their equations and desires, new strands are knotted, others come apart, and conflict brews dangerously in the background.

Masterfully translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur, Ghachar Ghochar is a suspenseful, playful and ultimately menacing story about the shifting consequences of success.]]> 117 Vivek Shanbhag 9352642376 prapti 4 4.02 2013
author: Vivek Shanbhag
name: prapti
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves:
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]]> 28187 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.]]> 377 Rick Riordan 0786838655 prapti 5 4.31 2005
author: Rick Riordan
name: prapti
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 51285821 A young witch must pass a coming-of-age quest or risk losing her magic forever.

Sometimes all you need is a pinch of magic...

Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of Novice Witch before her thirteenth birthday. If she doesn't, she'll lose her magic forever. For most young witches and wizards, it's a simple enough test:

One: Help your town, do good all around.
Two: Live there for one moon, don't leave too soon.
Three: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.

The only problem? Eva only has a pinch of magic. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers and gets a sunburn instead of calling down rain. And to add insult to injury, whenever she overuses her magic, she falls asleep.

When she lands in the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, the residents expect a powerful witch, not a semi-magical girl. So Eva comes up with a plan: set up a magical repair shop to aid Auteri and prove she's worthy. She may have more blood than magic, but her "semi-magical fixes" repair the lives of the townspeople in ways they never could have imagined. Only, Eva's bit of magic may not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she's grown to love. Eva must conjure up all of the magic, bravery, and cleverness she can muster or Auteri and her dreams of becoming a witch will wash away with the storm.]]> 400 Julie Abe 0316493880 prapti 0 to-read 4.12 2020
author: Julie Abe
name: prapti
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 44286258 When Dimple Met Rishi meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this rom com about two teen girls with rival henna businesses.

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.

Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.]]> 400 Adiba Jaigirdar prapti 4 3.93 2020
author: Adiba Jaigirdar
name: prapti
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
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]]> 60224365 The latest novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series, following four new customers in a little Tokyo café where customers can travel back in time.

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

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the CafeÌýcomes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to a daughter, a comedian, a sister, and a lover, each with something they wish they had said differently.

With his signature heartwarming characters and immersive storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?]]> 220 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 0369722698 prapti 2 3.90 2018
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: prapti
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/17
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 68049742 0 Shirley Jackson 9394752307 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.57 1962
author: Shirley Jackson
name: prapti
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/23
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 44076759 9780241411148 Black Beauty
9780241411155 Dracula
9780241411193 A Christmas Carol
9780241411209 The Wizard of Oz
9780241411216 Treasure Island]]> 341 Frances Hodgson Burnett 0241411165 prapti 4 4.18 1911
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: prapti
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1911
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/09
date added: 2024/05/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 44319038 The Mystic and the Lyric brings together the classic work of four women poets from Kashmir who have shaped its literary imagination: Lalded, Habba Khatun, Arnimal, and Rupa Bhavani.

These women inhabit not just the collective memory of Kashmiris and Kashmir but are part of the land’s living oral tradition. Folk singers begin their performances with Lalded’s vaakhs (quatrains). Arnimal’s pain of unrequited love and Khatun’s complaints about her in-laws are ironic wedding vatsans or songs. Bhavani’s sites of meditation are now shrines where her vaakhs are chanted in annual celebrations.

Central to the shaping of both the mystic and the lyric traditions of Kashmiri poetry, the work of these poets is unknown outside Kashmir. In this collection, Neerja Mattoo’s elegant translations introduce new readers to the beautiful living oral tradition of Kashmiri lyric poetry and give these revolutionary women the recognition they richly deserve.
Ìý]]> 252 Neerja Mattoo 9385932713 prapti 0 physical-tbr, to-read 4.17
author: Neerja Mattoo
name: prapti
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/28
shelves: physical-tbr, to-read
review:

]]> 75302266 Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.]]> 378 Ava Reid 0063211505 prapti 4 3.73 2023
author: Ava Reid
name: prapti
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/28
date added: 2024/04/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 17347389 439 Maggie Stiefvater 0545424941 prapti 4 4.22 2013
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: prapti
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/15
date added: 2024/04/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 91274427 For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life.

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazineÌýeditor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.]]> 304 Michiko Aoyama 1335005625 prapti 4 4.07 2020
author: Michiko Aoyama
name: prapti
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 17675462 “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,� Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.�

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.]]> 409 Maggie Stiefvater 0545424925 prapti 5 4.05 2012
author: Maggie Stiefvater
name: prapti
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/04
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 50165101 ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
NPR - THE A.V. CLUB

From the creator of the beloved and universally acclaimed television series BoJack Horseman, a fabulously off-beat collection of short stories about love--the best and worst thing in the universe.

"Complex, daring, emotional, and unique, with notes of melancholic brilliance and an aftertaste of subtle elation: it is hard to describe the writing of Raphael Bob-Waksberg without sounding like Frasier discussing wine."
--B. J. Novak, author of One More Thing

Written with all the scathing dark humor that is a hallmark of BoJack Horseman, Raphael Bob-Waksberg's stories will make you laugh, weep, and shiver in uncomfortably delicious recognition. In "A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion," a young couple engaged to be married is forced to deal with interfering relatives dictating the appropriate number of ritual goat sacrifices for their wedding. "Missed Connection--m4w" is the tragicomic tale of a pair of lonely commuters eternally failing to make that longed-for contact. And in "More of the You That You Already Are," a struggling employee at a theme park of dead presidents finds that love can't be genetically modified.

Equally at home with the surreal and the painfully relatable (and both at once), Bob-Waksberg delivers a killer combination of humor, romance, whimsy, cultural commentary, and crushing emotional vulnerability.]]> 256 Raphael Bob-Waksberg 0525432728 prapti 4 3.95 2019
author: Raphael Bob-Waksberg
name: prapti
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 60657589
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, and the Fair Folk.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart.]]> 336 Heather Fawcett 059350013X prapti 4 3.99 2023
author: Heather Fawcett
name: prapti
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/06
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 61326735
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?]]> 389 Ali Hazelwood 1408725797 prapti 3 4.07 2023
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: prapti
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/25
date added: 2024/02/25
shelves:
review:
idk. it was very cute for a while but then there were farrrr too many pages of just smut and then came the third-act breakup (not well done at all). i loved elsie so much and would love to know more about her as a character but the way ali hazelwood wrote this book was� weird? like it just made me head hurt a lot. but yeah, it was nice reading about academia politics. for a romance novel, this sure did all the non-romance parts well!! but as far as the romance parts go? love hypothesis was better.
]]> 57912066 Five are now members of the Society.
Two paths lie before them.

All must pick a side.

Alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and The Society of Alexandrians will be revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way.]]> 560 Olivie Blake 1250855128 prapti 0 to-read, physical-tbr 3.51 2022
author: Olivie Blake
name: prapti
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/25
shelves: to-read, physical-tbr
review:

]]> 18775359 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781476712840.

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid prapti 4 3.91 2014
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: prapti
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2024/02/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 62816044 Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A Curse for True Love, the breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy.]]> 386 Stephanie Garber 1250851203 prapti 5 4.14 2023
author: Stephanie Garber
name: prapti
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/05
date added: 2024/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 59808071 Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can...]]> 416 Stephanie Garber 1250268427 prapti 5 4.49 2022
author: Stephanie Garber
name: prapti
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/31
date added: 2024/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 58949787 The lost novel from the author of The Second Sex

When Andrée joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andrée is small for her age, but walks with the confidence of an adult. Secretly Sylvie believes that Andrée is a prodigy about whom books will be written. The girls talk for hours about equality, justice, war and religion; they lose respect for their teachers; they build a world of their own. But they can't stay like this forever.

Written in 1954, five years after The Second Sex, the novel was never published in Simone de Beauvoir's lifetime.]]> 148 Simone de Beauvoir 1784877182 prapti 4 lgbt-recs 4.16 2020
author: Simone de Beauvoir
name: prapti
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/24
date added: 2024/01/28
shelves: lgbt-recs
review:

]]> 200539015 My heart has made its mind up
And I'm afraid it's you.

The Orange and Other Poems provides the perfect introduction to Wendy Cope, one of Britain's wittiest, best-selling, and best-loved poets.

In poems that go from laugh-out-loud funny to deeply moving, Cope offers reflections on love and life. From the joy of falling—and being—in love to how to manage a painful break-up to cherishing the memories of people loved and lost, this is a collection to savour and share.]]> 53 Wendy Cope 057138952X prapti 4 4.13 2023
author: Wendy Cope
name: prapti
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/13
date added: 2024/01/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 53344030
Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They've finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick's house ... But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?

By Alice Oseman, winner of the YA Book Prize, Heartstopper encompasses all the small moments of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

Contains discussions around mental health and eating disorders, and sexual references.]]> 336 Alice Oseman 1444957651 prapti 5 4.47 2023
author: Alice Oseman
name: prapti
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/04
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 60717747 It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Bridgerton meets Howl's Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.

Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!]]> 304 Olivia Atwater prapti 4 this book was genuinely such a delight to read! it’s been described as a cosy regency era howls moving castle-esque story and it should come as no surprise that anything described as having howls vibes is immediately added to my tbr. it follows the story of dora, a girl with the titular half a soul, as she initially journeys to remedy her condition (of possessing aforementioned half a soul) but in turn encounters characters and circumstances that ultimately show her that she needs no more than what she already has to be a whole person. my favourite part of the book was the ending, wherein dora’s soul is just the same as it was throughout the book but her perspective is entirely new and whole. the male love interest, lord sorcier, (aka our howl equivalent) has his own character arc thar is so fulfilling to read. all in all this was chock-full of beautiful writing, loveable yet flawed characters, commentary on class, and the human condition, all while remaining a cosy fantasy i will definitely be recommending in the future.]]> 4.04 2020
author: Olivia Atwater
name: prapti
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves:
review:
4.5
this book was genuinely such a delight to read! it’s been described as a cosy regency era howls moving castle-esque story and it should come as no surprise that anything described as having howls vibes is immediately added to my tbr. it follows the story of dora, a girl with the titular half a soul, as she initially journeys to remedy her condition (of possessing aforementioned half a soul) but in turn encounters characters and circumstances that ultimately show her that she needs no more than what she already has to be a whole person. my favourite part of the book was the ending, wherein dora’s soul is just the same as it was throughout the book but her perspective is entirely new and whole. the male love interest, lord sorcier, (aka our howl equivalent) has his own character arc thar is so fulfilling to read. all in all this was chock-full of beautiful writing, loveable yet flawed characters, commentary on class, and the human condition, all while remaining a cosy fantasy i will definitely be recommending in the future.
]]> 43317482 251 Carmen Maria Machado 1644450038 prapti 0 to-read 4.41 2019
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: prapti
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1622 298 William Shakespeare 0743477545 prapti 4 3.95 1595
author: William Shakespeare
name: prapti
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1595
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/14
shelves:
review:

]]>