Lizzie's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 21:37:09 -0700 60 Lizzie's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Kiss of the Basilisk (Split or Swallow, #1)]]> 221548497 From internet sensation and Amazon bestseller Lindsay Straube comes the first book in the sexy, biting Split or Swallow series, featuring dangerous basilisks, competitive seduction, and a love triangle that could destroy kingdoms.

Twenty-year-old Temperance Verus has never been kissed. But that's what the basilisk is for.

Along with thirteen other contestants, Tem must train with a basilisk to learn the power of seduction and win the prince's hand in marriage. When Tem is matched with Caspen, the Serpent King, she realizes she might actually stand a chance.

But with tensions rising between the basilisks and the humans, Tem is suddenly torn in two directions. As her bond with Caspen deepens, so does her connection with the prince. When she uncovers a terrible secret about the royal family, Tem finds herself caught between two worlds, neither of which she can survive without.]]>
525 Lindsay Straube 1464247587 Lizzie 2 If you like smut...

... read this book. If you like stories where a woman spends most of her time walking back and forth between three locations, read this book. If you want a story where you're confused about what cresting sometimes does and/or doesn't do, read this book. The concept was imaginative, but the writing was not that great. Repetitive, predictable prose left me skimming through whole chapters.

But I would definitely read the next book.
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3.80 Kiss of the Basilisk (Split or Swallow, #1)
author: Lindsay Straube
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves:
review:
If you like smut...

... read this book. If you like stories where a woman spends most of her time walking back and forth between three locations, read this book. If you want a story where you're confused about what cresting sometimes does and/or doesn't do, read this book. The concept was imaginative, but the writing was not that great. Repetitive, predictable prose left me skimming through whole chapters.

But I would definitely read the next book.

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<![CDATA[Riding Lil' Red Hard (Navy SEAL Fairy Tale, #4)]]> 38457318 If I won, I'd get a kiss. Not one of those quick pecks either.
No.
A long, tantalizing taste that would make her head spin and leave her breathless.
If she won, I'd drive her out of this sh*t town on the back of my Harley.
It wasn't exactly a tie, but we both got what we wanted.
Now I'm taking Red on a road trip to her grandmother's house.
A place for her to be safe. A place for her to start over.
Because if her psycho ex, Wolfe, hunts her down, he'll kill her.
Unless I destroy him first.

*** Riding Lil' Red Hard is a very steamy STANDALONE contemporary romance with no cliffhanger, no cheating, and a guaranteed happily-ever-after. ***]]>
144 Eddie Cleveland Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.15 2018 Riding Lil' Red Hard (Navy SEAL Fairy Tale, #4)
author: Eddie Cleveland
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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The Midnight Library 53568397
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.]]>
288 Matt Haig 0525559485 Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.16 2020 The Midnight Library
author: Matt Haig
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)]]> 58132544
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.]]>
480 Rebecca Ross 0063055988 Lizzie 5 4.06 2022 A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence, #1)
author: Rebecca Ross
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves:
review:

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The Lost Apothecary 53288434 A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.

Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.


One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.

In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders� that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive.]]>
301 Sarah Penner 0778311015 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.72 2021 The Lost Apothecary
author: Sarah Penner
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Wren in the Holly Library (Oak & Holly Cycle, #1)]]> 61431964 Can you love the dark when you know what it hides?

Some things aren’t supposed to exist outside of our imagination.

Thirteen years ago, monsters emerged from the shadows and plunged Kierse’s world into a cataclysmic war of near-total destruction. The New York City she knew so well collapsed practically overnight.

In the wake of that carnage, the Monster Treaty was created. A truce...of sorts.

But tonight, Kierse―a gifted and fearless thief―will break that treaty. She’ll enter the Holly Library...not knowing it’s the home of a monster.

He’s charming. Quietly alluring. Terrifying. But he knows talent when he sees it; it’s just a matter of finding her price.

Now she’s locked into a dangerous bargain with a creature unlike any other. She’ll sacrifice her freedom. She’ll offer her skills. Together, they’ll put their own futures at risk.

But he’s been playing a game across centuries―and once she joins in, there will be no escape...]]>
400 K.A. Linde 1649374070 Lizzie 3
This book does have some things that a good editor would have caught. Referring to the shuttle between Grand Central and Times Square as the “S train� is bananas. There were a a couple other handfuls of weirdly phrased sentences, but since I listened to the audiobook, I won’t go back and quote them. Regardless, I was momentarily taken out of the story enough times to mention it.

Will I read the second book? You betcha.]]>
3.73 2024 The Wren in the Holly Library (Oak & Holly Cycle, #1)
author: K.A. Linde
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:
[Stefón voice] if you are looking for a comfortable romantacy set in New York City, this book has everything: dark, brooding man with distinctive features, a beautiful urchin, a seedy underworld, unknown powers, a quest for a magical object; and knock knock, who is there? A second mysterious man.

This book does have some things that a good editor would have caught. Referring to the shuttle between Grand Central and Times Square as the “S train� is bananas. There were a a couple other handfuls of weirdly phrased sentences, but since I listened to the audiobook, I won’t go back and quote them. Regardless, I was momentarily taken out of the story enough times to mention it.

Will I read the second book? You betcha.
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<![CDATA[A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6)]]> 10965 A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.

The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.

With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence � with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future.]]>
1008 Diana Gabaldon 0385340397 Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.42 2005 A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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The Song of Achilles 13623848 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062060624.

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

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.]]>
408 Madeline Miller Lizzie 4 4.30 2011 The Song of Achilles
author: Madeline Miller
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves:
review:

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An Academy for Liars 203956639 A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.

Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart.

Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself.

After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.

As Lennon continues in her studies her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College, and the way her mentor’s tragic and violent past intertwines with it. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns. For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption . . . and it's a test she's terrified she is going to fail.]]>
464 Alexis Henderson 0593638301 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.45 2024 An Academy for Liars
author: Alexis Henderson
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)]]> 165940202
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.]]>
419 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599837 Lizzie 2
Freya is an inconsistent lead. Witty, clever, and unfulfilled at some points, and a completely whiny airhead at others; I wanted so much more for her. There was a missed opportunity in not spending more time on Freya developing her powers and fighting skills in more detail.

I’m not sure if it’s the style of writing, or personal preference, but I occasionally would lose track of where characters were. Going back a page (or 30 seconds, as I typically listen via libro.fm), and realizing that they hadn’t been narrated out of the cave (for example), they just weren’t in the cave anymore. I found it jarring.

The narration by Nina Yndis was fantastic.

Obviously, I will read the second book when it comes out in a few months, but I’m not holding my breath for it being more than skin-deep.]]>
3.91 2024 A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:
This book was a great idea! The premise, story, and conflict are exciting and interesting. Unfortunately, the execution in first person narrative didn’t hit the mark.

Freya is an inconsistent lead. Witty, clever, and unfulfilled at some points, and a completely whiny airhead at others; I wanted so much more for her. There was a missed opportunity in not spending more time on Freya developing her powers and fighting skills in more detail.

I’m not sure if it’s the style of writing, or personal preference, but I occasionally would lose track of where characters were. Going back a page (or 30 seconds, as I typically listen via libro.fm), and realizing that they hadn’t been narrated out of the cave (for example), they just weren’t in the cave anymore. I found it jarring.

The narration by Nina Yndis was fantastic.

Obviously, I will read the second book when it comes out in a few months, but I’m not holding my breath for it being more than skin-deep.
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Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) 43263680
Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs� are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.]]>
461 Leigh Bardugo 1250313074 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.00 2019 Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1)
author: Leigh Bardugo
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House, #1)]]> 59785735
Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.]]>
330 Charlie N. Holmberg 1662500343 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.93 2022 Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House, #1)
author: Charlie N. Holmberg
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1) 199368721 She's been driving him wild for years . . . the good kind of wild.

The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her.

Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont.

After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat.

Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things.

And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.]]>
466 Elsie Silver 0349441626 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1)
author: Elsie Silver
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)]]> 63121123 For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom--but the monster in her head isn't the only threat lurking.



Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom she calls home--she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King's own nephew, Captain of the Destriers...and guilty of high treason.

He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him]]>
394 Rachel Gillig 035652017X Lizzie 0 to-read 4.26 2022 One Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)
author: Rachel Gillig
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)]]> 199347538 Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the hugely anticipated sequel to TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of the best-loved and best-selling fantasy novels of the past decade. Featuring gorgeous orange sprayed edges!

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.]]>
416 T.J. Klune 125088120X Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.17 2024 Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #2)
author: T.J. Klune
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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<![CDATA[A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)]]> 53138095
فردی که بیش از دیگران اعصاب او را تحریک می‌کند� کسی نیست جز کاسین، این جنگجوی زخم‌خورد� که موقعیتش در دربار ریسند و فیرا او را مدام در نزدیکی نستا نگه می­دارد؛ اما خشم نستا تنها چیزی نیست که در حضور کاسین تحریک می­‌شو�. آتشی که بین آن­‌ه� شعله می­‌کش� غیرقابل‌انکا� است و وقتی ناچار به زندگی باهم در یک خانه می­شوند، بیش‌ازپی� حرارت می‌گیر�.

دراین‌بین� ملکه‌­ها� انسان خائن نیز که طی جنگ اخیر به قلمرو خود بازگشته‌ان� متحدی جدید و خطرناک یافته‌ان� که حضورش صلح شکننده حاکم بر دیگر قلمروها را تهدید می‌کند� و کلید بازداشتن این تهدید جدید در دست کاسین و نستاست که باید با گذشته­ی شوم خود روبه‌ر� شوند.

نستا و کاسین در دنیایی غرق در جنگ، در دنیایی که عدم اطمینان و بی­ثباتی آن را فراگرفته با هیولاهایی بیرون و درون وجود خود روبه‌ر� شده و به دنبال بهبود و پذیرش در آغوش یکدیگر می‌گردن�.]]>
757 Sarah J. Maas 168119628X Lizzie 0 4.44 2021 A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)]]> 50659472 The epic third novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's actions and learn what she can about the invading king threatening to bring her land to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit. One slip could bring doom not only for Feyre, but for everything-and everyone-she holds dear.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre endeavors to take her place amongst the High Fae of the land, balancing her struggle to master her powers-both magical and political-and her love for her court and family. Amidst these struggles, Feyre and Rhysand must decide whom to trust amongst the cunning and lethal High Lords, and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the fate of Feyre's world is at stake as armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy it.]]>
699 Sarah J. Maas 1635575605 Lizzie 4 4.47 2017 A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)]]> 50659471
Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, her concern for those dearest to her deepens. They have more wounds than she anticipated-scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.

Bridging the events of A Court of Wings and Ruin with the later books in the series, A Court of Frost and Starlight explores the far-reaching effects of a devastating war and the fierce love between friends.]]>
272 Sarah J. Maas 1635575621 Lizzie 2
This book was not worth the free credit, and because I don’t like spoilers, I didn’t read any reviews before buying it. The book is just fluffy filler, with a few bits of story building. The only thing that’s good about it is that it indulgences more of Fayre’s unslakeable thirst for gossip.]]>
3.69 2019 A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:
A Court of Frost and Starlight, brought to you by Hallmark.

This book was not worth the free credit, and because I don’t like spoilers, I didn’t read any reviews before buying it. The book is just fluffy filler, with a few bits of story building. The only thing that’s good about it is that it indulgences more of Fayre’s unslakeable thirst for gossip.
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<![CDATA[A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)]]> 50659468
Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people.

As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil.

Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.]]>
626 Sarah J. Maas 1635575583 Lizzie 3 4.65 2016 A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:

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Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) 209439446
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]>
527 Rebecca Yarros 1649374186 Lizzie 4 4.17 2025 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
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The God of the Woods 199698485 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]>
490 Liz Moore Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.15 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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Sociopath: A Memoir 176443093
Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn’t understand. She suspected it was because she didn’t feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn’t like the way that “nothing� felt.

She did her best to pretend she was like everyone else, but the constant pressure to conform to a society she knew rejected anyone like her was unbearable. So Patric stole. She lied. She was occasionally violent. She became an expert lock-picker and home-invader. All with the goal of replacing the nothingness with...something.

In college, Patric finally confirmed what she’d long suspected. She was a sociopath. But even though it was the very first personality disorder identified—well over 200 years ago—sociopathy had been neglected by mental health professionals for decades. She was told there was no treatment, no hope for a normal life. She found herself haunted by sociopaths in pop culture, madmen and evil villains who are considered monsters. Her future looked grim.

But when Patric reconnects with an old flame, she gets a glimpse of a future beyond her diagnosis. If she’s capable of love, it must mean that she isn’t a monster. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way) she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren’t all monsters either.

This is the inspiring story of her journey to change her fate and how she managed to build a life full of love and hope.]]>
368 Patric Gagne 166800318X Lizzie 3 3.74 2024 Sociopath: A Memoir
author: Patric Gagne
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
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<![CDATA[A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)]]> 50659467
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.]]>
419 Sarah J. Maas 1635575567 Lizzie 3 4.16 2015 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
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<![CDATA[Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World]]> 199798305 A historical adventure story about the eccentric Victorians who discovered dinosaur bones, leading to a new understanding of human history

In the early 1800s the world was a safe and cozy place. But then a twelve-year-old farm boy in Massachusetts stumbled upon a row of fossilized three-toed footprints the size of dinner plates—the first dinosaur tracks ever found. Soon, in England, Victorians unearthed enormous bones—bones that reached as high as a man’s head.

Outside of myths and fairy tales, no one had imagined that creatures like three-toed giants once lumbered across the land. And if anyone conjured up such a scene, they would never imagine that all those animals could have vanished hundreds of millions years ago. The thought of sudden, arbitrary disappearance from life was unnerving and forced the Victorians to rethink everything they knew about the world. Celebrated storyteller and historian Edward Dolnick leads readers through a compelling true adventure as the paleontologists of the first half of the 19th century puzzled their way through the fossil record to create the story of dinosaurs we know today.]]>
352 Edward Dolnick 198219961X Lizzie 0 to-read 3.75 2024 Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World
author: Edward Dolnick
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2024
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Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) 90202302 “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.� —Xaden Riorson

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders� capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.]]>
623 Rebecca Yarros 1649374178 Lizzie 4 4.33 2023 Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
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<![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]>
528 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 Lizzie 4 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/12
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<![CDATA[How To Read Water: Clues & Patterns from Puddles to the Sea]]> 29396396
Includes over 700 clues, signs and patterns. From wild swimming in Sussex to wayfinding in Oman, via the icy mysteries of the Arctic, Tristan Gooley draws on his own pioneering journeys to reveal the secrets of ponds, puddles, rivers, oceans and more to show us all the skills we need to read the water around us.]]>
426 Tristan Gooley 1473615216 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.97 2016 How To Read Water: Clues & Patterns from Puddles to the Sea
author: Tristan Gooley
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet]]> 13483740 With an astrobiologist’s imagination, a historian’s perspective, and a naturalist’s passion for the ground beneath our feet, Hazen explains how changes on an atomic level translate into dramatic shifts in Earth’s makeup over its 4.567 billion year existence. He calls upon a flurry of recent discoveries to portray our planet’s many iterations in vivid detail. Through his theory of “co-evolution,� we learn how reactions between organic molecules and rock crystals may have generated Earth’s first organisms, which in turn are responsible for more than two-thirds of the mineral varieties on the planet.

The Story of Earth is also the story of the pioneering men and women behind the sciences. Readers will meet black-market meteorite hawkers of the Sahara Desert, the gun-toting Feds who guarded the Apollo missions� lunar dust, and the World War II Navy officer whose super-pressurized “bomb”—recycled from military hardware—first simulated the molten rock of Earth’s mantle. As a mentor to a new generation of scientists, Hazen introduces the intrepid young explorers whose dispatches from Earth’s harshest landscapes will revolutionize geology.]]>
320 Robert M. Hazen 0670023558 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.20 2012 The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
author: Robert M. Hazen
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Miracle of Flexibility: A Head-to-Toe Program to Increase Strength, Improve Mobility, and Become Pain Free]]> 60321039
The fields of sports and fitness are presently dominated by injury and chronic pain. Scientific studies are proving that the old philosophy of “No Pain, No Gain� is false and that pain and injuries are unnecessary biproducts of physical activity. For decades, former ballerina and New York Times bestselling author of Aging Backwards , Miranda Esmonde-White, has been developing a solution to the chronic pain produced by a lifetime of injuries and ageing, leaving her as spry later in life as most of us would dream to be in our twenties.

The secret to mobility, strength, flexibility, good posture, and peak fitness is a daily Essentrics workout. Miranda’s revolutionary technique is paving the way to create younger, stronger more mobile bodies without injury or pain. This trailblazing program rooted in science has delivered world champions and Olympic medalists by preventing injuries and healing pain. Now, for the first time, it is available in book form
-A large range of motion sequences to strengthen the entire musculoskeletal system
-Bonus posture workouts tailored for athletes, peak performers, and users who want to minimize back and joint pain
-Information and strategies to completely restore the body
-And much more.

The Miracle of Flexibility offers a blueprint for using this revolutionary range-of-motion-strengthening technique in your own home. With no equipment required, this method has been successfully taught around the world by thousands of certified instructors. It builds strength, increases range of motion, and assists in recovering from chronic pain and injuries.]]>
480 Miranda Esmonde-White 1668000164 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.90 The Miracle of Flexibility: A Head-to-Toe Program to Increase Strength, Improve Mobility, and Become Pain Free
author: Miranda Esmonde-White
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.90
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<![CDATA[Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully]]> 61423854
“The definitive guide for building an all-around healthy and high-performing body and mind.� —Andrew Huberman, Professor of Neurobiology, Stanford University & Host of The Huberman Lab Podcast

After decades spent working with pro-athletes, Olympians, and Navy Seals, mobility pioneers Kelly and Juliet Starrett began thinking about the physical well-being of the rest of us. What makes a durable human? How do we continue to feel great and function well as we age? And how do we counteract the effects of technology-dependence, sedentary living, and other modern ways of life on our body’s natural need for activity?

The answers lie in an easy-to-use formula for basic mobility maintenance: 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better

The book offers:
It’s full of foundational wisdom for everyone from beginners to professional athletes and everyone in between. Built to Moveintroduces readers to a set of simple principles and practices that are undemanding enough to work into any busy schedule, lead to greater ease of movement, better health, and a happier life doing whatever it is you love to do—and want to continue doing as long as you live. This book is your game plan for the long game.]]>
336 Kelly Starrett 0593534808 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.23 2023 Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully
author: Kelly Starrett
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
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<![CDATA[One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life]]> 40122003 A pragmatic and succinct introduction to the purposes and benefits of yoga--philosophical, physiological, mental, and spiritual--and how practice affects the body/mind to realize those purposes and benefits

Yoga is reputed to improve our physical and mental health, and to help us become more productive at work, more caring in relationships, and a more responsible contributor to society and inhabitant on this planet. If yoga does accomplish all that--and most practitioners will swear it's true--how exactly does it do it? Believe it or not, there are answers. And they are based in how the human body/mind functions, how we are built and wired, and how what we do can direct and change that.

Drawing on modern neuroscience, ancient wisdom, and decades of practice and teaching, Eddie Stern's One Simple Thing, with a foreword from Deepak Chopra, explains how what we do affects who we become, and reveals how a steady routine of physical movements, activities, and attitudes are able to transform not just our bodies but our brain functions and emotions, and how we experience life.]]>
320 Eddie Stern 0865478392 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.23 2019 One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life
author: Eddie Stern
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)]]> 53450790 Would you defend your husband if he was accused of killing his mistress?

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working.

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home.

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?]]>
337 Jeneva Rose 1913419657 Lizzie 2 3.90 2020 The Perfect Marriage (Perfect, #1)
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/08
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<![CDATA[Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life]]> 35489136 Where are our people? The answer is found in Belong , a highly energetic and beautifully illustrated guide to discovering where and with whom you fit.

After suffering her own bout of community confusion, Agrawal embarked on a journey that ultimately resulted in cofounding Daybreaker, a transformative phenomenon where thousands of people get up at the crack of dawn, meet in event spaces in 22 cities around the world, and dance. Now she’s distilled her experience for finding meaningful connections into a two-step process.

The first step is GOING IN. This includes determining what we want in a friend and community and what we offer, becoming intentional about our relationships, gauging the type of energy we emit and respond to, and understanding how we do—or don’t—show up for others. Then comes GOING OUT—how to find a few special friends who feed our soul; or how to find a fully engaged group with similar business, artistic, and social aims; or both.

Connectedness is the most significant factor in human happiness� Belong is a creative blueprint for bringing this most important dimension back into our lives.]]>
232 Radha Agrawal 1523502053 Lizzie 3 3.54 2018 Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life
author: Radha Agrawal
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
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<![CDATA[The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)]]> 26030734
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is—but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home—until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.]]>
282 Peter Brown 0316381993 Lizzie 3 4.19 2016 The Wild Robot (The Wild Robot, #1)
author: Peter Brown
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 3
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<![CDATA[Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)]]> 22896 Alternate cover for ISBN 9780425190371 (currently here).

The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman.

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape.

One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic...
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286 Alice Hoffman Lizzie 5 3.70 1995 Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/31
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<![CDATA[The Book of Magic (Practical Magic, #2)]]> 56898179 Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters.

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.

A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.]]>
400 Alice Hoffman 198215148X Lizzie 0 to-read 4.09 2021 The Book of Magic (Practical Magic, #2)
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
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<![CDATA[Magic Lessons (Practical Magic, #0.1)]]> 50892349
Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Nameless Arts.� Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

Magic Lessons is a celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman’s masterful storytelling.]]>
396 Alice Hoffman 1982108843 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.19 2020 Magic Lessons (Practical Magic, #0.1)
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Rules of Magic (Practical Magic, #0.2)]]> 34037113 Find your magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.]]>
369 Alice Hoffman Lizzie 0 to-read 3.98 2017 The Rules of Magic (Practical Magic, #0.2)
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Midnight Sun (Blood on Snow, #2)]]> 18761910
Fleeing to an isolated corner of Norway, to a mountain town so far north that the sun never sets, Jon hopes to find sanctuary amongst a local religious sect.

Hiding out in a shepherd’s cabin in the wilderness, all that stands between him and his fate are Lea, a bereaved mother and her young son, Knut.

But while Lea provides him with a rifle and Knut brings essential supplies, the midnight sun is slowly driving Jon to insanity.

And then he discovers that The Fisherman’s men are getting closer…]]>
224 Jo Nesbø 1448192471 Lizzie 3 3.57 2015 Midnight Sun (Blood on Snow, #2)
author: Jo Nesbø
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
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A Christmas Carol 5326
Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler
To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this abridged edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.]]>
184 Charles Dickens 1561797464 Lizzie 5 4.06 1843 A Christmas Carol
author: Charles Dickens
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1843
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/12/27
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The Cricket on the Hearth 549938
The title creature is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John's mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John's confidence and all ends happily.]]>
82 Charles Dickens 0809500418 Lizzie 4 3.48 1845 The Cricket on the Hearth
author: Charles Dickens
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1845
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country]]> 56914101 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN 9780593465271 can be found here.

On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe.

This edition includes a foreword by Oprah Winfrey.]]>
29 Amanda Gorman 059346527X Lizzie 0 to-read 4.57 2021 The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country
author: Amanda Gorman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii (Mr. Monk, #2)]]> 115921

Smooth-talking TV psychic Dylan Swift is on the island and claims to have a message from beyond -- from Helen Gruber. Monk has his doubts about Swift s credibility. But finding the killer and proving Swift a fraud -- all while coping with geckos and the horror of unsynchronized ceiling fans -- may prove a tough coconut to crack....

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286 Lee Goldberg 0451219007 Lizzie 3 3.98 2006 Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii (Mr. Monk, #2)
author: Lee Goldberg
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
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<![CDATA[Free Your Fascia: Relieve Pain, Boost Your Energy, Ease Anxiety and Depression, Lower Blood Pressure, and Melt Years Off Your Body with Fascia Therapy]]> 51589535 Transform your health with this cutting-edge guide to fascia, your body's "hidden organ." Dr. Daniel Fenster guides the reader through a holistic self-therapy program as well as professional treatments to address issues such as chronic pain, anxiety, high blood pressure, GERD, and more.

At the #1 pain management clinic in New York City, director Dr. Daniel Fenster has changed thousands of lives for the better through a holistic approach and integrative therapies. His experience has revealed to him that treating the fascia--your long ignored, unappreciated, "hidden organ" that weaves around and through every single structure in your body--is crucial for both physical and mental health. Within these pages, Dr. Fenster will reveal all you need to know about fascia, including:
- The 8 "villains" that hurt your fascia and how to combat them
- A "free your fascia" quiz to assess what therapies are right for you
- 20 recipes to nourish your fascia with the nutrients it needs
- Simple, at-home exercises and do-it-yourself therapies for releasing and optimizing your fascia
- Advice for working with professionals and the most powerful tools in fascial manipulation
- Exclusive to this book interviews between Dr. Fenster and 10 of the leading-edge fascia researchers and experts.
By "freeing your fascia," you'll feel stronger, healthier, and happier from head to toe!]]>
232 Daniel Fenster 1401958648 Lizzie 4 4.05 Free Your Fascia: Relieve Pain, Boost Your Energy, Ease Anxiety and Depression, Lower Blood Pressure, and Melt Years Off Your Body with Fascia Therapy
author: Daniel Fenster
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.05
book published:
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 11
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]>
216 Douglas Adams Lizzie 4 4.21 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 4
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The Lost Spells 49358272 The follow-up to the internationally bestselling sensation The Lost Words, The Lost Spells is a beautiful collection of poems and illustrations that evokes the magic of the everyday natural world.

Since its publication in 2017, The Lost Words has enchanted readers with its poetry and illustrations of the natural world. Now, The Lost Spells, a book kindred in spirit and tone, continues to re-wild the lives of children and adults.

The Lost Spells evokes the wonder of everyday nature, conjuring up red foxes, birch trees, jackdaws, and more in poems and illustrations that flow between the pages and into readers� minds. Robert Macfarlane’s spell-poems and Jackie Morris’s watercolour illustrations are musical and magical: these are summoning spells, words of recollection, charms of protection. To read The Lost Spells is to see anew the natural world within our grasp and to be reminded of what happens when we allow it to slip away.]]>
240 Robert Macfarlane 1487007795 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.48 2020 The Lost Spells
author: Robert Macfarlane
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Six Sales Skills Everyone Should Know]]> 205766774
But as Stefanie Boyer points out, sales is not about being pushy, aggressive, or unethical. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that “sales� is about nurturing, solving problems, helping, and building relationships. When you learn the right strategies to sell something, you’ll make your own life better because we are all constantly selling—whether it’s getting a promotion, working on a team project, or even just selecting the restaurant of your choice with friends.

Dr. Boyer has spent the last 20-plus years of her life selling, training, researching, and teaching. She’s identified a process that will give you the confidence you need to go after what you want in life. Over six insightful lessons, she provides tools and tips that you can use to improve any relationship you’re in. She’ll show you how to position yourself to get that raise, win people over, read the room, and turn pushback into an opportunity to succeed instead of a reason to fail.

More than anything else, though, you will learn how to get what you want by helping others.

3 hrs. 5 min.]]>
4 Stefanie Boyer Lizzie 0 3.42 Six Sales Skills Everyone Should Know
author: Stefanie Boyer
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.42
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<![CDATA[The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom]]> 6596 The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally, Don't Make Assumptions, Always Do Your Best.]]> 152 Miguel Ruiz 1878424505 Lizzie 3 4.20 1997 The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/14
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<![CDATA[Ready Player Two (Ready Player One, #2)]]> 26082916 An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?

Days after winning Oasis founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the Oasis a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.

And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants.

Wade's life and the future of the Oasis are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.]]>
370 Ernest Cline 1524761338 Lizzie 3 3.39 2020 Ready Player Two (Ready Player One, #2)
author: Ernest Cline
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
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<![CDATA[A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains]]> 62050269 Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs� in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow. In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, inA Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs� that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights,A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future.]]> 432 Max Solomon Bennett Lizzie 0 to-read 4.44 A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
author: Max Solomon Bennett
name: Lizzie
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The Book of Doors 156009464
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.

But this is no ordinary book�

It is the Book of Doors.

Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.

Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.

Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.

But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.]]>
404 Gareth Brown 0063323982 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.01 2024 The Book of Doors
author: Gareth Brown
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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Winter's Tale 12967 New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake, orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and besieged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature.

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769 Mark Helprin 0156031191 Lizzie 4 3.55 1983 Winter's Tale
author: Mark Helprin
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/06
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<![CDATA[Before We Forget Kindness (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #5)]]> 203647801 Before the Coffee Gets Cold series translated from Japanese, the mysterious café where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time welcomes four new guests:

- The father who could not allow his daughter to get married
- A woman who couldn't give Valentine's Day chocolates to her loved one
- A boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents
- A wife holding a child with no name . . .

They must follow the café's strict rules, however, and come back to the present before their coffee goes cold. Another moving and heartwarming tale from Toshikazu Kawaguchi, in Before We Forget Kindness our new visitors wish to go back into their past to move on their present, finding closure and comfort so they can embark on a beautiful future.]]>
240 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1335915281 Lizzie 0 to-read 3.94 2023 Before We Forget Kindness (Before the Coffee Gets Cold, #5)
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town]]> 43911586 Chief Jim Hopper reveals long-awaited secrets to Eleven about his old life as a police detective in New York City, confronting his past before the events of the hit show Stranger Things.

Christmas, Hawkins, 1984. All Chief Jim Hopper wants is to enjoy a quiet first Christmas with Eleven, but his adopted daughter has other plans. Over Hopper’s protests, she pulls a cardboard box marked “New York� out of the basement—and the tough questions begin. Why did Hopper leave Hawkins all those years ago? What does “Vietnam� mean? And why has he never talked about New York?

Although he’d rather face a horde of demogorgons than talk about his own past, Hopper knows that he can’t deny the truth any longer. And so begins the story of the incident in New York—the last big case before everything changed�

Summer, New York City, 1977. Hopper is starting over after returning home from Vietnam. A young daughter, a caring wife, and a new beat as an NYPD detective make it easy to slip back into life as a civilian. But after shadowy federal agents suddenly show and seize the files about a series of brutal, unsolved murders, Hopper takes matters into his own hands, risking everything to discover the truth.

Soon Hopper is undercover among New York’s notorious street gangs. But just as he's about to crack the case, a blackout rolls across the boroughs, plunging Hopper into a darkness deeper than any he’s faced before.

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418 Adam Christopher Lizzie 3 3.63 2019 Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town
author: Adam Christopher
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/23
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<![CDATA[Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things, #1)]]> 40535559 Stranger Things.

It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America, both at home and abroad. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldn’t be further from the front lines of Vietnam or the incendiary protests in Washington.

But the world is changing, and Terry isn’t content to watch from the sidelines. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, codenamed MKUltra. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tightlipped researchers . . . and a mystery the young and restless Terry is determined to uncover.

But behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratory—and the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brenner—lurks a conspiracy greater than she could have ever imagined. To face it, she’ll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including one so mysterious the world doesn’t know she exists—a young girl with unexplainable, superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.

Amid the rising tensions of the new decade, Terry Ives and Martin Brenner have begun a different kind of war—one where the human mind is the battlefield.]]>
304 Gwenda Bond Lizzie 0 to-read 3.62 2019 Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things, #1)
author: Gwenda Bond
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)]]> 61215372
The inspiration for the upcoming original series on Prime Video, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.]]>
448 J.R.R. Tolkien Lizzie 5 4.60 1954 The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/21
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<![CDATA[Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst]]> 31170723 Why do we do the things we do?

More than a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.

And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs—whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened.

Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old.

The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do ... for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.]]>
790 Robert M. Sapolsky 1594205078 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.39 2017 Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
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<![CDATA[Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience]]> 58330567 Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.

Over the past two decades, Brown's extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown's singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn't give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.

Brown shares, "I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves."]]>
301 Brené Brown 0399592555 Lizzie 5 4.33 2021 Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
author: Brené Brown
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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The Oceans and the Stars 98653877 Mark Helprin, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Winter’s Tale ԻA Soldier of the Great War , returns with a fast-paced, beautifully written novel about the majesty ofthe sea; a life dedicated to duty, honor, and country; and the gift of falling in love.

A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined always to do what’s right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the President of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed line’s only prototype­–� Athena , Patrol Coastal 15­­––with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral.

Rather than resign, Rensselaer takes the new assignment in stride, and while supervising Athena ’s fitting out in New Orleans, encounters a brilliant lawyer, Katy Farrar, with whom he falls in last-chance love. Soon thereafter, he is deployed on a mission that subjects his integrity, morality, and skill to the ultimate test, and ensures that Athena will live forever in the annals of the Navy.

As in the Odyssey , Katy is the force that keeps him alive and the beacon that lights the way home through seven battles, mutiny, and court martial. In classic literary form, an enthralling new novel that extolls the virtues of living by the laws of conscience, decency, and sacrifice, The Oceans and the Stars is nothing short of a masterpiece.]]>
512 Mark Helprin 1419769081 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.29 2023 The Oceans and the Stars
author: Mark Helprin
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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Wave: A Novel in Verse 58667560 A coming-of-age novel in verse set in 1980s Southern California, about a Persian American girl who rides the waves, falls, and finds her way back to the shore

Thirteen-year-old Ava loves to surf and to sing. Singing and reading Rumi poems settle her mild OCD, and catching waves with her best friend, Phoenix, lets her fit in—her olive skin looks tan, not foreign. But then Ava has to spend the summer before ninth grade volunteering at the hospital, to follow in her single mother’s footsteps to become a doctor. And when Phoenix’s past lymphoma surges back, not even surfing, singing, or poetry can keep them afloat, threatening Ava’s hold on the one place and the one person that make her feel like she belongs.With ocean-like rhythm and lyricism, Wave is about a girl who rides the waves, tumbles, and finds her way back to the shore.]]>
320 Diana Farid 1951836588 Lizzie 5 4.10 2022 Wave: A Novel in Verse
author: Diana Farid
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/13
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<![CDATA[Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)]]> 37442 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

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406 Gregory Maguire 0060987103 Lizzie 4 3.52 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)
author: Gregory Maguire
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/11/13
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101 Best Rowing Workouts 53879014 Get fit with 101 rowing workouts for all levels.Rowing is one of the most effective activities you can do for overall fitness and health. It provides a full-body workout, increases endurance, and boosts aerobic performance while being easy enough on the joints for those looking for low-impact cardio. 101 Best Rowing Workouts is a compilation of essential exercise programs for everyone wanting to erg their way to health. The book includes additional information on the benefits of rowing, the best way to start rowing, basic techniques, common errors and key workouts for beginners, those focused on weight loss, runners, strength training, postpartum, and more.]]> 129 Sarah Fuhrmann 1578268451 Lizzie 5 4.17 101 Best Rowing Workouts
author: Sarah Fuhrmann
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/25
date added: 2024/10/25
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An American Marriage 33590210
This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.]]>
308 Tayari Jones 1616201347 Lizzie 4 3.90 2018 An American Marriage
author: Tayari Jones
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/16
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<![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 61215351 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.]]>
432 J.R.R. Tolkien Lizzie 5 4.52 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/10/07
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<![CDATA[Effective Stretching for Pain Relief: Applying Myofascial Release techniques to everyday stretches to improve your fascia, reduce pain, increase range of motion and help you feel better, overall.]]> 202127804
In "Effective Stretching," myofascial release expert Tamara Nicklas introduces a groundbreaking approach to stretching that goes beyond the conventional methods. Drawing from her extensive knowledge and experience, Tamara seamlessly combines everyday stretches with the transformative power of myofascial release techniques to revolutionize your stretching routine.

Fascia, a connective tissue that runs throughout our bodies, plays a crucial role in maintaining overall physical health. By targeting the fascia through specific stretching techniques, the body can experience remarkable improvements in flexibility, pain reduction, range of motion, and overall well-being. Through a carefully curated collection of everyday stretches, the author demonstrates how to incorporate myofascial release techniques into your existing stretching routine. With easy to follow instructions, accompanied by beautiful photographs, readers will be able to effectively target different areas of their body, allowing for a deeper release and enhanced results.

Whether you are an athlete looking to improve performance, someone seeking relief from chronic pain, or simply hoping to enhance your overall physical well-being, "Effective Stretching" is your go-to resource. Tamara provides invaluable insights and practical guidance to help you unlock the potential of your fascia, empowering you to live a pain-free, active, and fulfilling life.

Don't settle for traditional stretching techniques that only scratch the surface. Embrace the power of myofascial release and discover a new level of physical freedom and vitality. "Effective Stretching" is a must-read for anyone seeking to optimize their body's potential and experience a profound transformation in their overall well-being.]]>
83 Tamara Nicklas Lizzie 4 4.00 Effective Stretching for Pain Relief: Applying Myofascial Release techniques to everyday stretches to improve your fascia, reduce pain, increase range of motion and help you feel better, overall.
author: Tamara Nicklas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/06
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<![CDATA[Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past]]> 24683741
While much work has been done in the field of trauma studies to address "explicit" traumatic memories in the brain (such as intrusive thoughts or flashbacks), much less attention has been paid to how the body itself stores "implicit" memory, and how much of what we think of as "memory" actually comes to us through our (often unconsciously accessed) felt sense. By learning how to better understand this complex interplay of past and present, brain and body, we can adjust our relationship to past trauma and move into a more balanced, relaxed state of being. Written for trauma sufferers as well as mental health care practitioners, Trauma and Memory is a groundbreaking look at how memory is constructed and how influential memories are on our present state of being.]]>
219 Peter A. Levine 158394995X Lizzie 5 4.15 2015 Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past
author: Peter A. Levine
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2018/06/02
date added: 2024/09/28
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<![CDATA[The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook]]> 34987971 Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has treated children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, witnesses, children raised in closets and cages, and victims of family violence. Here he tells their stories of trauma and transformation.]]> 450 Bruce D. Perry 0465094465 Lizzie 0 4.64 2007 The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook
author: Bruce D. Perry
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1-4)]]> 99110
Gorgeous watercolor illustrations from Ernest H. Shepard appear in all their glory. With beautiful colors and simple lines, these images hold their own as classics. The tales, filled with superb story lines and lessons, will continue to capture the hearts of new generations.]]>
557 A.A. Milne 0525467262 Lizzie 5 4.48 1926 The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1-4)
author: A.A. Milne
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1926
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/16
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<![CDATA[Migraine; Inside a World of Invisible Pain]]> 59848348
Eighteen percent of women are thought to suffer from migraine, and Konnikova thinks that it’s not a coincidence that the ailment has not gotten the medical investigation that it deserves. It is unfortunately far too common to see medical data gaps where a predominantly female patient population is concerned.

Informative and entertaining, Migraine is an Audible Original for those who suffer from migraine and those with sufferers in their lives—which would amount to just about everyone.]]>
Maria Konnikova Lizzie 3 3.78 2021 Migraine; Inside a World of Invisible Pain
author: Maria Konnikova
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
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A Man Called Ove 18774964
Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.]]>
337 Fredrik Backman 1476738017 Lizzie 5 4.35 2012 A Man Called Ove
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/05
date added: 2024/07/05
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<![CDATA[Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse (Mr. Monk, #1)]]> 115922
But while Monk attempts to arrange his surroundings just so, something else needs to be put straight. The death of a dog at the local firehouse-on the same night as a fatal house fire-has led Monk into a puzzling mystery. And much to his horror, he's going to have to dig through a lot of dirt to find the answer.]]>
283 Lee Goldberg 0451217292 Lizzie 4 3.91 2006 Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse (Mr. Monk, #1)
author: Lee Goldberg
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/28
date added: 2024/06/28
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<![CDATA[The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)]]> 32075671 An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062498533 can be found here.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.]]>
454 Angie Thomas 0062498533 Lizzie 5 4.46 2017 The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)
author: Angie Thomas
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/28
date added: 2024/06/28
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<![CDATA[White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism]]> 43708708 7 Robin DiAngelo 0807071161 Lizzie 5 4.14 2018 White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
author: Robin DiAngelo
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/25
date added: 2024/06/25
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<![CDATA[The Cellulite Myth: It's Not Fat, It's Fascia]]> 34120407 253 Ashley Black 1682612899 Lizzie 0 4.03 The Cellulite Myth: It's Not Fat, It's Fascia
author: Ashley Black
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
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Sharks in the Time of Saviors 45892255
Nainoa's family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods - a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family's legacy.

When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawaii - with tragic consequences - they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Oprah Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, BBC Culture, Good Housekeeping, LitHub, Spectrum Culture, Third Place Books, and Powell's Books.]]>
376 Kawai Strong Washburn 0374272085 Lizzie 4 3.82 2020 Sharks in the Time of Saviors
author: Kawai Strong Washburn
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/14
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Demon Copperhead 60194162 "Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose."

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]>
560 Barbara Kingsolver 0063251922 Lizzie 5 4.46 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/12
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<![CDATA[Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance]]> 58460580 how); wrestles with issues like cultural appropriation, materialism, Իracism; and explores the ways we can all use yoga as a tool for self-love.]]> 208 Jessamyn Stanley 1523505214 Lizzie 5 4.17 2021 Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance
author: Jessamyn Stanley
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/20
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<![CDATA[Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain]]> 17707532 336 Daniel J. Siegel 158542935X Lizzie 4 3.82 2011 Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain
author: Daniel J. Siegel
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/16
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The Starless Sea 43575115 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.]]>
498 Erin Morgenstern 038554121X Lizzie 5 3.82 2019 The Starless Sea
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/27
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You Know What You Did 192761618 AGATHA AWARD WINNER Best First Mystery

In this heart-pounding debut thriller for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present�

Annie “Anh Le� Shaw grew up poor but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home, and a devoted husband and daughter. When Annie’s mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she thought she’d vanquished years ago, comes roaring back—but this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie’s brain might actually be coming true.

With dizzying twists, You Know What You Did is both a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.]]>
384 K.T. Nguyen 059347385X Lizzie 0 to-read 3.32 2024 You Know What You Did
author: K.T. Nguyen
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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Stretching Anatomy 17741147
"Stretching Anatomy, Second Edition," is like having an X-ray of each stretch, only better. Not only do you see full-color illustrations of the muscles in action, but you also see how a change in position can alter the muscle emphasis and difficulty and how variations can improve safety and effectiveness. A new Stretch Focus section details the procedure and benefits of every exercise as well as safety considerations and variations according to skill level.

Each exercise describes how to stretch, when to stretch, primary and secondary muscle emphasis, and which muscles are activated for support. Stretching programs provide three levels of difficulty, including light stretching that can be used to aid in recovery from soreness and injury. A new chapter on dynamic stretches covers the most effective exercises for athletic warm-ups, while another chapter shows you how to customize a program based on your individual needs, including a program of passive static stretches proven to help lower blood glucose.

Whether you seek increased flexibility, better athletic performance, or reduced muscle soreness and tension, "Stretching Anatomy" is your visual guide to proper stretching technique.]]>
232 Arnold G. Nelson 1450438156 Lizzie 0 4.01 2006 Stretching Anatomy
author: Arnold G. Nelson
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/04/16
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Pat the Bunny 13532212
For generations, Pat the Bunny has been creating special first-time moments between parents and their children. One of the best-selling children’s books of all time, this classic touch-and-feel book offers babies a playful and engaging experience, all the while creating cherished memories that will last a lifetime.]]>
20 Dorothy Kunhardt 0307120007 Lizzie 5 4.08 1940 Pat the Bunny
author: Dorothy Kunhardt
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1940
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[Unblock Your Body: How Decompressing Your Fascia Is the Missing Link in Healing]]> 55931543
Unblock Your How Decompressing Your Fascia is the Missing Link in Healing is a powerful guide to learning how to support your body’s internal systems and enhance your physical health. Unpacking how flourishing cells require space both around and inside them, you’ll know how to reduce restrictions, repair function, and recharge every aspect of your essence. In a world full of chaos and obstructive energy, you’ll soon be powering up the key forces needed to counter the constant drag of Earth’s gravity and boost your strength and vitality.

In Unblock Your How Decompressing Your Fascia is the Missing Link in Healing, you’ll to calm the all-important vagus nerve to ensure your organs work at maximum effectivenessNatural ways to decrease panic attacks and other anxiety disorders so you can increase mental wellnessReasons why you should keep your adrenal glands refreshed and breath unrestricted to receive necessary levels of oxygenMethods for pushing past survival mode to live a life of drive and vigorWhole-body strategies to lose weight, be more flexible, stay in touch with yourself, and much, much more!Unblock Your How Decompressing Your Fascia is the Missing Link in Healing is your gateway to achieving a stress-free existence and maintaining holistic-based health. If you like therapeutic techniques, eye-opening case studies, and advice supported by years of research and clinical experience, then you’ll love Deanna Hansen’s revolutionary book.

Buy Unblock Your How Decompressing Your Fascia is the Missing Link in Healing to build your peace from within today!]]>
124 Deanna Hansen 1951694198 Lizzie 4 3.97 Unblock Your Body: How Decompressing Your Fascia Is the Missing Link in Healing
author: Deanna Hansen
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.97
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<![CDATA[Fascia Training: A Whole-System Approach]]> 43685876 205 Bill Parisi Lizzie 4 3.94 Fascia Training: A Whole-System Approach
author: Bill Parisi
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.94
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rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/19
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Astray 13366241
With rich historical detail, the celebrated author of Room takes us from puritan Massachusetts to revolutionary New Jersey, antebellum Louisiana to the Toronto highway, lighting up four centuries of wanderings that have profound echoes in the present. Astray offers us a surprising and moving history for restless times.

"The Hunt" was short-listed for the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.]]>
274 Emma Donoghue 0316206296 Lizzie 5 3.57 2012 Astray
author: Emma Donoghue
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/16
date added: 2024/03/16
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<![CDATA[Waves and Beaches: The Powerful Dynamics of Sea and Coast]]> 56827632 The Bestselling Classic Updated for Surfers, Sailors, Oceanographers, Climate Activists, and Those Who Love the Sea

First published in 1963 and updated in 1979, this classic was an essential handbook for anyone who studies, surfs, protects, or is fascinated by the ocean. The original author, Willard Bascom, was a master of the subject and included a wealth of information, based on theory and statistics, but also anecdotal observation and personal experience. It brought to the general public understanding of the awesome and complex power of the waves.

This revision from Kim McCoy adds recent facts and anecdotes to update the book’s relevance in the time of climate change. One of the most significant effects of global warming will be sea-level rise. What will this mean to waves and beaches, and what effects are we already seeing? New text and photos cover events such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina flooding of 2005, and the 2011 earthquake and resulting devastation in Fukishima.

As well as students, surfers, and the general public, this updated edition of a beloved classic is an essential handbook for climate scientists and ocean activists, providing clear explanations and detailed resources for the constant battle to preserve the shore.]]>
400 Kim McCoy 1938340965 Lizzie 0 currently-reading 4.01 Waves and Beaches: The Powerful Dynamics of Sea and Coast
author: Kim McCoy
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.01
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<![CDATA[Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life]]> 14572
World-renowned Zen master, spiritual leader, and author Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how to make positive use of the very situations that usually pressure and antagonize us. For him a ringing telephone can be a signal to call us back to our true selves. Dirty dishes, red lights, and traffic jams are spiritual friends on the path to “mindfulness”—the process of keeping our consciousness alive to our present experience and reality. The most profound satisfactions, the deepest feelings of joy and completeness lie as close at hand as our next aware breath and the smile we can form right now.

Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries and meditations, personal anecdotes and stories from Nhat Hanh’s experiences as a peace activist, teacher, and community leader. It begins where the reader already is—in the kitchen, office, driving a car, walking a part—and shows how deep meditative presence is available now. Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace. Nhat Hanh also shows how to be aware of relationships with others and of the world around us, its beauty and also its pollution and injustices. The deceptively simple practices of Peace Is Every Step encourage the reader to work for peace in the world as he or she continues to work on sustaining inner peace by turning the “mindless� into the mindFUL.]]>
134 Thich Nhat Hanh 0553351397 Lizzie 4 4.32 1992 Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
author: Thich Nhat Hanh
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/21
date added: 2024/02/21
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<![CDATA[The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)]]> 42074525
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.]]>
437 N.K. Jemisin Lizzie 4 3.83 2020 The City We Became (Great Cities, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/15
date added: 2024/02/15
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No Matter the Wreckage: Poems 18288210 No Matter the Wreckage presents readers with new and beloved work that showcases Kay's knack for celebrating family, love, travel, history, and unlikely love affairs between inanimate objects ("Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire"), among other curious topics.

Both fresh and wise, Kay's poetry allows readers to join in on her journey of discovering herself and the world around her. It's an honest and powerful collection.]]>
143 Sophia Janowitz 1938912489 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.20 2014 No Matter the Wreckage: Poems
author: Sophia Janowitz
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]>
331 David Grann 0385534264 Lizzie 4 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/29
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<![CDATA[Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do]]> 607537 Global Hope floundered on the shoals in Salem Sound off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard heard the Mayday calls and immediately dispatched a patrol boat. Within an hour, the Coast Guard boat was in as much trouble as the tanker, having lost its radar, depth finder, and engine power in horrendous seas. Pilot boat Captain Frank Quirk was monitoring the Coast Guard's efforts by radio, and when he heard that the patrol boat was in jeopardy, he decided to act. Gathering his crew of four, he readied his forty-nine-foot steel boat, the Can Do, and entered the maelstrom of the blizzard.

Using dozens of interview and audiotapes that recorded every word exchanged between Quirk and the Coast Guard, Tougias has written a devastating, true account of bravery and death at sea, in Ten Hours Until Dawn.]]>
336 Michael J. Tougias 0312334362 Lizzie 5 4.01 2005 Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
author: Michael J. Tougias
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/17
date added: 2024/01/17
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<![CDATA[Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures]]> 52668915
Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.

In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of ‘intelligence�, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. The ability of fungi to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web�, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.]]>
352 Merlin Sheldrake 0525510311 Lizzie 0 to-read 4.34 2020 Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
author: Merlin Sheldrake
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) 6149 Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.]]>
325 Toni Morrison Lizzie 4 3.96 1987 Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
author: Toni Morrison
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/04
date added: 2024/01/04
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<![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]>
448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Lizzie 0 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves:
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The Silmarillion 7332 386 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618391118 Lizzie 0 3.99 1977 The Silmarillion
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/12
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Culloden 34377058
In Trevor Royle's vivid and evocative narrative, we are drawn into the ranks, on both sides, alongside doomed Jacobites fighting fellow Scots dressed in the red coats of the Duke of Cumberland's Royal Army. And we meet the Duke himself, a skilled warrior who would gain notoriety because of the reprisals on Highland clans in the battle's aftermath. Royle also takes us beyond the battle as the men of the Royal Army, galvanized by its success at Culloden, expand dramatically and start to fight campaigns overseas in America and India in order to secure British interests. We see the revolutionary use of fighting techniques first implemented at Culloden, and we see the creation of professional fighting forces.

Culloden changed the course of British history by ending all hope of the Stuarts reclaiming the throne, cementing Hanoverian rule and forming the bedrock for the creation of the British Empire. Royle's lively and provocative history looks afresh at the period and unveils its true significance, not only as the end of a struggle for the throne but the beginning of a new global power.]]>
432 Trevor Royle 1681775670 Lizzie 3 3.13 2016 Culloden
author: Trevor Royle
name: Lizzie
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/12
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<![CDATA[The Fiery Cross (Outlander, #5)]]> 10967 1443 Diana Gabaldon 0440221668 Lizzie 4 4.24 2001 The Fiery Cross (Outlander, #5)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/07
date added: 2023/12/07
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<![CDATA[The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]]> 16158542
It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys� own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.]]>
404 Daniel James Brown 067002581X Lizzie 5 4.37 2013 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
author: Daniel James Brown
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/07
date added: 2023/12/07
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Happy-Go-Lucky 58989873
But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most. To cope, he walks for miles through a nearly deserted city, smelling only his own breath. He vacuums his apartment twice a day, fails to hoard anything, and contemplates how sex workers and acupuncturists might be getting by during quarantine.

As the world gradually settles into a new reality, Sedaris too finds himself changed. His offer to fix a stranger’s teeth rebuffed, he straightens his own, and ventures into the world with new confidence. Newly orphaned, he considers what it means, in his seventh decade, no longer to be someone’s son. And back on the road, he discovers a battle-scarred America: people weary, storefronts empty or festooned with Help Wanted signs, walls painted with graffiti reflecting the contradictory messages of our time: Eat the Rich. Trump 2024. Black Lives Matter.

In Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all. If we must live in interesting times, there is no one better to chronicle them than the incomparable David Sedaris.]]>
272 David Sedaris 0316392456 Lizzie 0 4.15 2022 Happy-Go-Lucky
author: David Sedaris
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/01
date added: 2023/11/07
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<![CDATA[Drums of Autumn (Outlander, #4)]]> 40909452 In this breathtaking novel, rich in history and adventure, #1 New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon continues the story of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser that started with the now-classic novel Outlander and continued in Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager. Once again spanning continents and centuries, Gabaldon has created a work of sheer brilliance.

What if you knew someone you loved was going to die? What if you thought you could save them? How much would you risk to try?

Claire Randall has gone to find Jamie Fraser, the man she loved more than life, and has left half her heart behind with their daughter, Brianna. Claire gave up Jamie to save Brianna, and now Bree has sent her mother back to the Scottish warrior who was willing to give his life to save them both. But a chilling discovery in the pages of history suggests that Jamie and Claire's story doesn't have a happy ending.

Brianna dares a terrifying leap into the unknown in search of her mother and the father she has never met, risking her own future to try to change history . . . and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past . . . or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong.]]>
928 Diana Gabaldon 0525618732 Lizzie 4 4.35 1996 Drums of Autumn (Outlander, #4)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Lizzie
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/10
date added: 2023/08/10
shelves:
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