Veronika's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 15 Feb 2023 05:10:21 -0800 60 Veronika's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Der Sandmann 680596 83 E.T.A. Hoffmann 3458326340 Veronika 2 3.59 1816 Der Sandmann
author: E.T.A. Hoffmann
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1816
rating: 2
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<![CDATA[The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)]]> 35068705
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

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

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

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.]]>
545 R.F. Kuang 0062662597 Veronika 4 4.16 2018 The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)]]> 18004320
As A World Without Princes closed, the end was written and former best friends Sophie and Agatha went their separate ways. Agatha was whisked back to Gavaldon with Tedros and Sophie stayed behind with the beautiful young School Master.

But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn’t the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down.

Readers around the world are eagerly awaiting the third book in The School for Good and Evil series, The Last Ever After. This extraordinary new journey delivers more action, adventure, laughter, romance and fairy tale twists and turns than you could ever dream of!]]>
655 Soman Chainani 0062104950 Veronika 4 4.24 2015 The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)
author: Soman Chainani
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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Disgrace 6192 220 J.M. Coetzee 0143036378 Veronika 3 3.86 1999 Disgrace
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1999
rating: 3
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Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Welcome to Charon's Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

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

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

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

Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.]]>
376 T.J. Klune 1250217342 Veronika 5 4.11 2021 Under the Whispering Door
author: T.J. Klune
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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Family of Liars 59586261 The prequel to We Were Liars takes readers back to the story of another summer, another generation, and the secrets that will haunt them for decades to come.

A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow.
A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy.
A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes.

Welcome back to the Sinclair family.
They were always liars.]]>
299 E. Lockhart 059356880X Veronika 4 3.75 2022 Family of Liars
author: E. Lockhart
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[A World Without Princes (The School for Good and Evil, #2)]]> 18172465 433 Soman Chainani 0062104926 Veronika 4 3.94 2014 A World Without Princes (The School for Good and Evil, #2)
author: Soman Chainani
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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This Mournable Body 36479936 A searing novel about the obstacles facing women in Zimbabwe, by one of the country’s most notable authors

Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow’s boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.

In This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival. As a last resort, Tambudzai takes an ecotourism job that forces her to return to her parents� impoverished homestead. It is this homecoming, in Dangarembga’s tense and psychologically charged novel, that culminates in an act of betrayal, revealing just how toxic the combination of colonialism and capitalism can be.]]>
284 Tsitsi Dangarembga 1555978126 Veronika 0 3.34 2018 This Mournable Body
author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/26
date added: 2023/01/26
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<![CDATA[The Sunbearer Trials (The Sunbearer Duology, #1)]]> 55878999 Welcome to The Sunbearer Trials, where teen semidioses compete in a series of challenges with the highest of stakes, in this electric new Mexican-inspired fantasy from Aiden Thomas, the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys.

“Only the most powerful and honorable semidioses get chosen. I’m just a Jade. I’m not a real hero.�

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser has the greatest honor of all―they will be sacrificed to Sol, their body used to fuel the Sun Stones that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next ten years.

Teo, a 17-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of Quetzal, goddess of birds, has never worried about the Trials…or rather, he’s only worried for others. His best friend Niya―daughter of Tierra, the god of earth―is one of the strongest heroes of their generation and is much too likely to be chosen this year. He also can’t help but worry (reluctantly, and under protest) for Aurelio, a powerful Gold semidiós and Teo’s friend-turned-rival who is a shoo-in for the Trials. Teo wouldn’t mind taking Aurelio down a notch or two, but a one-in-ten chance of death is a bit too close for Teo’s taste.

But then, for the first time in over a century, Sol chooses a semidiós who isn’t a Gold. In fact, he chooses two: Xio, the 13-year-old child of Mala Suerte, god of bad luck, and…Teo. Now they must compete in five mysterious trials, against opponents who are both more powerful and better trained, for fame, glory, and their own survival.]]>
352 Aiden Thomas Veronika 0 4.31 2022 The Sunbearer Trials (The Sunbearer Duology, #1)
author: Aiden Thomas
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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Le Petit Prince 70720 S'ouvre alors un monde étrange et poétique, peuplé de métaphores, décrit à travers les paroles d'un "petit prince" qui porte aussi sur notre monde à nous un regard tout neuf, empli de naïveté, de fraîcheur et de gravité. Très vite, vous découvrez d'étranges planètes, peuplées d'hommes d'affaires, de buveurs, de vaniteux, d'allumeurs de réverbères.

Cette évocation onirique, à laquelle participent les aquarelles de l'auteur, a tout d'un parcours initiatique, où l'enfant apprendra les richesses essentielles des rapports humains et le secret qui les régit : "On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

Oeuvre essentielle de la littérature, ce livre de Saint-Exupéry est un ouvrage que l'on aura à coeur de raconter à son enfant, page après page, histoire aussi de redécouvrir l'enfant que l'on était autrefois, avant de devenir une grande personne !]]>
123 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 3125971403 Veronika 0 to-read 4.38 1943 Le Petit Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/05
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Moby-Dick or, The Whale 153747 "It is the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it."

So Melville wrote of his masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopaedia of whaling lore and legend, the book can be seen as part of its author's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is also a profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.

This edition of Moby-Dick, which reproduces the definitive text of the novel, includes invaluable explanatory notes, along with maps, illustrations, and a glossary of nautical terms.]]>
720 Herman Melville 0142437247 Veronika 0 currently-reading 3.53 1851 Moby-Dick or, The Whale
author: Herman Melville
name: Veronika
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1851
rating: 0
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The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]>
592 Markus Zusak Veronika 0 currently-reading 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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Academy of Blood 63135469
James must build friendships with the purpose of severing them. He has led a pampered, isolated life, and doesn’t know how ill-prepared he is for the task at hand. Upon his arrival to the unorthodox school, James soon uncovers deeper secrets than he could’ve anticipated. He must eliminate his targets before his own blood is shed, but his determination wavers when he grows fond of the purple-eyed beauty, Ayla, and athletic goofball, Takanashi. All of a sudden, James' first-ever friendships develop into unexpected relationships that distort his reality. Is it possible for the supernatural students to restore a corrupt teen’s faith in humanity? Or will they turn out to be just as evil as society makes them out to be?]]>
222 Brad J. Martin Veronika 4 4.10 Academy of Blood
author: Brad J. Martin
name: Veronika
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/01/05
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