en-US Tue, 22 Apr 2025 19:47:26 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 672244 400 Brian W. Aldiss 0743444728 Barb 3 3.64 1982
author: Brian W. Aldiss
name: Barb
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
This covers hundreds of years and while I liked the terrific world building, I found the characters not so interesting or once they started to get interesting the author cuts their story off and jumps to the descendants.
]]> 61966364 A stunning account of a colossal wildfire that collided with a city and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing��relationship between fire and humankind

In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.

Fire has been a partner in our evolution for millennia,��shaping culture, civilization, and, very likely, our brains. Fire has enabled us to cook our food, defend and heat our homes, and power the machines that drive our titanic economy. Yet this volatile energy source has always threatened to elude our control, and in our new age of intensifying climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in previously unimaginable ways.

With masterly prose and a cinematic eye, Vaillant takes us on a��riveting journey��through the intertwined histories of North America’s oil industry and the birth of climate science, to the��unprecedented devastation that modern forest fires wreak, and into lives forever changed by these disasters.��His urgent work is a book for—and from—our new century of fire, which has only just begun.]]> 432 John Vaillant 1524732850 Barb 4 ]]> 4.32 2023
author: John Vaillant
name: Barb
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves:
review:
A look at the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 and how different it was from other past fires. The anthropomorphic description of fire the author uses works for me as there are not a lot of people he interviews in depth, actually there is only one and it adds a strong personal element to the tale. Some might not like the fire described in human terms like a monster but I thought it creative way to show how fires today are like bombs. He compares this fire to the WWII bombing of Dresden. The forest surrounding Fort McMurray contained black spruces loaded with sap. The trees caught fire sucking oxygen from below that drove the wind at high speeds up to the treetops sending embers spewing out hundreds of yards. The center of the super-heated fire sucked water from broken pipes and icy rivers sending it skyward where the water became black ice that sped down to the Earth in hurricane strength downdrafts creating juggernauts of black hail. Add to this mess the fact that most homes are now filled with synthetic materials that are combustible providing fuel to the fire even more. Homes burnt down in minutes and items disintegrated that had never before as the temperatures were so much higher than past fires. The author sidetracks from the fire storyline explaining bitumen and climate change. I found some interesting and others not as much.

]]> 36490332 In Talking to My Daughter About the Economy, activist Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister and the author of the international bestseller Adults in the Room, pens a series of letters to his young daughter, educating her about the business, politics, and corruption of world economics.

Yanis Varoufakis has appeared before heads of nations, assemblies of experts, and countless students around the world. Now, he faces his most important—and difficult—audience yet. Using clear language and vivid examples, Varoufakis offers a series of letters to his young daughter about the economy: how it operates, where it came from, how it benefits some while impoverishing others. Taking bankers and politicians to task, he explains the historical origins of inequality among and within nations, questions the pervasive notion that everything has its price, and shows why economic instability is a chronic risk. Finally, he discusses the inability of market-driven policies to address the rapidly declining health of the planet his daughter’s generation stands to inherit.

Throughout, Varoufakis wears his expertise lightly. He writes as a parent whose aim is to instruct his daughter on the fundamental questions of our age—and through that knowledge, to equip her against the failures and obfuscations of our current system and point the way toward a more democratic alternative.]]> 224 Yanis Varoufakis 0374718431 Barb 4 4.20 2013
author: Yanis Varoufakis
name: Barb
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
An interesting look at markets and how they work, where they come from and who benefits from them written in understandable language. The analogy of prisoners in a war camp makes concepts easy to understand. I thought some conclusions on the complexities of institutions and governments were oversimplified but I might have missed his point.
]]> 199551661 448 David Chaffetz 1324051469 Barb 5 4.13
author: David Chaffetz
name: Barb
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
This author covers thousands of years tracing the impact horses have had on cultures and growth of countries. He begins with the domestication of horses and branches into farming, hunting, trading and warfare. Quite fascinating and well done to keep it interesting as he covers so much historical turf. Excellent nonfiction book.
]]> 220271901 Neighbours Carole and Jude investigate murder most horrid in the theatre in the latest Fethering village mystery from the original king of British cozy crime, internationally best-selling, award-winning author Simon Brett, OBE. For fans of Richard Osman �� but with added bite!

Carole Seddon, a very respectable retired woman living in the English seaside village of Fethering, doesn’t care for the theatre. But her neighbour Jude counts the job of actress among her many and varied past careers. So when Jude attends the closing night of a new play based on a classic TV sitcom, Carole is interested �� but only because she suspects the leading man, Drake Purslow, is one of her scandalous friend’s ex-lovers.

The night turns out to be more dramatic than either Carole or Jude could have ever predicted. After the performance, Jude makes her way to Drake’s dressing room, only to find him dead �� in what, to Jude’s experienced sleuthing eye, seem very suspicious circumstances.

Did one of the play’s cast �� made up almost entirely of the original sitcom’s actors �� have a long-held grudge against the show’s star? Or are more recent hatreds to blame? Jude is determined to find out �� and Carole, who despite protestations is almost pathologically nosy, is right there to investigate alongside her.

Not met Carole and Jude yet? Dive right in, and discover why The Guardian called Simon Brett “one of British crime’s most assured craftsmen��. Fans of Janice Hallett and M.C. Beaton are in for a treat.]]> 192 Simon Brett 1448314658 Barb 3 3.43
author: Simon Brett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:
A forgettable murder mystery. I couldn’t get into it.
]]> 213618143 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 465 Robert Jackson Bennett 0593723821 Barb 5 4.55 2025
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/15
date added: 2025/04/15
shelves:
review:
A sequel to The Tainted Cup, investigator Ana and assistant Din explore the death of a treasury official in this fantasy, mystery. Ana shows even more oddities and Din is contemplating another career. The plot and character arcs are satisfying as are the themes of autocracy, meaningful jobs, and relationships. I can never figure out this authors mysteries. He’s complex and it’s hard putting his books down.
]]> 199743701 In this thrilling paranormal YA romance debut steeped in folklore, two estries—owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition—face New York's monstrous underworld to save the girl one of them loves with help from the boy one of them fears before they are, all of them, lost forever.

Clara loves rules. Rules are what have kept her and her sister, Molly, alive—or, rather, undead—for over a century. Work their historic movie theater by day. Shift into an owl under the cover of night. Feed on men in secret. And never fall in love.

Molly is in love. And she’s tired of keeping her girlfriend, Anat, a secret. If Clara won’t agree to bend their rules a little, then she will bend them herself.

Boaz is cursed. He can’t walk two city blocks without being cornered by something undead. At least at work at the theater, he gets to flirt with Clara, wishing she would like him back.

When Anat vanishes, and New York’s monstrous underworld emerges from the shadows, Clara suspects Boaz, their annoyingly cute box office attendant, might be behind it all.

But if they are to find Anat, they will need to work together to face demons and the hungers they would sooner bury. Clara will have to break all her rules—of love, of life, and of death itself—before her rules break everyone she loves.

In this standalone debut, A. R. Vishny interweaves mystery, romance, and lore to create an unputdownable story about those who have kept to the shadows for far too long.]]> 368 A.R. Vishny 0063327309 Barb 3 4.04 2024
author: A.R. Vishny
name: Barb
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves:
review:
This YA paranormal romance has lots of action, has a Jewish vampire as a protagonist, and incorporates Jewish culture into the plot.
]]> 4214 460 Yann Martel 0770430074 Barb 5 3.94 2001
author: Yann Martel
name: Barb
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/13
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves:
review:
I loved this book! It was funny and brutal as it’s a survival story. The end has a great twist. My husband didn’t like it but I did as it looks at allegories in storytelling and asks if the fantastical story is better than the real one. The reader can decide.
]]> 16907 The Golden Key by George MacDonald eventually grew into this charming short story, so named by Tolkien to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse. Composed almost a decade after The Lord of the Rings, and when his lifelong occupation with the 'Silmarillion' was winding down, Smith of Wootton Major was the product of ripened experience and reflection. It was published in 1967 as a small hardback, complete with charming black and white illustrations by Pauline Baynes, and would be the last work of fiction to be published in Tolkien’s own lifetime.

Now, almost 40 years on, this enchanting tale of a wanderer who finds his way into the perilous realm of Faery is being republished, but in addition to a facsimile of the illustrated first edition this new version includes a manuscript of Tolkien's early draft of the story, notes on the genesis, chronology and alternate ending of the story, and a lengthy essay on the nature of Faery, all of which is previously unpublished.

Contained within Smith of Wooton Major are many intriguing links to the world of Middle-earth, as well as to Tolkien’s other tales, and this 'extended edition' the reader will finally discover the full story behind this major piece of short fiction.]]> 149 J.R.R. Tolkien 0007202474 Barb 4 3.95 1967
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Barb
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:
This fairy tale is a metaphor for a person’s imagination and entering the fantasy realm is an adventure. The story explores fairies as dangerous creatures and Entering old age. This reminds me more of Grimms original fairy tales in that there is less character development, although Tolkien develops the story more. Grimms has some really brief tales.
]]> 191793 Cakes and Ale is a delicious satire of London literary society between the Wars. Social climber Alroy Kear is flattered when he is selected by Edward Driffield's wife to pen the official biography of her lionized novelist husband, and determined to write a bestseller. But then Kear discovers the great novelist's voluptuous muse (and unlikely first wife), Rosie. The lively, loving heroine once gave Driffield enough material to last a lifetime, but now her memory casts an embarrissing shadow over his career and respectable image. Wise, witty, deeply satisfying, Cakes and Ale is Maugham at his best.]]> 308 W. Somerset Maugham 0375725024 Barb 4 3.79 1930
author: W. Somerset Maugham
name: Barb
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1930
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:
A well written book but I didn’t like the plot. The author satirizes society, authors, the romanticism around definitions of beauty, and more. A good character study.
]]> 18765
I, Claudius and its sequel, Claudius the God, are among the most celebrated, as well the most gripping historical novels ever written.

Cover illustration: Brian Pike]]> 469 Robert Graves 067972477X Barb 5 4.24 1934
author: Robert Graves
name: Barb
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/08
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:
Written in the 1930s, this book was one of the first historical fiction novels written in first person narrative. The audio is awesome. You wouldn’t want to be an emperor. Claudius narrates and is a sympathetic person who is manipulated by those around him.
]]> 742811 256 Richmal Crompton 0333534085 Barb 4 4.07 1922
author: Richmal Crompton
name: Barb
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:
Funny adventures of a boy who pulls pranks and makes life exciting.
]]> 29124
So ten-year-old Maria, orphaned mistress of Malplaquet, discovers the secret of her deteriorating on a deserted island at its far corner, in the temple long ago nicknamed Mistress Masham's Repose, live an entire community of people��"The People," as they call themselves—all only inches tall. With the help of her only friend—the absurdly erudite Professor—Maria soon learns that this settlement is no less than the kingdom of Lilliput (first seen in Gulliver's Travels ) in exile. Safely hidden for centuries, the Lilliputians are at first endangered by Maria's well-meaning but clumsy attempts to make their lives easier, but their situation grows truly ominous when they are discovered by Maria's greedy guardians, who look at The People and see only a bundle of money.]]> 260 T.H. White 1590171039 Barb 4 3.97 1946
author: T.H. White
name: Barb
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/07
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves:
review:
I can see why Terry Pratchett said this is one book that influenced his writing and reminds me of The Carpet People. This book plays off of Gullivers Travels and is written for children with an heiress, as a child, has guardians trying to steel her money. The humor and character development has distinct voices with the little people speaking in caps, a professor who rambles and uses Latin words all the time, a villain that uses h…m…h…m. Well written and funny with a predictable plot
]]> 63360321
'Basil Boothroyd's quietly comic classic' Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph
Gerald C Potter is the proud author of Death in the Arboretum, described by the Bournemouth Echo as 'well-written'. He works hard on his books, and worries about every comma, adjective and unfortunate typo: but somehow, he never seems to get very much done. However, his wife and fellow novelist, Diana (aka Magnolia Badminton) is positively prolific - much to his chagrin.

These four series recount his daily activities and struggles for inspiration, as he tries to solve the mystery of his missing briefcase; goes up against his wife as they compete to publicise their new books; takes a holiday abroad that's far from relaxing; and receives a double-edged surprise on United Potter Day. And in special festive episode 'The Cousin', an unexpected message in a Christmas card leaves Gerald and Diana scrambling to prepare for a last-minute visitor...

Written by celebrated humorist Basil Boothroyd, this witty, quick, clever sitcom ran for five years on Radio 4 between 1976 and 1981. It stars Ian Carmichael (The World of Wooster, Lord Peter Wimsey) as Gerald C Potter, with Charlotte Mitchell (Waggoners' Walk, The Adventures of Black Beauty) as Diana.

Production credits
Written by Basil Boothroyd
Produced by Bobby Jaye

Cast
Gerald C Potter - Ian Carmichael
Diana, his wife - Charlotte Mitchell
With Michael McClain, James Thomason, Trader Faulkner, Robin Browne, Michael Deacon, Jo Manning Wilson, Margaret Robertson, Peter Craze, Anthony Smee, Michael Goldie, Penelope Reynolds, Geoffrey Matthews, Edward Kelsey, Betty Huntley-Wright, Fiona Mathieson, Garard Green, Brian Carroll, Danny Schiller, Douglas Blackwell, Patricia Hughes, Margot Boyd, Pauline Letts, Brian Haines, Lolly Cockerell, Jane Knowles, Michael Spice, Preston Lockwood, Charles Colville, Paddy O'Byrne, John Church, Judy Franklin and John McAndrew

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 March-26 April 1976 (Series 1), 9 November-14 December 1977 (Series 2), 26 December 1977 (Christmas Special, 'The Cousin'), 24 September-29 October 1979 (Series 3), 27 April-1 June 1981 (Series 4)]]> 11 Basil Boothroyd 1529143314 Barb 4 4.00 1976
author: Basil Boothroyd
name: Barb
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1976
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
Clever writing but slow. I tried to plow through it and this is written as episodes so I think I should have listened to it in chunks.
]]> 220341389 John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.]]> 208 John Green 0525556575 Barb 4 4.52 2025
author: John Green
name: Barb
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:
A look at tuberculosis today and in the past as a disease that is curable but riddled with stigmas, limited global access due to price fixing, and inhumane conditions as seen through the eyes of Henry, a boy living in Sierra Leone. Powerful story.
]]> 58700918
At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own.

At six years old, Terry was told by his headteacher that he would never amount to anything.

He spent the rest of his life proving that teacher wrong. At sixty-six, Terry had lived a life full of achievements: becoming one of the UK's bestselling writers, winning the Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood for services to literature.

Following his untimely death from Alzheimer's disease, the mantle of completing Terry's memoir was passed to Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the author's literary estate.

Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of Terry's family, friends, fans and colleagues, Rob recounts Terry's extraordinary story - from his early childhood to the literary phenomenon that his Discworld series became; and how he met and coped with the challenges that 'The Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's brought with it.]]> 435 Rob Wilkins 0857526634 Barb 4 4.66 2022
author: Rob Wilkins
name: Barb
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves:
review:
Part one captures Terry Pratchett’s voice as the author does a good job piecing together the note he left. Part two is from the author, Rob Wilkins, observations as there seem to be less notes and I felt pulled out of the story. I would have liked the wife and daughter included more. As he recounts Pratchett dealing with Alzheimer’s, his wife was mostly absent and it seemed odd to me as he obviously adored her. I liked Pratchett’s tidbits such as how important the library was for him “I read until my head to bursting.�� How he had run-ins at school from adults abusing their powers which comes through in his social satire on education in his Discworld novels. He also picks apart chauvinism and misogyny in Equal Rites when the great wizard Drum Billet bestows his magic on (gasp) a girl. “Everyone knows that women can’t be wizards.�� A great quote from Reaper Man ends the book: no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away- until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. Someone’s life is only the core of their actual existence.
]]> 34503 He can remember the good old days of high adventure, when being a Hero meant one didn't have to worry about aching backs and lawyers and civilization. But these days, he can't always remember just where he put his teeth... So now, with his ancient (yet still trusty) sword and new walking stick in hand, Cohen gathers a group of his old -- very old -- friends to embark on one final quest. He's going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and meet the gods. It's time the Last Hero in the world returns what the first hero stole. Trouble is, that'll mean the end of the world, if no one stops him in time.]]> 176 Terry Pratchett 0060507772 Barb 4 4.17 2001
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
Pratchett mocks the hero genre in another funny story.
]]> 13536811 A Blink of the Screen charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press,; to the origins of his debut novel, The Carpet People; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series.

Here are characters both familiar and yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds and others still expanding; adventure, chickens, death, disco and, actually, some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas,all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour.

With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt, illustrations by the late Josh Kirby and drawings by the author himself, this is a book to treasure.]]> 320 Terry Pratchett 0385618980 Barb 5 4.02 2012
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
review:
The author shows how he got ideas for his characters, plots and satire from this collection of short stories. Even as a 13 year old he would take a well known story such as Dante’s Inferno and play with characters doing the opposite of what was expected. It makes the story feel completely new. Other short stories show how the character was developed. Very fascinating and the blurb before are helpful in revealing what book was influenced. Best to read this if you know the series well; otherwise it’s hard to see development of characters and plots.
]]> 23346526
Luckily, there’s a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who’s willing to fill it. Together with Fortnight the Friday knight and Fossfiddle the wizard, Ralph sets out to defeat the fearsome fire-breathers.

But there's a teeny weeny surprise in store . . .

Fourteen fantastically funny stories from master storyteller Sir Terry Pratchett, full of time travel and tortoises, monsters and mayhem!

‘So funny I dropped my spoon laughing!�� �� King Arthur]]> 339 Terry Pratchett 0552572802 Barb 4 3.76 2014
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves:
review:
A great collection of short stories that reminded me of characters in Pratchett’s Discworld series. He fleshes out the characters in the series and they grow and change becoming deeper and more rounded. He’s such a good writer. And I’m a broken record.
]]> 34494 Librarian's Note: For an alternate cover edition of the same ISBN, click here.

"Another world is colliding with this one," said the toad. "All the monsters are coming back."

"Why?" said Tiffany.

"There's no one to stop them."

There was silence for a moment.

Then Tiffany said, "There's me."

Armed only with a frying pan and her common sense, Tiffany Aching, a young witch-to-be, is all that stands between the monsters of Fairyland and the warm, green Chalk country that is her home. Forced into Fairyland to seek her kidnapped brother, Tiffany allies herself with the Chalk's local Nac Mac Feegle - aka the Wee Free Men - a clan of sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men who are as fierce as they are funny. Together they battle through an eerie and ever-shifting landscape, fighting brutal flying fairies, dream-spinning dromes, and grimhounds - black dogs with eyes of fire and teeth of razors - before ultimately confronting the Queen of the Elves, absolute ruler of a world in which reality intertwines with nightmare. And in the final showdown, Tiffany must face her cruel power alone...

In a riveting narrative that is equal parts suspense and humor, Carnegie Medalist Terry Pratchett returns to his internationally popular Discworld with a breathtaking tale certain to leave fans, new and old, enthralled.]]> 375 Terry Pratchett 0060012382 Barb 5 4.29 2003
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves:
review:
My last Discworld book read in the series of 41 books! I didn’t mind reading the other series out of order but I wished I had read the Tiffany Aching books in order. This one sets up the characters so well. Also, the audiobook is fantastic and I understood more of the Nac Mac Feegles language than when I read them in other book. Quite a feat trying to pronounce their made up language. A look at our part in this greater world to be responsible to do what’s right and so much more. Brilliant writing and funnier than anything most people could dream up.
]]> 214331246 When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.]]> 387 Suzanne Collins 1546171460 Barb 3 4.62 2025
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Barb
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
This was very similar in plot to Hunger Games. Because Hammish has been in the other books the ending is predictable. It was entertaining but I had a harder time becoming vested in the characters.
]]> 34519 224 Terry Pratchett 0060094958 Barb 4 3.99 1990
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
Pratchett cleverly uses nomes to comment on humans and society. He even changes the spelling of gnomes to create his own new species. These nomes are quite different than the fairy tale gnomes. A quick read.
]]> 989030
Soon strange things start to happen. Like the tops of puddles growing hard and cold, and the water coming down from the sky in frozen bits. Then humans appear and they REALLY mess everything up. The quarry is to be re-opened, and the nomes must fight to defend their new home. But how long will they be able to keep the humans at bay - even with the help of the monster Jekub?

.]]> 173 Terry Pratchett 0552525863 Barb 4 3.89 1990
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
Another funny Pratchett book. More silly than most of his. I like the references to Gullivers Travel.
]]> 76334 With his bestselling spiritual guide "The Power of Now," Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived ?in the now.? In "A New Earth," Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence. "The Power of Now" was a question-and-answer handbook. "A New Earth" has been written as a traditional narrative, offering anecdotes and philosophies in a way that is accessible to all. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, "A New Earth" is a profoundly spiritual manifesto for a better way of life?and for building a better world.]]> 316 Eckhart Tolle 0452287588 Barb 4 4.15 2005
author: Eckhart Tolle
name: Barb
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:
Ya know that voice in your head that chatters incessantly? At times it drives.me.crazy. Especially when I’m trying to sleep�� that voice nags and natters to the point where I’m disgusted. The author says a cure is to recognize that this is the ego talking, recognize it for what it is and focus on being�� shut down the ego in its self-centeredness and focus on breathing, taking yourself out of the ego. If you learn to recognize the ego and its negativity, comparison and insatiable needs, you can find happiness and peace. I liked the way he phrases things and enjoyed the look at various religions and the inclusivity of his message. A book that tries to define wisdom over intellect and worldly pursuits.
]]> 203746293 An Avid Reader Press book. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader. ]]> 464 David Yeager 1668023881 Barb 3 4.16
author: David Yeager
name: Barb
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
The author use recent studies and his own research to explore the topic of adolescents who seek social status and adults that can mentor them in a way that motivates rather than discourages them. As an educator for over 20 years I have heard what he writes about in different professional development and graduate courses. It’s good information and I like how he personalizes it and shows the importance of diversity.
]]> 59344312
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.]]> 336 Colleen Hoover 153872474X Barb 3 4.29 2018
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Barb
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
This follows the romance genre until the end where you have to decide who’s manipulating whom. A dark ending.
]]> 288680
William just wants to get at THE TRUTH. Unfortunately, everyone else wants to get at William. And it's only the third edition...]]> 444 Terry Pratchett 0552147680 Barb 5 4.40 2000
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves:
review:
Pratchett explores the concept of truth in relationships, the newspaper industry, minorities, politics, and more in another fantastic Discworld story. Truth is contrasted with lies and the grayness of what is real to one person is quite different for another, showing the resulting conflicts. He looks at personal bias through his protagonist. All of us filter information through our own experiences giving each our own bias that we need to recognize. The protagonist, William de Worde is starting his own newspaper and when he writes he tries to be objective but when he interacts with reporter, Sacharissa, she points out his own privileged upbringing makes it hard for him to understand people that are working to just make ends meet. All is done with silliness that balances thought-provoking dialogues. Pratchett also shows the dangers of the rumor mill while crating kooky, engaging minor characters. Otto, the vampire, who’s the newspaper’s photographer steals several scenes with hilarious and poignant comments and actions of one who deals with prejudices but responds in love and with humor not hate.Then there’s the cursing villain who uses “ing�� instead of cussing and is an expert in antiquities that adds an unexpected dimension to a one-dimensional character. You wonder what he would have been like if not a criminal. There is light-hearted poking at journalists shorthand, odd shaped vegetables, and talking dogs to name a few. Characters on the fringe of society who deserve chances and respect is another prominent theme. Many of his themes have a timeless quality that can be applied to todays world particularly the online social world that uses the rumor mill to mislead and stir people up without using critical thinking skills to figure out if it’s true or not or even consequences of actions.pratchett helps me make sense of the world I’m living in with a smile on my face. That is great writing.
]]> 11275323
Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital... but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse...

Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails...]]> 377 Terry Pratchett 0857522272 Barb 3 3.97 2013
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:
I had a hard time getting into this one, particularly in the beginning. Then things get rolling in the plot and I enjoyed it.
]]> 45046690
In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London. Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t―and why.]]> 336 Deirdre Mask 1250134765 Barb 3 4.07 2020
author: Deirdre Mask
name: Barb
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves:
review:
Parts of this book were interesting but I didn’t think the author did a good job pulling the all the chapters into the topic of how addresses reveal identity, wealth, race and power, particularly when the chapters concluded. The flow was jarring at times and I remember thinking «Is that all?» Some examples just didn’t have the same weight as others.
]]> 149281
The case starts at a rally for a controversial cult that ends suddenly in bloodshed, and leads to the apparent murder of an American archaeologist, which officials want to keep quiet. And haunting Hulan’s investigation is the possible theft of ancient dragon bones that might alter the history of civilization itself.

Getting to the bottom of ever-spiraling events, Hulan unearths more scandals, confronts more murderers, and revives tragic memories that shake her tormented marriage to its core. In the end, she solves a mystery as big, unruly, and complex as China itself.

Praise for Dragon Bones

“Stays with you long after the conventional thriller is forgotten.�� �� The Washington Post Book World

“Lisa See is one of the classier practitioners of . . . the international thriller. . . . She draws her characters . . . with convincing depth, and offers up documentary social detail that reeks of freshly raked muck. See’s China is as vivid as Upton Sinclair’s Chicago.�� �� The New York Times Book Review]]> 368 Lisa See 0345440315 Barb 3 3.63 2002
author: Lisa See
name: Barb
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed the cultural aspects but the plotting, pacing and unbelievable parts made me almost abandon this. For instance, the guy has five broken ribs, 30 stitches, and a concussion; yet he’s reading a journal and running down the street?
]]> 173956216
It's August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it?]]> 272 Erin Entrada Kelly 0063337312 Barb 5 4.07 2024
author: Erin Entrada Kelly
name: Barb
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
A well written science fiction book that looks at time travel. Terrific character development shows an anxious protagonist trying to find his identity in a world full of disasters and doom and gloom. He’s balanced out by the minor characters who compliment his personality. The author explores the theme surrounding «the state of being» or existing in time. Nice mixture of culture in the 90s with the future of 2199. The only part that made me stutter was the bully at the beginning. I thought, «oh no,not another bully book.» It is much more than that. Thank goodness. I can see why it won the 2025 Newbery medal.
]]> 48002
And on the Discworld that is the job of the Monks of History, who store it and pump it from the places where it's wasted (like underwater - how much time does a codfish need?) to places like cities, where there's never enough time.

But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well, time for Lu Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd. Because it will stop time. And that will only be the start of everyone's problems.

"Thief of Time" comes complete with a full supporting cast of heroes, villains, yetis, martial artists and Ronnie, the fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse (who left before they became famous).]]> 378 Terry Pratchett 0061031321 Barb 4 4.26 2001
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/08
shelves:
review:
«People need to be able to waste time, make time lose time, and buy time. This will be our major task» says Wen in another Pratchett story that looks at time from all angles. He also uses satire on the topic of education (and religion, and myths and hero’s��) showing the negative effects of labeling and adults trying to smoosh everyone into the same box versus celebrating differences. Another character is OCD, another is more intelligent than the teachers showing adults mishandling the kids over and over. Igor pokes fun at Frankenstein tropes. Pratchett shows culturally how there can be a need for people to control others, the world around them, and create systems to support this�� which leads to abuse of power.
]]> 17278807 A Slip of the Keyboard brings together for the first time the finest examples of Pratchett's non fiction writing, both serious and surreal: from musings on mushrooms to what it means to be a writer (and why banana daiquiris are so important); from memories of Granny Pratchett to speculation about Gandalf's love life, and passionate defences of the causes dear to him.

With all the humour and humanity that have made his novels so enduringly popular, this collection brings Pratchett out from behind the scenes of the Discworld to speak for himself - man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and Dignity in Dying.]]> 315 Terry Pratchett 0857521225 Barb 4 4.22 2014
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves:
review:
An interesting look at Pratchett’s views on writing, fame, assisted suicide, Alzheimer’s and more.
]]> 3805 After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. The oldest, Gary, a once-stable portfolio manager and family man, is trying to convince his wife and himself, despite clear signs to the contrary, that he is not clinically depressed. The middle child, Chip, has lost his seemingly secure academic job and is failing spectacularly at his new line of work. And Denise, the youngest, has escaped a disastrous marriage only to pour her youth and beauty down the drain of an affair with a married man - or so her mother fears. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.
Stretching from the Midwest at midcentury to the Wall Street and Eastern Europe of today, "The Corrections" brings an old-fashioned world of civic virtue and sexual inhibitions into violent collision with the era of home surveillance, hands-off parenting, do-it-yourself mental healthcare, and globalised greed. Richly realistic, darkly hilarious, deeply humane, it confirms Jonathan Franzen as one of our most brilliant interpreters of American society and the American soul.]]> 653 Jonathan Franzen 1841156736 Barb 4 3.83 2001
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Barb
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves:
review:
A well written character study of a family that is dysfunctional and how it spills into the children’s adult life with bad choices and struggles with relationships. Very heavy and dark with hope offered at the end. Can’t say I enjoyed this one.
]]> 34541
There're the witches - young Agnes, who is really in two minds about everything; Magrat, who is trying to combine witchcraft and nappies, Nanny Ogg, who is far too knowing,.. and Granny Weatherwax, who is big trouble.

And the vampires are intelligent - not easily got rid of with a garlic enema or by going to the window, grasping the curtains and saying, "I don't know about you, but isn't it a bit stuffy in here?" They've got style and fancy waistcoats. They're out of the casket and want a bite of the future.

Mightily Oats knows he has a prayer, but he wishes he had an axe.]]> 296 Terry Pratchett 0061051586 Barb 4 4.16 1998
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:
You never know where Pratchett’s plots are going. He’s poking fun at young parents, superstitions, religions, exclusion, cultural conditioning and more. He packs in the themes. I found the Nac Mac Feegles really hard to understand in parts. I am sure I missed some of that humor.
]]> 45032383
Watercolor author, artist, and teacher Ana Victoria Calderon guides you through choosing, mixing, and using color with watercolor and mixed media to�� create the most expressive and appealing combinations and effects for a wide range of moods and subjects. You'll explore a variety of subjects and themes,��including flowers, foliage, landscapes, skies, cities, figures, art movements, and historical eras. With Color Harmony for Artists, every artist, from beginner to advanced, will be inspired to embrace the creative possibilities of color and paint !]]> 144 Ana Victoria Calderón 163159771X Barb 3 3.99 2019
author: Ana Victoria Calderón
name: Barb
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:
I liked the intro on color basics. The focus is watercolor and I use oils and acrylics so while I found her practice of looking at nature and creating color swaths, it isn’t a medium I work in. That said, I picked up a few tips.
]]> 47989
Living in the past is hard. Dying in the past is incredibly easy. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down a murderer, teach his younger self how to be a good copper, and change the outcome of a bloody rebellion. There's a problem: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future.

A Discworld Tale of One City, with a full chorus of street urchins, ladies of negotiable affection, rebels, secret policemen, and other children of the revolution.

Truth! Justice! Freedom!
And a Hard-boiled Egg!]]> 480 Terry Pratchett 055215430X Barb 5 4.49 2002
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves:
review:
In my top three favorite Discworld books. This story rounds out the character of Vetrinari who appears in many books but isn’t fleshed out. Pratchett uses the time travel trope to create a page turner that explores and pokes fun at cops, heroes, governments,cities, corruption and more. One of my favorite first sentences in his books is in this one: Sam Vines sighed when he heard the scream, but finished shaving before he did anything about it.
]]> 18467845 Timothy Samara has added more than 50 new diagrams and more than 100 new images of real-world projects with an increased emphasis on web and environmental design projects. The "20 Rules for Good Design" has been revisited and expanded to 25 Rules. The book covers all the design fundamentals from working with grids, color application, typography, imagery to finally how to put it all together. Expansion and new material includes:

-Composition/layout, visual hierarchy -Form and composition in relation to concepts and meaning

-Color psychology and narrative-Color coding-Reference palettes for time periods, cultures, and businesses

-Special color and printing techniques -Combining type styles, editorial text setting issues, plus-Web-related type style and hierarchy issues

-Strategies for using photography; design drawing; medium and meaning; pictorial and non-pictorial -image-making options; semiotics, symbolic and metaphorical image use; type as image-Making type and imagery work better together

-Finding flexibility in design systems -The design process, from creative concept development and practical work-flow standpoints...

-Plus a complete project case study with major decision-moments keyed to respective sections!

Being a creative designer is often about coming up with unique design solutions. Unfortunately, when the basic rules of design are ignored in an effort to be distinctive, design becomes useless. In language, a departure from the rules is only appreciated as great literature if recognition of the rules underlies the text. Graphic design is a "visual language," and brilliance is recognized in designers whose work seems to break all the rules, yet communicates its messages clearly.This book is a fun and accessible handbook that presents the fundamentals of design in lists, tips, brief text, and examples. Chapters include Graphic Design: What It Is; What Are They and What Do They Do?; 25 Basic Rules of Good Design; Form and Space-The Basics; Color Fundamentals; Choosing and Using Type; The World of Imagery; Putting it All Together? Essential Layout Concepts; The Right Design Choices: 20 Reminders for Working Designers; and Breaking the Rules: When and Why to Challenge all the Rules of this Book.]]> 320 Timothy Samara 1592539270 Barb 4 3.98 2007
author: Timothy Samara
name: Barb
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:
I haven’t read a design book since the early 80s and felt like a dinosaur while thinking of today’s concepts and how the computer has changed so many things. This book was over 1,000 pages. I only read chapters that interest me and relate to my art. The color chapters were my favorite.
]]> 6250169
The Big Match draws in an urchin with a gift for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might turn out to be the greatest fashion model ever, and the mysterious Mr Nutt. (No one knows much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt).

As the match approaches, four lives are changed forever. Because the thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football.

Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!]]> 417 Terry Pratchett 0061161705 Barb 5 3.99 2009
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:
Pratchett does such a good job picking titles that reflect his themes. He’s brilliant with choosing, making up, and playing with words. Unseen Academicals is a play on words that reflects the exclusion of the protagonist, Nutt, in society and his character as a walking encyclopedia. He’s a hoot. He’s also unseen by those around him with elitist attitudes. He’s more academic than the professors he works for�� academicals captures the absurdity of it all. The plot follows soccer in Europe and seems to mirror the hooligans and gangs wrapped up�� again he captures the absurdity of sports and violence and stupidity in society. Add a ditzy fashion model and incredible baker and you have plenty of themes to explore. Pratchett wrote this when he had dementia and dictated the whole thing. Amazing!
]]> 47994
It's hot. It's dry... very dry. There was this thing once called The Wet, which no one now believes in. Practically everything that's not poisonous is venomous. But it's the best bloody place in the world, all right?

And it'll die in a few days, except...

Who is this hero striding across the red desert? Champion sheep shearer, horse rider, road warrior, beer drinker, bush ranger, and someone who'll even eat a Meat Pie Floater when he's sober? A man in a hat, whose Luggage follows him on little legs, who's about to change history by preventing a swagman stealing a jumbuck by a billabong?

Yes... all this place has between itself and wind-blown doom is Rincewind, the inept wizard who can't even spell wizard. He's the only hero left.

Still... no worries, eh?]]> 416 Terry Pratchett 0552154180 Barb 4 3.99 1998
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:
This follows the plot style of the other Wizard books with Rincewind the reluctant doofus hero who is smart and stupid saving the world in unpredictable ways. Here Pratchett pokes fun at conventions between men and women, hero’s, university professors, subjects, egos, elitism and more. He also satire creation stories and gods and how people ten to find it easier to believe in the unbelievable than the facts before their eyes. He’s more heavy on the bawdy humor especially when a god is trying to have the professors explain sex. This plot is more silly and fantastical than most of his books. Its becomes more slapstick in parts than anything else. I like the books that have a mystery like Night Watch ones or Tiffany Aching. Rincewind follows the quest trope and its not quite as interesting plot wise and more funny. Entertaining and original.
]]> 206780522 An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.

And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she's willing to give up.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives―and their hearts. Literally.]]> 484 Sabaa Tahir 0593616944 Barb 3 4.24 2024
author: Sabaa Tahir
name: Barb
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
A romance fantasy loaded with action and romance. The plot was somewhat predictable with the foreshadowing on one particular character. A few interesting turns at the end. This follows the monster trope and will appeal to young adults.
]]> 1616870 A car full of teens out by the lake, running from a stop by Deputy Torrez, goes
airborne into a rocky outcrop, killing all five kids and revealing a package under the seat. A stash of cocaine this size argues someone or ones has brought big time crime to the county. Were the dead kids merely innocent dupes? Partying that July Fourth night? Dealing?
Searching for answers, Bill deploys his department while dealing with grieving parents, one of whom starts packing a gun. Then a second explosion of violence
fells an undercover cop whose fate is decided in a tension-filled, brilliantly described, air ambulance flight.
Under pressure, the sheriff's department shows its mettle and pulls together to make a formidable team. Its weak spot may be Bill, whose mind is too tough to
crumble but whose body, long mistreated, gradually succumbs to stress. Ignoring
all advice and sense he pilots the case to a final dramatic, midair confrontation where the fate of the killer and the cop will be decided....
The author's deep affection for southern New Mexico and his gift for vividly
etching ordinary people make this well-plotted first novel a standout.

About the Author: Steven F. Havill lives near Albuquerque, New Mexico,
with his wife Kathleen, a writer and artist. A dedicated high school teacher
of high school biology and English by day Havill earned both his B.A. and M.A.
from the University of New Mexico. Besides writing the seven Undersheriff
Bill Gastner mysteries, of which Heartshot is the first, Havill has also
written three Western novels.]]> 208 Steven F. Havill 1890208299 Barb 4 3.93 1991
author: Steven F. Havill
name: Barb
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:
Good mystery with an overweight cop that doesn’t take care of himself but is smart at solving crime.
]]> 60418686
With just 25 common paint colors, you can make 2,400 different hues, and they are all illustrated in this comprehensive guide. That’s 2,400 hues for each medium—oils, acrylics, and watercolors—with each hue visually represented for your easy reference.

Better yet, each color mix uses only two paint colors, so matching results are easy to obtain and your colors remain vibrant and true, not muddied by too many pigments as you often get from mixes with many paint colors.

Pro mixing tips for each type of paint are included to help you achieve winning results. This simple-to-master color mixing system will help you find and mix just the right color, every time!]]> 189 John Barber 0811770303 Barb 4 4.33
author: John Barber
name: Barb
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:
This is helpful if you’re looking for a book that shows different hues with acrylics, oils and watercolors. I found the sheets helpful as it takes me forever to create my own. I would have liked to see one for Prussian blue and more cadmium yellows but this isn’t an exhaustive list of all colors. Very useful for artists.
]]> 242906 In addition to such well-known favorites as "Dapplegrim," "Katie Woodencloak," "Tatterhood," and "Legend of Tannhäuser," this collection also brings to light many gems difficult to find elsewhere. In "The Werewolf," a cruel stepmother thwarts a beautiful princess's marriage plans by transforming her fiancé into a hunted denizen of the forest. The hilarious "Such Women Are" proves the world is never without a sufficiency of fools, while "The Three Dogs" tells of a youth whose four-legged friends defeat a serpent with the nasty habit of devouring a town's young women. Among many other hard-to-find stories are "King Gram," "The Magician's Pupil," "The Outlaw," "Temptations," "The Widow's Son," "The Three Sisters Trapped in a Mountain," and "The Goatherd" (the inspiration for Washington Irving’s story of Rip van Winkle).
These stories preserve the ancient myths of Western Europe that have been passed down from generation to generation, but aside from their importance as seminal folktales, they are simply good reading �� full of passion and excitement, magic, mystery, and sheer storytelling power. Popular Tales from Norse Mythology will delight any student or admirer of myths and mythology.

Excerpt:

The Dasent family is believed to have been originally of French extraction, the name having been traced to an ancient Norman source. It has owned property in the West Indies since the Restoration, and is repre sented in the island of St. Vincent at the present day. Some of its members were amongst the earliest colonists in St. Christopher's at a time when that island and Martinique were held jointly by the French and the English; and the highest judicial and administrative offices in St. Christopher's, in Nevis, in Antigua, and, more recently, in St. Vincent itself were filled by Sir George Dasent's ancestors.]]> 352 George Webbe Dasent 048641812X Barb 4 fairy-tale, adult
Dasent was a professor and philologist who admired the Brothers Grimm, as well as, Asbjoernsen, and Moe's works, as they reflected the idea of shaping a corpus of folk tales as a way to prove literature as a part of a vast Indo-European tradition. He retains the flavor of the folk tales as told by middle class or peasants. Unlike Zipes book there are only a few footnotes that explain where the tales came from historically. Dasent wanted the stories to be read as popular not scholarly tales. I found Zipes book quite fascinating as to where the Grimms got their tales either from medieval manuscripts or different people representing different classes. I can't help but think Asbjoernsen and Moe's work had that but have never read their work.

Philologists like Dasent, Grimm, Asbjoernsen and Moe, try to show how many folk tales descend from eastern tales before being absorbed by the culture and transformed into unique stories representing local legends and more. Through isolation, the Norwegians absorbed and developed their own flavor for telling stories mixing Christianity, Norse myth, socioeconomic status and landscape. I would have liked to have seen this footnoted like the Grimms collection as it shows more clearly the literary roots of the tale. Cinderella is found in the folk tale, "Katie Woodencloak," who has to battle trolls with the help of a Bull. And who would have come up with a wood cloak? Only a culture that values the tall pine forests and woods that were critical to shipbuilding and more. There are magical snowshoes, reindeer, and wool, to name a few. Odin is now a mysterious figure in a broad-brimmed hat and cloak that brings fortune to any character he helps. He is never named but it is obvious who he is as well as Valkyries and Loki-like tricksters. The tales are about marginalized, poor men that succeed through some magical help and gain wealth or a kingdom, harsh stepmothers, dads, or mothers, sibling rivalry, the underdog that triumphs, and strong people that abuse power.

While the narration is male-oriented, like Grimm's, there are a few stories with strong, intelligent females. Katie Woodencloak is one such character. However, it is the triumph of the youngest boy out of three sons that comes through the most. He is the wanderer who triumphs over injustice and evil in the end. What I find odd with these pieces is that Dasent like Grimm is male; yet many of the oral stories were recited by women. I can't help but wonder if the slant of these stories would have been different if a scholarly female in the 1800's wrote them with a philological bent.

Dasent's introductory essay was 160 pages when first published and a collection that covered 60 folk tales. That is not the case here. The introduction is about 20 pages and there are 42 stories in the collection. I'm not sure why the editors put mythology in the title. This is very misleading. They are really just popular tales with only implied mythology.

Dasent writes with a consistent, colloquial style that is easy to read. Some of the stories are violent and many remind me of ones I read in the Jack Zipes book, except the violence is more toned down than Grimms. Two sisters get their heads cut off and the third sister uses a troll's magic potion to put their heads back on. Or the queen's babies are thrown into a pit full of snakes (which reminded me of Ragnar Lothbrak's fate in that Viking legend) only the babies are fished out after the queen's treachery is exposed. The "Nasty Flax Spinning" and "The Three Aunts" are quite similar. One story that repeats often and that I don't recall reading as much is the Samson-like character who gets strength from drinking water from a flask and killing three trolls or the character has a girtle or ribbon that gives him strength. But don't quote me on that... I have a wickedly poor memory when it comes to details. Dasent wanted his stories to be a window into oral traditions, peasant life and cultures. This does just that.
]]> 3.67 1859
author: George Webbe Dasent
name: Barb
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1859
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/12
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: fairy-tale, adult
review:
This work takes some of George Webbe Dasent's translation of P. C. Asbjoernsen and J. Moe's 1842 publication of Norse folk tales and presents it to modern readers. I am glad that I read Jack Zipes, "The Complete First Edition: The Original Folk & Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm," because the introduction does a better job explaining the times. The introduction in this book is only part of Dasent's and it doesn't put it in its historical context. I think an update or a comment from a scholar from today would have made it stronger for the modern reader.

Dasent was a professor and philologist who admired the Brothers Grimm, as well as, Asbjoernsen, and Moe's works, as they reflected the idea of shaping a corpus of folk tales as a way to prove literature as a part of a vast Indo-European tradition. He retains the flavor of the folk tales as told by middle class or peasants. Unlike Zipes book there are only a few footnotes that explain where the tales came from historically. Dasent wanted the stories to be read as popular not scholarly tales. I found Zipes book quite fascinating as to where the Grimms got their tales either from medieval manuscripts or different people representing different classes. I can't help but think Asbjoernsen and Moe's work had that but have never read their work.

Philologists like Dasent, Grimm, Asbjoernsen and Moe, try to show how many folk tales descend from eastern tales before being absorbed by the culture and transformed into unique stories representing local legends and more. Through isolation, the Norwegians absorbed and developed their own flavor for telling stories mixing Christianity, Norse myth, socioeconomic status and landscape. I would have liked to have seen this footnoted like the Grimms collection as it shows more clearly the literary roots of the tale. Cinderella is found in the folk tale, "Katie Woodencloak," who has to battle trolls with the help of a Bull. And who would have come up with a wood cloak? Only a culture that values the tall pine forests and woods that were critical to shipbuilding and more. There are magical snowshoes, reindeer, and wool, to name a few. Odin is now a mysterious figure in a broad-brimmed hat and cloak that brings fortune to any character he helps. He is never named but it is obvious who he is as well as Valkyries and Loki-like tricksters. The tales are about marginalized, poor men that succeed through some magical help and gain wealth or a kingdom, harsh stepmothers, dads, or mothers, sibling rivalry, the underdog that triumphs, and strong people that abuse power.

While the narration is male-oriented, like Grimm's, there are a few stories with strong, intelligent females. Katie Woodencloak is one such character. However, it is the triumph of the youngest boy out of three sons that comes through the most. He is the wanderer who triumphs over injustice and evil in the end. What I find odd with these pieces is that Dasent like Grimm is male; yet many of the oral stories were recited by women. I can't help but wonder if the slant of these stories would have been different if a scholarly female in the 1800's wrote them with a philological bent.

Dasent's introductory essay was 160 pages when first published and a collection that covered 60 folk tales. That is not the case here. The introduction is about 20 pages and there are 42 stories in the collection. I'm not sure why the editors put mythology in the title. This is very misleading. They are really just popular tales with only implied mythology.

Dasent writes with a consistent, colloquial style that is easy to read. Some of the stories are violent and many remind me of ones I read in the Jack Zipes book, except the violence is more toned down than Grimms. Two sisters get their heads cut off and the third sister uses a troll's magic potion to put their heads back on. Or the queen's babies are thrown into a pit full of snakes (which reminded me of Ragnar Lothbrak's fate in that Viking legend) only the babies are fished out after the queen's treachery is exposed. The "Nasty Flax Spinning" and "The Three Aunts" are quite similar. One story that repeats often and that I don't recall reading as much is the Samson-like character who gets strength from drinking water from a flask and killing three trolls or the character has a girtle or ribbon that gives him strength. But don't quote me on that... I have a wickedly poor memory when it comes to details. Dasent wanted his stories to be a window into oral traditions, peasant life and cultures. This does just that.

]]> 62226126
An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?]]> 421 Richard Osman 0241512441 Barb 5 4.44 2023
author: Richard Osman
name: Barb
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
A murder mystery surrounding the characters at an Senior living home. As genarians this group of people investigating murders is always underestimated. The author keeps moving the characters forward in different ways exploring grief, gender identity, psychology and more. Love the depth and brilliant character development. Book 4.
]]> 58957615
Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill or be killed. Suddenly the cold case has become red hot.

While Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim chase down the clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

From an upmarket spa to a prison cell complete with espresso machine to a luxury penthouse high in the sky, this third adventure of the Thursday Murder Club is full of the cleverness, intrigue, and irresistible charm that readers have come to expect from Richard Osman's bestselling series.]]> 413 Richard Osman 0241512425 Barb 5 4.32 2022
author: Richard Osman
name: Barb
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
Another mystery with the smart, kooky, and older characters of the Murder Mystery Club. The cast of characters along with the villains are not what they seem. Funny, poignant, and entertaining. Book 3. Best read in order.
]]> 23507795
Each medium has its section that begins with an introduction, which includes a section of helpful information on basic tools and materials including paints, brushes, appropriate supports , and additional material followed by a quick guide to techniques and artist tips for rendering animal features and fur , as well as natural textures such as bark and foliage.

Talented artists guide readers through a series of easy-to-follow step-by-step projects covering a variety of subjects from pets and horses to wildlife and birds . Projects include a moose, a Shih Tzu dog, a fox, a deer, a lynx, and many more! Along the way, aspiring artists will find helpful tips and tricks for establishing a compelling composition , achieving accurate proportions, and developing expressive animal faces and emotions.

With its breadth of content and instruction, The Art of Painting Animals is perfect for any animal-loving artist's collection .]]> 144 Maury Aaseng 1600584764 Barb 4 4.50 2015
author: Maury Aaseng
name: Barb
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
A good beginner book on painting animals. I liked the eyes and am excited to try some techniques.
]]> 203485 144 Walter Foster Creative Team 1560107510 Barb 3 4.54 2003
author: Walter Foster Creative Team
name: Barb
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
Gives some basics on oil painting at the start then compiles various artists that walk the reader through how to paint a scene, portrait, still life, etc.
]]> 28700743 ��
The Omnians fervently believe that the world is round, not flat, and view the discovery of Roundworld as a vindication of their faith. To leave this artifact in the hands of the wizards would be unacceptable. Not only do the academics hold that Discworld is flat, but by creating the Roundworld universe, they have elevated themselves to the level of gods. Ankh-Morpork’s venerable tyrant Lord Vetinari agrees to a tribunal, where the wizards Ridcully, Rincewind, and Ponder Stibbons can present their case—with key assistance from a Roundworld librarian named Marjorie Daw.
��
JUDGMENT DAY weaves together explorations of such Earthly topics as big science, creation, subatomic particles, the existence of dark matter, and the psychology of belief--a treat for Discworld fans and readers of popular science alike.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 325 Terry Pratchett 0804172250 Barb 3 3.89 2013
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
This didn’t have enough of the fantasy world intertwined with the dry science facts. The end spends a long time on beliefs and religion which was interesting. If you are interested in a counter argument read the book, The Language of God, that blends science and beliefs and written by a scientist. I do agree with the authors in this book the belief doesn’t mean not thinking critically about beliefs and blindly following spiritual leaders to serve one’s self interests. Our cultural failures are often driven by hubris and reflection is important to growth as human beings.
]]> 34515
Why, though, did history come adrift? Was it Sir Arthur Nightingale's dismal book about natural selection? Or was it the devastating response by an obscure country vicar called Charles Darwin, whose bestselling Theology of Species made it impossible to refute the divine design of living creatures? Either way, it's no easy task to change history, as the wizards discover to their cost. Can the God of Evolution come to humanity's aid and ensure Darwin writes a very different book? And who stopped him writing it in the first place?]]> 344 Terry Pratchett 0091898242 Barb 3 3.94 2005
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:
This story doesn’t seem to blend as well as the others. There’s a bit too much science when alternating with Discworld’s wizards. I had a harder time seeing the connections (my audiobook was due so I blew threw the story�� would’ve like to chew on some ideas) but I did find it interesting in parts.
]]> 64225
They get everywhere. And they like humans to be superstitious, fearful and frightened of thunder. They're after our future and must be stopped... but by who?

Enter the wizards of the Unseen University who, in the best-selling "Science of Discworld," unwittingly created Earth and our own universe. At the time they quite failed to notice humanity. (Well, we've only been around for a million years, so we're easily overlooked...) But now, at last, they've found us.

"The Globe" is a unique book, weaving together a fast-paced Discworld novelette with cutting-edge scientific commentary on the evolution and development of the human mind, culture, language, art, and science.

The result - as the wizards grapple with the nature of Good and Evil, and history is rewritten several times over - is a fascinating and brilliantly original view of the world we live in.]]> 368 Terry Pratchett 0091888050 Barb 5 3.93 2002
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
This sequel grabbed my interest more than the first. This alternates between the wizards in the fictional Discworld with science facts. I liked this one better because the authors discuss storytelling and show how it’s used by Pratchett in his books and it’s importance in society from a religious, political, and educational (to name a few) point of view. The way they looked at tropes and explored DNA as humans have evolved was fascinating.
]]> 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 Barb 2 4.18 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Barb
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:
I started this but abandoned it. The other books were action-packed. This one was predictable and boring at the beginning. I couldn’t read any more about how good-looking the protagonist’s boyfriend is. She beats you over the head with it. The minor characters sound too much alike too. This starts off more like a gushy romance novel than a fantasy novel. Maybe it gets better later on�� I’ll never know.
]]> 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]> 303 Percival Everett Barb 5 4.46 2024
author: Percival Everett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:
James is fantastic retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim,the black slave’s point of view. Jim has taught himself to read and this self awareness makes him question society’s abuse and use of slaves for their own advantage. The twists and turns in the plot made this hard for me to put down. The author shows not only the power of words but shows how important it is for authentic narratives that reveal what it’s like on the oppressed side of society. How knowledge threatens those in power because they can articulate the grievances against themselves and others. He touches on many themes from skin color to breeding programs to speech to rape to hate to Burlesque and more. Excellent book and easy to compare with the original.
]]> 34532
Where is the big jolly fat man? Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho? The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker...

Susan the gothic governess has got to sort it out by morning, otherwise there won't be a morning. Ever again...

The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and Death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too).

As they say: "You'd better watch out..."]]> 448 Terry Pratchett 0552154288 Barb 4 4.25 1996
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:
Pratchett pokes fun at Christmas blending humor with observations on society norms and customs. Another great adventure.
]]> 34502 288 Terry Pratchett 057506689X Barb 4 4.05 1994
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves:
review:
This plot is similar to Mort in that death goes on hiatus and a teenager fills in. The subplot explores music but the overall theme explores grief, death, the unfairness of death but also countered by being immortal versus human. The character of Death is immortal and he struggles with his memories while choosing to be human means certain death. And ultimately, how does one live their life? What if a life’s cut short? Music seems to be a metaphor for life as it continues on through generations. Pratchett mixes some heavy themes with silly humor.
]]> 63720
Yesterday he was a duke, a chief of police and the ambassador to the mysterious, fat-rich country of Uberworld.

Now he was nothing but his native wit and the gloomy trousers of Uncle Vanya (don't ask). It's snowing. It's freezing. And if he can't make it through the forest to civilisation there's going to be a terrible war.

But there are monsters on his trail. They're bright. They're fast. They're werewolves - and they're catching up. Sam Vimes is out of time, out of luck and already out of breath...]]> 464 Terry Pratchett 0552154229 Barb 4 4.29 1999
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:
This is one of the few Discworld books I think would be hard to understand if you had no knowledge of the Night Watch. There is the usual mystery and adventures of Sam Vimes but there’s more world-building with the dwarves and werewolves. Another entertaining read!
]]> 47990
A new land has surfaced, and so have old feuds.

And as two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch has got just a few hours to deal with a crime so big that there's no law against it. It's called "war."

He's facing unpleasant foes who are out to get him... that's just the people on his side. The enemy might even be worse. And his pocket Dis-organiser says he's got to DIE under "Things To Do Today."

But he'd better not, because the world's cleverest inventor and its most devious politician are on their way to the battlefield with a little package that's guaranteed to stop a battle...

Discworld goes to war, with armies of sardines, warriors, fishermen, squid, and at least one very camp follower.]]> 461 Terry Pratchett 0552154164 Barb 4 4.17 1997
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:
Another Vimes adventure that surrounds war and a murder mystery. The street theater scenes were a hoot! I laughed quite a bit at that farce.
]]> 34527
But for Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, that's only the start...

There's treason in the air.
A crime has happened.

He's not only got to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He's not even sure what they dun. But as soon as he knows what the questions are, he's going to want some answers.]]> 411 Terry Pratchett 0552153257 Barb 4 4.31 1996
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
Sam Vines is back doing the right thing even though it’s hard most of the time. Another fun mystery in Discworld.
]]> 34510
But what is the dark secret of Holy Wood Hill?

As the alien clichés of Tinsel Town pour into the world, it's up to the Disc's first film stars to find out...

THRILL as Victor Tugelbend ("Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little") and Theda Withel ("I come from a little town you've probably never even heard of") battle the forces of evil and cinema advertising...

SCREAM as Gaspode the Wonder Dog nearly saves the day...

EAT POPCORN as you watch the filming of "Blown Away," the oddest Civil War picture ever made...

A Passionate Saga Set Against the background of a World Gone Mad!

This Will Amaze You!

With a Thousand Elephants!

("And afterwards, why not dine at Harga's House of Ribs, for the best in international cuisine; only two minutes from this book...")]]> 396 Terry Pratchett 0552152943 Barb 4 3.97 1990
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:
Pratchett pokes fun at Hollywood, movie tropes, and more in another rollicking adventure.
]]> 400354
But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance constable Detritus (a troll), Lance constable Angua (a woman... most of the time), and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get. Because they've only got twenty-four hours to clean up the town and this is Ankh-Morpork we're talking about...]]> 377 Terry Pratchett 0061092193 Barb 4 4.39 1993
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
Pratchett explores many themes in his books and in this one I like how he uses the fantasy world to explore themes of oppress and minority groups and prejudices.
]]> 64216 376 Terry Pratchett 0061020648 Barb 5 4.33 1989
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
The city becomes a metaphor and the city watch is introduced in this book. You can really see how Pratchett’s parody of fantasy takes off through the exploration of politics, the need for people to be ruled, civic duty and more. Brilliant as always.
]]> 214152192 The great-granddaughter of Mother Nature teams up with a squirrel to start the spring season in this first book in the charmingly whimsical chapter book series from bestselling and award-winning author Suzanne Selfors.

Willow has agreed to house-sit while her grandmother, Mother Nature, is on vacation. Willow thinks it’s going to be as easy as watering a fern and feeding a cat, but when she arrives, she realizes her grandmother has left a long to-do list of difficult tasks like dusting the wings of a sleeping bat family, repairing the broken windows of a rabbit’s greenhouse, and ending winter.

Ending winter? In her eagerness to take a vacation, Mother Nature forgot to catch the unruly North Wind for its long nap. So, even though it’s the first day of spring, the entire land is covered in ice and snow. If the snow doesn’t melt, allowing the spring grass to grow, the critters of the Quiet Woods will surely go hungry.

With the help of Sam Squirrel and an elk prince named Errol, will Willow be able to catch the unruly North Wind to preserve the natural balance her grandmother entrusted her with?]]> 96 Suzanne Selfors 1665949015 Barb 3 3.64
author: Suzanne Selfors
name: Barb
average rating: 3.64
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
A cute book for grades 1-3 about mother nature who goes on vacation forgetting to change winter to spring.
]]> 34517
Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn.

Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There's a harvest to be gathered in...]]> 289 Terry Pratchett 0552152951 Barb 5 4.28 1991
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:
Death is one of my favorite Discworld characters and he stars in another funny Pratchett book. This time Death is exploring the theme of time (which is running out for him) along with the dead Wizard, Widdle Poons, who finds he has more time on his hands as an undead person. Both change by the end of the book and become better people for it.
]]> 158649622 288 Katherine Marsh 0063303744 Barb 3 4.04 2024
author: Katherine Marsh
name: Barb
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:
A boarding school fantasy story with plenty of action and girl power. The author changes Medusa’s story which was fun.
]]> 884288
The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise "What I did on My Holidays." Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. War (and Clancy) are spreading throughout the ancient cities.

And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is:

Rincewind the Wizard, who can't even spell the word "wizard"...

Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals, who has had a lifetime's experience of not dying...

...and a very special butterfly.]]> 368 Terry Pratchett 0061056901 Barb 4 4.14 1994
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:
The reluctant hero Rincewind who is always trying to avoid adventures has another whopper of one. Conan the Barbarian makes another appearance poking fun at the literary character.
]]> 128048 251 Jean Lee Latham 0618250743 Barb 3 4.13 1955
author: Jean Lee Latham
name: Barb
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1955
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
An older historical Newbery winner of a boy dentured and teaches himself to become one of the best navigators in his field. Entertaining.
]]> 78876
... a huge, rambling building, where masked figures and hooded shadows do wicked deeds in the wings...
... where dying the death on stage is a little bit more than just a metaphor...
... where innocent young sopranos are lured to their destiny by an evil mastermind in a hideously deformed evening dress..

Where...

... there's a couple of old ladies in pointy hats eating peanuts in the gods and looking up at the big chandelier and saying things like: "There's an accident waiting to happen if I ever saw one."

Yes... Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, the Discworld's greatest witches, are back for an innocent night out at the opera.

So there's going to be trouble (but nevertheless a good evening's entertainment with murders you can really hum...)]]> 285 Terry Pratchett 0575058080 Barb 5 4.10 1995
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
Granny Weatherwax is one of my favorite Discworld characters. A satire on operas this follows Agnes who joins the opera but doesn’t look the part of a star so she maskerades in the background as the star singer. Granny helps her find her own way in the world where she can be her true self. The umbrella theme of masquerading is pulled in so many plot lines that the book is tightly crafted. There’s the masquerade of the theater owners sucking up to the rich, the star who is only one because her father paid off the owners, the book publisher maskerading Nanny’s book as his own and taking the profits, Granny masquerading as a bad witch when she’s really good�� you get the idea. Pratchett packs his books with terrific juxtapositions and commentary on society tied up in a twisty murder mystery and fantastical world.
]]> 34511 496 Terry Pratchett Barb 4 4.23 2003
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:
War, fighting and insanity make for a zany story as a girl enlists in a insensible war as a boy. A funny satire on the fruitlessness of nations fighting.
]]> 233674 The fantastic first book in the Sunday Times bestselling Science of Discworld seriesWhen a wizardly experiment goes adrift, the wizards of Unseen University find themselves with a pocket universe on their Roundworld, where neither magic nor common sense seems to stand a chance against logic.The Universe, of course, is our own. And Roundworld is Earth. As the wizards watch their accidental creation grow, we follow the story of our universe from the primal singularity of the Big Bang to the internet and beyond.Through this original Terry Pratchett story (with intervening chapters from Cohen and Stewart) we discover how puny and insignificant individual lives are against a cosmic backdrop of creation and disaster. Yet, paradoxically, we see how the richness of a universe based on rules, has led to a complex world and at least one species that tried to get a grip of what was going on.Terry Pratchett is the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. Raising Steam is his fortieth Discworld novel. His books have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he is the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature. After falling out with his keyboard he now talks to his computer. Occasionally, these days, it answers back.Professor Ian Stewart is the author of many popular science books. He is the mathematics consultant for New Scientist and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He was awarded the Michael Faraday Prize for furthering the public understanding of science, and in 2001 became a Fellow of the Royal Society.Dr Jack Cohen is an internationally-known reproductive biologist, and lives in Newent, Gloucestershire. Jack has a laboratory in his kitchen, helps couples get pregnant by referring them to colleagues, invents biologically realistic aliens for science fiction writers and, in his spare time, throws boomerangs. Jack, who has more letters to his name than can be repeated here, writes, lectures, talks and campaigns to promote public awareness of science, particularly biology. He is mostly retired.]]> 416 Terry Pratchett 0091886570 Barb 4 3.98 1999
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:
This is quite different from the usual Discworld book in that it alternates between science ideas as they relate to alternate chapters about a fantastical Discworld story where wizards create Earth. I drifted on some of the science chapters but most was interesting. Some of the the science is dated but this was written in 1999 so no surprise.
]]> 17836100 296 Terry Pratchett 0544212479 Barb 3 3.78 1992
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:
Pratchett wrote this book as a 17 yr old and the tweaked it in his forties. Interesting to see how he was developing his satire and characters at a young age. Such a talented writer.
]]> 13515493 At six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read 'The World of Poo', with all the appropriate noises, to his little boy.
A picturebook that picks up a story from 'Snuff!', the brand new Discworld novel.]]> 128 Terry Pratchett 0857521217 Barb 4 3.73 2012
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
Perfect for 3rd graders. They love anything with the word poo.
]]> 34504
Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn't have.

But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more difficult than certain playwrights would have you believe...]]> 265 Terry Pratchett 0061020664 Barb 5 4.15 1988
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
My new favorite Pratchett’s book. This is a parody of Macbeth with nods toward other Shakespeare plays, Tolkien, fairy tales and more. Macbeth begins, When shall we three meet again? Pratchett uses the exact line but one of the witches replies, Well I can do next Tuesday. And off the story goes with one laugh after another poking fun at stereotypes, language, death, scapegoats, and more while exploring the theme of the power behind words whether it’s used for propaganda, selfish or unselfish reasons. Terrific character development, personification and clever word plays that show a jester who is handcuffed by his guild to only tell permitted jokes that are so obtuse they’re not funny or it takes too long to figure out the joke. Anyhoo- lotsa goin�� on in this funny tale.
]]> 34534
As Maurice and the rats battle for their very survival, a number of provocative themes surface: life after death, good versus evil, and the sacrifice of the few for the many.]]> 256 Terry Pratchett 006001234X Barb 4 4.05 2001
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
review:
A twist on the Pied piper written for children but with depth for adults as well.
]]> 34501
No real witch would casually step out of their body, leaving it empty.

Tiffany Aching does. And there’s something just waiting for a handy body to take over. Something ancient and horrible, which can’t die.

To deal with it, Tiffany has to go to the very heart of what makes her a witch . . .]]> 352 Terry Pratchett 055255264X Barb 4 4.31 2004
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
review:
I sure like these Discworld books even reading them out of order!?*
]]> 64222
It was a tough decision.

But he has to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers' Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer.

Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.

Maybe it'll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it's a death sentence either way.

Or perhaps there's a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope...]]> 394 Terry Pratchett 0060502932 Barb 5 4.40 2004
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves:
review:
What great fun reading Pratchett’s books! The main character is a criminal who is hung for his crimes but doesn’t die. See how he makes good on his second lease on life with a Golem as a parole officer as well as a quirky cast of villains and friends. This is one of my favorites in the Discworld series. Mort is probably #1.
]]> 116296
Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork's Royal Mint and the bank next door?

It's a job for life. But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long.

The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There's something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mint runs at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he's about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead

Oh. And every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies.

Everywhere he looks he's making enemies.

What he should be doing is . . . Making Money!]]> 394 Terry Pratchett 0061161640 Barb 4 4.26 2007
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
Another funny Discworld book with some wacky characters and satire on the banking industry and other cultural and political events. Igor is a hoot.
]]> 8785374
Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies - and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and out of his mind. But never out of guile. Where there is a crime, there must be a finding, there must be a chase, and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all...]]> 378 Terry Pratchett Barb 5 4.16 2011
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:
Funny, great characters, murder, kidnapping, smuggling, oppression�� only Pratchett’s can make those topics humorous. And did I mention the children’s books? Even that commentary was spot on.
]]> 62530
But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office.

With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him.

Oh... and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read "Where's My Cow?," with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy.

There are some things you HAVE to do!]]> 439 Terry Pratchett Barb 4 4.34 2005
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
Pratchett’s so good creating humorous characters. This one is a mystery and very entertaining.
]]> 34492 Tiffany Aching is a trainee witch �� now working for the seriously scary Miss Treason. But when Tiffany witnesses the Dark Dance �� the crossover from summer to winter �� she does what no one has ever done before and leaps into the dance. Into the oldest story there ever is. And draws the attention of the Wintersmith himself.

As Tiffany-shaped snowflakes hammer down on the land, can Tiffany deal with the consequences of her actions? Even with the help of Granny Weatherwax and the Nac Mac Feegle �� the fightin��, thievin�� pictsies who are prepared to lay down their lives for their “big wee hag.��

Wintersmith is the third title in an exuberant series crackling with energy and humour. It follows The Wee Free Men and Hat Full of Sky.

]]> 325 Terry Pratchett 0060890312 Barb 4 4.23 2006
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/04
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
review:
I laughed hard at this one, especially the feebles. Dang, they’re funny. And the voice of the narrator is fantastic. The author had a disease that he knew would take his life at a young age and I find his explorations of death at the end of his Discworld series fascinating. He doesn’t make death scary but a natural course in a life’s journey. He uses humor to face death and it makes me think of my Dad when he died of cancer and would joke about it saying, “Your turn will come, my dear.��
]]> 22886868 A shivering of worlds.

Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring. The owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots. An old enemy is gathering strength.

This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power. Now Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad.

As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her. To protect the land. Her land.

There will be a reckoning…]]> 276 Terry Pratchett 0062429973 Barb 4 4.34 2015
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
Pratchett’s last Discworld book is entertaining and has some big themes woven into the plot with some humor and seriousness. I can’t imagine writing a series with more than 40 books. What a prolific writer!
]]> 34484
And the Word was: "Hey, you!"

For Brutha the novice is the Chosen One. He wants peace and justice and brotherly love.

He also wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please...]]> 389 Terry Pratchett 0552152978 Barb 4 4.32 1992
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
An interesting look at the corruption in religious systems and lemmings that blindly follow them. Of course with Pratchett’s crazy humor. This is a stand-alone in the Discworld series.
]]> 7576115
Then someone picks up a stone.

Finally, the fires begin.

When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. . .

Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that aren't sparkly, aren't fun, don't involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.

But someone or something is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root before it takes her life. Because if Tiffany falls, the whole Chalk falls with her.

Chilling drama combines with laugh-out-loud humor and searing insight as beloved and bestselling author Terry Pratchett tells the high-stakes story of a young witch who stands in the gap between good and evil.]]> 349 Terry Pratchett 0385611072 Barb 4 4.34 2010
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
While the author uses humor this has deeper themes of abuse and scapegoats toward women. This made me think of the Salem witch trials where people were killed because they couldn’t heal a person, were blamed for bad events out of superstitions, were different and used as scapegoats and more.
]]> 55077697
But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.]]> 416 Christopher Buehlman 1250621194 Barb 2 4.17 2021
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Barb
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/28
shelves:
review:
I had a hard time getting into this story. I didn’t like the voice of the protagonist and there isn’t much depth with the minor characters.
]]> 64218
All he wants is his three wishes granted. Nothing fancy - to be immortal, rule the world, have the most beautiful woman in the world fall madly in love with him, the usual stuff.

But instead of a tractable demon, he calls up Rincewind, probably the most incompetent wizard in the universe, and the extremely intractable and hostile form of travel accessory known as the Luggage.

With them on his side, Eric's in for a ride through space and time that is bound to make him wish (quite fervently) again - this time that he's never been born.]]> 197 Terry Pratchett 0380821214 Barb 5 3.76 1990
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:
Another book that was a hoot to read. I loved how he poked fun at the Odyssey.
]]> 29394403
Rabbits are bouncing out of his hat, pigeons are flying out of his jacket and every time he points his finger, something magically appears �� cheese sandwiches, socks . . . even a small yellow elephant on wheels!

It’s becoming a real nuisance �� and he’s allergic to rabbits.

His friends at the Magic Rectangle can’t help, but the mysterious vacuum cleaner he saw that morning may have something to do with it . . .

Fourteen fantastically funny stories from master storyteller Sir Terry Pratchett, full of food fights, pirates, wizards and crooks!]]> 336 Terry Pratchett 0857534831 Barb 3 3.64 2016
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves:
review:
Some fun short stories. You can see how he developed his characters in his novels. They aren’t as fleshed out which makes these tales more light and entertaining.
]]> 21888012 352 Henry Louis Gates Jr. 1469618001 Barb 4 3.93 2014
author: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
name: Barb
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves:
review:
An interesting look at the difficulties of researching family backgrounds. The author tells of the haplo groups at the end of each person he is doing genealogy on. Martha Stewart, John Lewis, John Legend, Kara Sedgwick, Harry Connick Jr are a few of the people he explores in their book. It does get a bit long and feels repetitive, but I just increased the audio speed ; )
]]> 2442
Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother named Desiderata who had a good heart, a wise head, and poor planning skills—which unfortunately left the Princess Emberella in the care of her other (not quite so good and wise) godmother when DEATH came for Desiderata. So now it's up to Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg to hop on broomsticks and make for far-distant Genua to ensure the servant girl doesn't marry the Prince.

But the road to Genua is bumpy, and along the way the trio of witches encounters the occasional vampire, werewolf, and falling house (well this is a fairy tale, after all). The trouble really begins once these reluctant foster-godmothers arrive in Genua and must outwit their power-hungry counterpart who'll stop at nothing to achieve a proper "happy ending"—even if it means destroying a kingdom.]]> 374 Terry Pratchett 0061020613 Barb 4 4.24 1991
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/25
shelves:
review:
Another funny Pratchett book where he pokes fun at fairy tales and creates his own twist on them. Granny and her sidekick are quite the duo. I admire writers that can use humor to make comments on society and in this case storytelling as well. Pratchett is awfully clever.
]]> 179031714
Adventurous and memorable, Craig Kofi Farmer's middle grade fantasy is an immersive and powerful debut that tackles themes of identity, intergenerational connectedness, and how to say goodbye with heart, humor, and an epic dose of magic.]]> 336 Craig Kofi Farmer 1250900255 Barb 5 4.10 2024
author: Craig Kofi Farmer
name: Barb
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves:
review:
A terrific story about a boy whose going to Ghana to celebrate his grandma’s life. He’s grieving over the loss and his best friend, Autumn, is helping him when they get sucked into an alternate world that requires them to save the Earth. Great character arcs and pacing in this fun hero adventure. The author does a great job incorporating Ghana culture and myth with humor to create a page turner.
]]> 65137920 The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of mystery and secrets.

‘The thing about books,�� she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.��

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found��

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.

But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder�� where nothing is as it seems.]]> 432 Evie Woods 0008609209 Barb 2 4.03 2023
author: Evie Woods
name: Barb
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
I didn’t finish this book. This romance story follows two women that fall in love. I didn’t find the plot interesting and parts unbelievable.
]]> 34529
Granny Weatherwax and her tiny coven are up against real elves.

It's Midsummer Night.

No time for dreaming...

With full supporting cast of dwarfs, wizards, trolls, Morris dancers and one orang-utan. And lots of hey-nonny-nonny and blood all over the place.]]> 352 Terry Pratchett 055215315X Barb 3 4.19 1992
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
shelves:
review:
The author is brilliant with characters and dialogue, but I struggled with this plot a bit and the pacing. Not my favorite but still funny.
]]> 64217 341 Terry Pratchett 0061020656 Barb 4 3.91 1989
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/22
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves:
review:
Another funny parody of Egyptian mythology and topics such as power, systems, identity of individuals and country and more. I just found the start a bit slow.
]]> 203578847 The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive―the iconic epic fantasy masterpiece that has sold more than 10 million copies, from acclaimed bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.

Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.

Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.

At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.]]> 1344 Brandon Sanderson 1250319188 Barb 5 4.36 2024
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Barb
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:
An epic and exhausting story at over 1300 pages. This was so complex and for the author to keep the pace going and all the characters straight is amazing. I really like how he makes his villains well rounded and 3 dimensional. This is a series you need to read in order. An impressive piece of work that completes the first arc in the series so while most of the characters arcs are wrapped up, there are some that make you want to see what happens in the next book. The plan is for 10 books (this is #5).
]]> 133938336
Sharkita “Kita�� Hayes is always waiting.
Waiting for her mama to mess up.
Waiting for social services to be called again.
Waiting for her and her siblings to be separated.
Waiting for her worst fear to come true.

But Mama promises things are different now. She's got a good job, she's stopped drinking, stopped going out every night-it's almost enough to make Kita believe her this time. But even as Kita's life is going good, she can't shake the feeling that everything could go up in flames at any moment. When her assistant principal and trusted dance coach starts asking questions about her home life, Kita is more determined than ever to keep up appearances and make sure her family stays together-even if it means falling apart herself.

As the threat of her family being separated again circles like a shark in the water, the pressure starts to get to Kita. But could it be that Kita's worst fear is actually the best thing that could happen to her family . . . and to her?]]> 304 Sherri Winston 1547608501 Barb 5 4.38 2024
author: Sherri Winston
name: Barb
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
This falls under those stories of a parent that shouldn’t be one like in the two books: Turtle in Paradise and Becoming Naomi Leon. This one is more gritty and dramatic in that the author shows what it’s like to be a child stuck in this situation; whereas, the other two books I mentioned the child has been removed from the parent and is trying to deal with the trauma. Here the trauma is in action. I don’t gravitate toward these kind of books, but it was so well written and such a page turner I couldn’t put it down even when I knew the inevitable would happen in the plot. That’s a good story when that happens.
]]> 36189680
"There is such tragic irony here. The very things that Japanese tourist Tomomi Hanamure is so deeply passionate about--the wild, stark, beautiful American West and Native American culture--are what leads to her violent death. Around this single horrific event Annette McGivney has masterfully woven three separate, highly personal narratives."
-- S. C. Gwynne, Author of Empire of the Summer Moon, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

"McGivney intuitively grounds her narrative while exploring humanity's roots of culture and origins of character, like the light of the sun awakening each intricate layer of earth in the deepest of canyons. She is a storyteller of the highest caliber, with a style reminiscent of Jon Krakauer's journalistic skill and unmistakable purpose."
-- Carine McCandless, author of The Wild Truth, the New York Times bestselling follow-up to Into the Wild

"Annette McGivney has gathered three disparate narratives and braided them into a bewitching tapestry of darkness and light, pain and atonement, along with the unexpected gifts that can sometimes accompany profoundly devastating loss."
-- Kevin Fedarko, author of The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon]]> 354 Annette McGivney 0998527882 Barb 3 4.23 2017
author: Annette McGivney
name: Barb
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:
I struggled with the beginning of this book as it shows some stereotypes of Native Americans but as the book progresses this falls away. The pacing stutters between information and a narrative that I found jarring. I do think the author pulls it together at the end showing the connections between the characters and trauma.
]]> 34499 276 Terry Pratchett 0061020672 Barb 4 3.90 1988
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Barb
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves:
review:
Rincewind is back as the author pokes fun at all sorts of heroes from wizards to Conan the Barbarian’s daughter to gods. More crass humor mixed with slapstick all the while making fun of tropes.
]]> 215760525
The first novella set in the universe of James S. A. Corey's epic Captive's War series.]]> 90 James S.A. Corey 0316575348 Barb 3 4.33 2024
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Barb
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
This military novella didn’t hold my interest. I think it was the jumping around in time. One minute it was intense and the next introspective. The authors were building character but I found the character’s motivation a bit off. He had a hero complex more than anything. I didn’t get it, I guess.
]]> 205064698 This middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death.

Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act��

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?]]> 392 Ruta Sepetys 0593527542 Barb 5 4.12 2024
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Barb
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
Two of my favorite authors! A mystery, some history, and a fantastic character in Lizzie. She reminded me of Anne of Green Gables, larger than life and a ball of energy. Based on the story of code breakers in World War II, this is great read.
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Philip's bold spirit and knowledge of the sea soon win him his captain's regard. But when the "Rose of Devon" is seized in midocean by a devious group of men plucked from a floating wreck, Philip is forced to accompany these "gentlemen of fortune" on their murderous expeditions. Like it or not, Philip Marsham is now a pirate--with only the hangman awaiting his return to England.

With its bloody battles, brutal buccaneers, and bold, spirited hero, this rousing tale will enthrall young listeners in search of seafaring adventure.]]> 264 Charles Boardman Hawes 0316350095 Barb 2 3.36 1923
author: Charles Boardman Hawes
name: Barb
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1923
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
Yikes, I had a hard time plowing through this pirate story. For starters the language was challenging: “The smith now stood in the door. "Na, na," he was saying, "'tis pitch an' pay—siller or nought. For the ance ye hae very foully deceived me. Ye shall hence-forth hae my wark for siller; or, an ye like��" The awkward transitions threw me at times. This 1923 Newbery medal winner is interesting because it’s so adult-like. Obviously, the committee members were trying to figure out what defines a kids story. Haha…glad it changed.
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For generations the tribes of Huns and Magyars had moved relentlessly westward, obeying the voices of their pagan gods, which compelled them to follow the elusive white stag to their promised homeland. They swept Europe, all the while pursuing their vision of the stag. Their leader was called Attila, and the land Hungary. Here is the epic story of their tribal migration and their fierce leader—known to us even today.]]> 96 Kate Seredy 0140312587 Barb 4 3.61 1937
author: Kate Seredy
name: Barb
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
An well told legend about how the country Hungary came to be. It follows the sons of Nimrod as they migrate west following a white stag and food. Eventually Attila makes leads the group as generations pass.
]]> 822392 306 Eleanor Estes 0152025057 Barb 4 3.70 1951
author: Eleanor Estes
name: Barb
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:
This book about a dog gone missing shows the dangers of coveting what others own. The clues as to the thief is a bit too obvious. Well written.
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