en-US Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:28:47 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 45047384
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.]]> 394 T.J. Klune Darren 4 4.37 2020
author: T.J. Klune
name: Darren
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 1062337 A stainless steel rat for a stainless steel world...

Meet Slippy Jim, aka The Stainless Steel Rat, aka James Bolivar DiGritz. A man of many names and many talents... all of which add up to make one of the greatest con men of all time.

Charming, quick-witted, physically fit, a master of disguise, a skilled liar, an accomplished bank robber and exceptionally talented at breaking and entering, he's everything a master thief should be. He's also about to be caught, turned, and sent back out onto the streets as part of the Special Corps.

But joining the Special Corps is only the beginning; there's a beautiful - beautifully villainous - woman in charge of her own battleship, an interstellar war, a guerrilla campaign and an evil plot by an ancient nation, known as the United States of America... It's up to the Stainless Steel Rat to save the world!

Join the adventure in this omnibus edition of the first three Stainless Steel rat adventures: The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, and The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World.]]> 436 Harry Harrison 0575081716 Darren 3 science, fiction 3.73
author: Harry Harrison
name: Darren
average rating: 3.73
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: science, fiction
review:

]]> 89303 To Arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge it by the standards of his time, not ours. Judged by the standards of one century, the noblest characters of an earlier one lose much of their luster; judged by the standards of to-day, there is probably no illustrious man of four or five centuries ago whose character could meet the test at all points. But the character of Joan of Arc is unique. It can be measured by the standards of all times without misgiving or apprehension as to the result. Judged by any of them, judged by all of them, it is still flawless, it is still ideally perfect; it still occupies the loftiest place possible to human attainment, a loftier one than has been reached by any other mere mortal.
When we reflect that her century was the brutalest, the wickedest, the rottenest in history since the darkest ages, we are lost in wonder at the miracle of such a product from such a soil. The contrast between her and her century is the contrast between day and night.

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.]]> 0 Mark Twain 1131595211 Darren 3 4.19 2013
author: Mark Twain
name: Darren
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 127282554 A New York Times Book Review Editors� Choice
A Belletrist Book Club Pick

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.]]> 320 Lottie Hazell 125028984X Darren 4 3.40 2024
author: Lottie Hazell
name: Darren
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 33376821
Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve � and plenty of pancakes � to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.]]> 216 Durian Sukegawa 1786071959 Darren 3 4.07 2013
author: Durian Sukegawa
name: Darren
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 9355 Until I Find You has been marked for life � not only William Burns, a church organist who is addicted to being tattooed, but also William's son, Jack, an actor who is shaped as a child by his relationships with older women. And Jack's mother, Alice � a Toronto tattoo artist � has been permanently damaged by William's rejection of her. This is a novel about the loss of innocence, on many levels.]]> 820 John Irving 0345479726 Darren 3 3.66 2005
author: John Irving
name: Darren
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 7069 610 John Irving 0345915593 Darren 5 4.11 1978
author: John Irving
name: Darren
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1978
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 2177923 Zen In The Art Of Writing is more than just a how-to manual for the would-be it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. In it, Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one your own life.]]> 154 Ray Bradbury 1877741019 Darren 4 writing, editing, guides 4.06 1973
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Darren
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: writing, editing, guides
review:

]]> 6280118
So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that?

And every year that follows?
--back cover]]> 435 David Nicholls 0340896965 Darren 5 3.86 2009
author: David Nicholls
name: Darren
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 70746 268 Paulo Coelho 0007156324 Darren 2 3.59
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Darren
average rating: 3.59
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: mind, body, spirit, thought, practice
review:

]]> 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Darren 4 4.04 2022
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Darren
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 61084889 Friendship, masculinity, sex—Anthony Stevenson has a lot of questions. Is it different for boys who like boys? A poignant and frank story filled with meta-humor by renowned author Patrick Ness.

Anthony “Ant� Stevenson isn’t sure when he stopped being a virgin. Or even if he has. The rules aren’t always very clear when it comes to boys who like boys. In fact, relationships of all kinds feel complicated, even with Ant’s oldest friends. There’s Charlie, who’s both virulently homophobic and in a secret physical relationship with Ant. Then there’s drama kid Jack, who may be gay and has become the target of Charlie’s rage. And, of course, there’s big, beautiful Freddie, who wants Ant to ditch soccer, Charlie’s sport, and try out for the rugby team instead. Ant’s story of loneliness and intimacy, of unexpected support and heart-ripping betrayal, is told forthrightly with tongue-in-cheek black-bar redactions over the language that teenagers would actually use if, you know, they weren’t in a story. Award-winning author Patrick Ness explores teen sexuality, friendship, and romance with a deft hand in this structurally daring, illustrated short novel.]]> 97 Patrick Ness 1536228893 Darren 3 3.79 2023
author: Patrick Ness
name: Darren
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 459386 Val McDermid stunned readers and critics alike with the publication of her brilliant thriller, A PLACE OF EXECUTION, which was a finalist for the prestigious Edgar Award. Now, in THE MERMAIDS SINGING, she continues her trademark ingenuity for suspense, and introduces criminal profiler Tony Hill, who has spent years exploring the psyches of madmen. But now he's become one of the hunted...

YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME...
This was the summer he discovered what he wanted—at a gruesome museum of criminology far off the beaten track of more timid tourists. Visions of torture inspired his fantasies like a muse. It would prove so terribly fulfilling.

BUT THE NEXT TIME WOULD BE BETTER...
The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim.

AND PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage—or the power—to stop it...]]> 364 Val McDermid 0312983603 Darren 4 3.94 1995
author: Val McDermid
name: Darren
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Darren 4 3.69 2023
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Darren
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 29434136
Soon Jerry discovers a hidden entrance into the attic, a crawlspace through which he can secretly enter any apartment.

But he isn't the only person aware of the secret entrance.

Crawlspace is a terrifying journey into urban legend, darkness, and murder.
]]> 182 Dan Padavona Darren 2 3.74 2015
author: Dan Padavona
name: Darren
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 40170373
Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he's ever known. Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.

But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.]]> 347 C.G. Drews 1408349922 Darren 4 4.27 2019
author: C.G. Drews
name: Darren
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 21423525
The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway. Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage and might even help him bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.]]> 400 David Nicholls 034089699X Darren 4 3.69 2014
author: David Nicholls
name: Darren
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 59971 80 Frank Miller 0785108904 Darren 3 modern, fiction 3.76
author: Frank Miller
name: Darren
average rating: 3.76
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: modern, fiction
review:

]]> 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 Darren 5 4.10 1995
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Darren
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 40376072
Long ago, Earth's terraforming program sent ships out to build new homes for humanity among the stars and made an unexpected discovery: a planet with life. But the scientists were unaware that the alien ecosystem was more developed than the primitive life forms originally discovered.

Now, thousands of years later, the Portiids and their humans have sent an exploration vessel following fragmentary radio signals. They discover a system in crisis, warring factions trying to recover from an apocalyptic catastrophe arising from what the early terraformers awoke all those years before.]]> 597 Adrian Tchaikovsky Darren 3 4.02 2019
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Darren
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 139399948 In the seventh installment in the Strike series, Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

Utterly pulse-pounding, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.]]> 960 Robert Galbraith 0316572101 Darren 4 4.56 2023
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Darren
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

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

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Darren 3 3.66 2015
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Darren
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 46041199 A fierce international bestseller that launched Korea’s new feminist movement, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows one woman’s psychic deterioration in the face of rigid misogyny.

Truly, flawlessly, completely, she became that person.

In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old “millennial everywoman,� she has recently left her white-collar desk job—in order to care for her newborn daughter full-time—as so many Korean women are expected to do. But she quickly begins to exhibit strange symptoms that alarm her husband, parents, and in-laws: Jiyoung impersonates the voices of other women—alive and even dead, both known and unknown to her. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her discomfited husband sends her to a male psychiatrist.

In a chilling, eerily truncated third-person voice, Jiyoung’s entire life is recounted to the psychiatrist—a narrative infused with disparate elements of frustration, perseverance, and submission. Born in 1982 and given the most common name for Korean baby girls, Jiyoung quickly becomes the unfavored sister to her princeling little brother. Always, her behavior is policed by the male figures around her—from the elementary school teachers who enforce strict uniforms for girls, to the coworkers who install a hidden camera in the women’s restroom and post their photos online. In her father’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s fault that men harass her late at night; in her husband’s eyes, it is Jiyoung’s duty to forsake her career to take care of him and their child—to put them first.

Jiyoung’s painfully common life is juxtaposed against a backdrop of an advancing Korea, as it abandons “family planning� birth control policies and passes new legislation against gender discrimination. But can her doctor flawlessly, completely cure her, or even discover what truly ails her?

Rendered in minimalist yet lacerating prose, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 sits at the center of our global #MeToo movement and announces the arrival of writer of international significance]]> 163 Cho Nam-Joo 1631496700 Darren 3 4.17 2016
author: Cho Nam-Joo
name: Darren
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 48858 254 Graham Greene 0143039008 Darren 4 3.81 1969
author: Graham Greene
name: Darren
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 61142689
Connecting will change everything�

Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes...

...only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered.

When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call 'Sandy' and goes on the run.

But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien � close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine…]]> 276 Doug Johnstone 1914585445 Darren 3 3.70 2023
author: Doug Johnstone
name: Darren
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 17261275 A massive solar storm erases the world's technological infrastructure and kills billions. While the remaining humans are struggling to adapt and survive, they notice that some among them have...changed.

Rachel Wheeler finds herself alone in the city, where violent survivors known as "Zapheads" roam the streets, killing and destroying. Her only hope is to reach the mountains, where her grandfather, a legendary survivalist, established a compound in preparation for Doomsday.

Other survivors are fleeing the city, but Zapheads aren't the only danger. Rogue bands of military soldiers want to impose their own order in the crumbling ruins of civilization. When Rachel discovers a 10-year-old boy, she vows to care for him even at the risk of her own life.

And the Zapheads are evolving, developing communal skills even as they lay waste to the society they will eventually replace.]]> 258 Scott Nicholson Darren 2 3.60 2012
author: Scott Nicholson
name: Darren
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 203288
Her life was to be rich and rewarding . . . resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals.

Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructible, Helva XH-834 anticipated a sublime immortality.

Then one day she fell in love!]]> 256 Anne McCaffrey 0345334310 Darren 1 4.03 1969
author: Anne McCaffrey
name: Darren
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1969
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 200987258
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic� books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.

But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome� dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.

That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.]]> 298 Kirsten Miller 0063348691 Darren 3 4.06 2024
author: Kirsten Miller
name: Darren
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 209640026 Meet Wendy Wood. The popstar that never was�
In 1982, Wendy Wood was poised on the brink of stardom. Lead singer with talented local band, Velvet Temptation, she was a rising star of the Oxford music scene. Tipped for fame by the music press, success seemed inevitable.

But conflict within the band, a series of betrayals and infidelities, and an unwelcome run of bad luck all played a part in shattering her dreams.

Forty years later, her health failing, Wendy’s only comfort is in karaoke nights, where every song is a poignant reminder of what might have been.

Then, out of the blue, she’s handed the means to return to the past. Determined to rewrite her destiny, Wendy is steadfast in her pursuit of the fame that once slipped through her fingers.

Join Wendy as she immerses herself in the vibrant music scene of 1982, navigating the complexities of love, ambition, and second chances in this thought-provoking time travel story.

1982 is part of the anthology series, A Year in the Life. Each book revisits a different aspect of life in the 1980s, and each story can be enjoyed standalone.
]]> 280 Jason Ayres Darren 2 4.46
author: Jason Ayres
name: Darren
average rating: 4.46
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 7845977
Her lover, John Synge, is a troubled genius, the son of a once prosperous landowning family, a poet of fiery language and tempestuous passions. Yet his life is hampered by convention and by the austere and God-fearing mother with whom he lives. Scarred by a childhood of loneliness and severity he has long been ill, but he loves to walk the wild places of Ireland. The affair, sternly opposed by friends and family, is turbulent, sometimes cruel, often tender.

Many years later, an old woman makes her way across London on the morning after a hurricane. Christmas is coming. As she wanders past bombsites and through the city's forlorn beauty, a snowdrift of memories and lost desires seems to swirl. She has twice been married: once widowed, once divorced, but an unquenchable passion for life has kept her afloat as her dazzling career has faded.

A story of love's commitment, of partings and reconciliations, of the courage involved in living on nobody else's terms, Ghost Light is a profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting novel.]]> 256 Joseph O'Connor 0436205718 Darren 3 3.47 2010
author: Joseph O'Connor
name: Darren
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 220150771 Librarian note: An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here.

Three men meet on a ship bound for Haiti, a world in the grip of the corrupt 'Papa Doc' and the Tontons Macoute, his sinister secret police. Brown the hotelier, Smith the innocent American and Jones the confidence man - these are the 'comedians' of Graham Greene's title. Hiding behind their actors' masks, they hesitate on the edge of life. And, to begin with, they are men afraid of love, afraid of pain, afraid of fear itself...]]> 292 Graham Greene 0099478374 Darren 4 modern, fiction 3.85 1966
author: Graham Greene
name: Darren
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1966
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: modern, fiction
review:

]]> 895185 Fatherland; Enigma; Archangel; Pompeii and Imperium.

“The moment I heard how McAra died I should have walked away. I can see that now. I should have said, �Rick, I’m sorry, this isn’t for me, I don’t like the sound of it,� finished my drink and left. But he was such a good storyteller, Rick � I often thought he should have been the writer and I the agent � that once he’d started talking there was never any question I wouldn’t listen, and by the time he had finished, I was done for.�

After five books set firmly in the past, Robert Harris returns with a contemporary novel that brings the reader face to face with some of the biggest issues of our time � the result is a gripping and genuinely thrilling read.]]> 384 Robert Harris 0091796261 Darren 4 3.74 2007
author: Robert Harris
name: Darren
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 979470 176 Clive King 0140364501 Darren 3 3.91 1963
author: Clive King
name: Darren
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 189965964
Tommy knows what it is to be desperate, living in squalor and barely making ends meet while pursuing his rockstar dreams.
When he's sent an invitation to become a collaborator at an experimental art gallery, he's offered a path toward financial security and personal fulfillment.

But big dreams come at a high price...and the owner of the art gallery has her own plans for Tommy.]]> 148 Chase Will Darren 3 4.48
author: Chase Will
name: Darren
average rating: 4.48
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 52219386 This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. 

One of the monsters is me.

Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends—the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that—but his devoted mother and grandmother aren’t fazed by his condition. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you," and when to laugh. Yunjae grows up content, even happy, with his small family in this quiet, peaceful space.

Then on Christmas Eve—Yunjae’s sixteenth birthday—everything changes. A shocking act of random violence shatters his world, leaving him alone and on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Yunjae retreats into silent isolation, until troubled teenager Gon arrives at his school and begins to bully Yunjae. 

Against all odds, tormentor and victim learn they have more in common than they realized. Gon is stumped by Yunjae’s impassive calm, while Yunjae thinks if he gets to know the hotheaded Gon, he might learn how to experience true feelings. Drawn by curiosity, the two strike up a surprising friendship. As Yunjae begins to open his life to new people—including a girl at school—something slowly changes inside him. And when Gon suddenly finds his life in danger, it is Yunjae who will step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become a most unlikely hero. 

The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime in this poignant and triumphant story about how love, friendship, and persistence can change a life forever.]]> 272 Sohn Won-Pyung 0062961373 Darren 3 4.16 2017
author: Sohn Won-Pyung
name: Darren
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

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

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Darren 4 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Darren
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves:
review:

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

What are you looking for?

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

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

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.]]> 304 Michiko Aoyama 1335005625 Darren 4 4.07 2020
author: Michiko Aoyama
name: Darren
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 Darren 4 4.05 2022
author: Stephen King
name: Darren
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 845118 189 Robert Sheckley 0575041226 Darren 2 novels, other, prose, writers 3.54 1962
author: Robert Sheckley
name: Darren
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: novels, other, prose, writers
review:

]]> 51295002
Summer 1954. Stan has been hunting for fossils since the age of six. Now, having made a career out of studying the remains of tiny lifeforms, he hears a story he cannot forget: the skeleton of a huge creature, a veritable dragon, lies deep in an Alpine glacier. And he is determined to find it.

Leaving his life in Paris behind, Stan sets out in pursuit of a legend. But he is no mountaineer, and to attempt his dangerous expedition he must call on loyal friend and colleague Umberto, who arrives with an eccentric young assistant, and expert guide Gio. Time is short: the four men must descend before the weather turns. Bonds are forged and tested as the hazardous quest for the earth’s lost creatures becomes a journey into Stan’s own past.]]> 240 Jean-Baptiste Andrea 1910477834 Darren 5 4.14 2019
author: Jean-Baptiste Andrea
name: Darren
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 35609868 Alternative Cover Edition of ISBN 9781250189509

A train that travels through impossible places. A boy trapped in a snow globe. And a girl who’s about to go on the adventure of a lifetime.

The Impossible Postal Express is no ordinary train. It’s a troll-operated delivery service that runs everywhere from ocean-bottom shipwrecks, to Trollville, to space.

But when this impossible train comes roaring through Suzy’s living room, her world turns upside down. After sneaking on board, Suzy suddenly finds herself Deputy Post Master aboard the train, and faced with her first delivery―to the evil Lady Crepuscula.

Then, the package itself begs Suzy not to deliver him. A talking snow globe, Frederick has information Crepuscula could use to take over the entire Union of Impossible Places. But when protecting Frederick means putting her friends in danger, Suzy has to make a difficult choice―with the fate of the entire Union at stake.]]> 368 P.G. Bell Darren 4 3.81 2018
author: P.G. Bell
name: Darren
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 10189558
The narrative that follows is a riveting account of violence, terror, and pursuit set against a credible, immensely detailed rock and roll backdrop. It is also a moving meditation on loyalty and friendship, on the nature and importance of families—those we are born into and those we create for ourselves—and on the redemptive power of the creative spirit. Written with wit, elegance, and passionate conviction, The Five lays claim to new imaginative territory, and reaffirms McCammon’s position as one of the finest, most unpredictable storytellers of our time.]]> 518 Robert McCammon 1596063416 Darren 4 3.70 2011
author: Robert McCammon
name: Darren
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 15739968
But throughout his life, Dominic has felt a knot inside him tighten, threatening his own chance of a happy ever after. And as the years go by, it becomes more difficult to ignore, until the ties that bind threaten to tear him apart...]]> 361 Mark Watson 1471113434 Darren 5 3.49 2012
author: Mark Watson
name: Darren
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 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 Darren 5 4.16 1998
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Darren
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 5162373
Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides, she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the life of the man she loves.

From the underground hallways of power to the skyscrapers of Tokyo to the towering cathedrals of Spain, a desperate race unfolds. It is a battle for survival--a crucial bid to destroy a creation of inconceivable genius...an impregnable code-writing formula that threatens to obliterate the post-cold war balance of power. Forever.]]> 525 Dan Brown 0312944926 Darren 3 modern, fiction 3.67 1998
author: Dan Brown
name: Darren
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: modern, fiction
review:

]]> 62047992 The moving international sensation about new beginnings, human connection, and the joy of reading.

Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building lies a shop filled with hundreds of second-hand books.

Twenty-five-year-old Takako has never liked reading, although the Morisaki bookshop has been in her family for three generations. It is the pride and joy of her uncle Satoru, who has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife Momoko left him five years earlier.

When Takako's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above the shop. Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop.

As summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.]]> 150 Satoshi Yagisawa 0063278677 Darren 3 3.67 2010
author: Satoshi Yagisawa
name: Darren
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 51204046
No one seems to take Naomi Pine's disappearance seriously, not even her father-with one exception. Hester Crimstein, a television criminal attorney, knows through her grandson that Naomi was relentlessly bullied at school. Hester asks Wilde-with whom she shares a tragic connection-to use his unique skills to help find Naomi.

Wilde can't ignore an outcast in trouble, but in order to find Naomi he must venture back into the community where he has never fit in, a place where the powerful are protected even when they harbor secrets that could destroy the lives of millions . . . secrets that Wilde must uncover before it's too late.]]> 371 Harlan Coben 1538748142 Darren 4 3.84 2020
author: Harlan Coben
name: Darren
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/06/14
shelves:
review:

]]> 55236234
Minister Shea Ashcroft refuses the queen's order to gas a crowd of protesters. After riots cripple the capital, he's banished to the border to oversee the construction of the biggest anti-airship tower in history. The use of otherworldly technology makes the tower volatile and dangerous; Shea has to fight the local hierarchy to ensure the construction succeeds—and to reclaim his own life.

He must survive an assassination attempt, find love, confront the place in his memory he'd rather erase, encounter an ancient legend, travel to the origin of a species—and through it all, stay true to his own principles.

Climbing back to the top is a slippery slope, and somewhere along the way, one is bound to fall.

„Poetry in prose... I love a story that is huge, but also incredibly intimate, and this novella managed to encompass both of these things.� � Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel in Game of Thrones)

"Tower of Mud and Straw" is a Tower of Babel story with a hero haunted by his fate. Shea Ashcroft is an Aeneas in an airship set in a world that gives homage to Dune. Once immersed it is hard to stop reading: like a play or a good painting, you won't be able to look away until you've discovered everything. � Rebecca DeVendra, writer, artist, former reviewer at Tangent Online.]]> 214 Yaroslav Barsukov 1640761896 Darren 3 3.67 2021
author: Yaroslav Barsukov
name: Darren
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 219714

When a group of friends decided to spend a day at the world's largest Drive-In theater horror fest, they expected to see tons of bloody murders, rampaging madmen, and mayhem—but only on the screen. As a mysterious force traps all the patrons inside the Drive-In, the worst in humanity comes out. Filled with Lansdale's razor whit and black humor, The Drive-In is a darkly humorous masterpiece!]]> 158 Joe R. Lansdale 0553274813 Darren 2 horror, ghost, stories 3.84
author: Joe R. Lansdale
name: Darren
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: horror, ghost, stories
review:

]]> 30553 215 George Orwell Darren 3 3.92 1937
author: George Orwell
name: Darren
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1937
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 33385229
Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.]]> 389 Adam Silvera 0062457799 Darren 3 3.76 2017
author: Adam Silvera
name: Darren
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 977
With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Artic to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatics academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable - evidence of scientific trickery - a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.

But before Rachel can make her findings known, she releases, perhaps too late, that such knowledge puts her and Tolland in deadly jeopardy. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope for survival: to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all...
(back cover)]]> 585 Dan Brown 0552151769 Darren 3 adventure, thriller 3.44 2001
author: Dan Brown
name: Darren
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: adventure, thriller
review:

]]> 57903929
In "A Hypothetical Lizard," two concubines in a brothel of fantastical specialists fall in love with tragic ramifications. In "Not Even Legend," a paranormal study group is infiltrated by one of the otherworldly beings they seek to investigate. In "Illuminations," a nostalgic older man decides to visit a seaside resort from his youth and finds the past all too close at hand. And in the monumental novella "What We Can Know About Thunderman," which charts the surreal and Kafkaesque history of the comics industry's major players over the last seventy-five years, Moore reveals the dark, beating heart of the superhero business.

From ghosts and otherworldly creatures to theoretical Boltzmann brains fashioning the universe at the big bang, Illuminations is exactly that--a series of bright, startling tales from a contemporary legend that reveal the full power of imagination and magic.]]> 464 Alan Moore 1635578809 Darren 3 3.52 2022
author: Alan Moore
name: Darren
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:
A very mixed bag. A few memorable stories lift it (I especially liked the one in which part of the tale moved in reverse), while some of the lesser tales drag it down. The worst for me was the supposedly brilliant beat poem with annotations - I had to skim through that, as for me it was a hard slog with zero reward, and felt it didn’t belong here. At the other end of the scale, the very long Thunderman centerpiece is a fascinating, darkly hilarious look at the comics industry, although it could and probably should have been presented by itself as a standalone book.
]]> 50353739
The year is 1957 and the Catholic Church rules Ireland with an iron fist. Strafford—flinty, visibly Protestant, and determined to identify the murderer—faces obstruction at every turn, from the heavily accumulating snow to the culture of silence in this tight-knit community. As he delves further, he learns the Osbornes are not at all what they seem. And when his own deputy goes missing, Strafford must work to unravel the ever-expanding mystery before the community’s secrets, like the snowfall itself, threatens to obliterate everything.

The incomparable Booker Prize winner's next great crime novel - the story of a family whose secrets resurface when a parish priest is found murdered in their ancestral home.]]> 304 John Banville 1335230009 Darren 4 3.38 2020
author: John Banville
name: Darren
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/04/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 32307358 This an alternate cover for B01LY7FD0D

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement--the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 482 Dan Brown Darren 2 3.87 2017
author: Dan Brown
name: Darren
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 8352512
Smart, whimsical, and often scathing, the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut influenced a generation of American writers—including Dave Eggers, author of this volume’s Foreword. In these previously unpublished gems, Vonnegut’s originality infuses a unique landscape of factories, trailers, and bars—and characters who pit their dreams and fears against a cruel and sometimes comically indifferent world.

Here are stories of men and machines, art and artifice, and how ideals of fortune, fame, and love take curious twists in ordinary lives. An ambitious builder of roads, commanding an army of bulldozers, graders, and asphalt spreaders, fritters away his free time with miniature trains—until the women in his life crash his fantasy land. Trapped in a stenography pool, a young dreamer receives a call from a robber on the run, who presents her with a strange proposition. A crusty newspaperman is forced onto a committee to judge Christmas displays—a job that leads him to a suspiciously ostentatious ex-con and then a miracle. A hog farmer’s widow receives cryptic, unsolicited letters from a man in Schenectady about “the indefinable sweet aches of the spirit.� But what will she find when she goes to meet him in the flesh?

These beautifully rendered works are a testament to Vonnegut’s unique blend of observation and imagination. Like a present left behind by a departed loved one, While Mortals Sleep bestows upon us a shimmering Kurt Vonnegut gift: a poignant reflection of our world as it is and as it could be.]]> 272 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385343736 Darren 3 3.82 2011
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Darren
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 17855756 In a time when secrets and lies were the foundations of life, someone has discovered the truth. And they are going to tell.

Jules knows what her predecessors created. She knows they are the reason life has to be lived in this way.

And she won't stand for it.

But Jules no longer has supporters. And there is far more to fear than the toxic world beyond her walls.

A poison is growing from within Silo 18.

One that cannot be stopped.

Unless Silo 1 step in.]]> 458 Hugh Howey 1490904387 Darren 4 4.19 2013
author: Hugh Howey
name: Darren
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/04/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 6192 220 J.M. Coetzee 0143036378 Darren 3 3.86 1999
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: Darren
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/04/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 123848258 The brand-new, hilarious, feel-good adventure from the internationally bestselling author of The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Sweden, late summer of 2011. Self-taught astrophysicist Petra has calculated that the atmosphere will collapse on the 21st of September that year, around 21:20 to be more precise, bringing about the end of times.

Armed with this terrible knowledge, Petra meets Johan, a domesday prophet, and Agnes, a widow of 75 who has made bank living a double life on social media as a young influencer. Together, the trio race through Europe as they plan to make the most out of the time they have left, in more ways than one.

But of course, things rarely go to plan, even the end of the world…]]> 437 Jonas Jonasson 000861766X Darren 3 3.74 2022
author: Jonas Jonasson
name: Darren
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Darren 3 4.17 2019
author: Stephen King
name: Darren
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/03/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 58881197
Rocked by a terrible accident, homeless Kelly needs to escape the city streets of Glasgow. Maybe she doesn't believe in serendipity, but a rare moment of kindness and a lost engagement ring conspire to call her home. As Kelly vows to reunite the lost ring with its owner, she must return to the small town she fled so many years ago.

On her journey from Glasgow to the south-west tip of Scotland, Kelly encounters ancient pilgrim routes, hostile humans, hippies, book lovers and a friendly dog, as memories stir and the people she thought she'd left behind for ever move closer with every step.

Full of compassion and hope, Paper Cup is a novel about how easy it can be to fall through the cracks, and what it takes to turn around a life that has run off course.]]> 336 Karen Campbell Darren 5 4.04
author: Karen Campbell
name: Darren
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 39929208
...the fey folk!

All of the fairies named in the play are obliged to attend every performance, due to a deal that they struck with a mischievous Master Shakespeare. In an attempt to break up the Players on the eve of their twentieth anniversary, Oberon and Puck hire a human agent of chaos to infiltrate the actors' ranks and set them against one another by focusing on secret attractions and grudges that have been lying dormant up to now. Sparks will fly, and everyone will come to blows, but it's all executed with a wink and a grin, and there will be more smiles than tears by the end. At least, that's the plan...

This comedic fantasy romance is for lovers of Shakespeare, chaos and fairies everywhere.]]> 459 Darren Dash Darren 5 4.11 2018
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 49088601
When the gangster gets in touch some time later, offering Eyrie a small fortune if he will take care of a mysterious young woman for a few nights, Eyrie is suspicious and hesitant. He can see trouble ahead, but the money will change his life for the better, so he reluctantly agrees to become a temporary guardian. But some deals should never be struck, and his charge turns out to be far more of a handful than he had ever anticipated. As twist follows twist and the bodies start to mount, Eyrie gets backed into a blood-soaked corner and must resort to desperate, inventive measures if he is to stand any chance of seeing his mission through and making it out of the weekend alive.

Fast-paced, action-packed, gritty London-based noir, inspired by the likes of Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, with a large tip of the hat to the Billy Wilder movie Some Like It Hot.]]> 240 Darren Dash Darren 5 4.33
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 20623020
Clint Smith is a dealer.

Kevin Tyne is a pimp.

Gawl McCaskey is a thug.

Four men of violence, whose lives are about to intersect. It is London, the tail-end of the year 2000. A crime lord is trying to go legit. A chemical genius is working on his illegal masterpiece. A football club is up for sale. Savagely bred hounds are baying for blood. A depraved priest is preying on his flock. An abused young woman is praying for salvation.

On the harsh, unforgiving streets of the city, not everyone is going to make it to the new year.

A dark, harrowing work. Recommended for mature readers only.]]> 422 Darren Dash 1910009040 Darren 5 4.27 2013
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 25359460
A tale of friendship, holidays, relationships, sacrifice and growth, where one painfully vulnerable young man must come of age or perish at the hands of a monster like none you will have seen before. A fast-paced, grisly, tongue-in-cheek retelling of a legend as old as time, by the author of The Evil And The Pure.]]> 359 Darren Dash 1910009083 Darren 5 3.76 2015
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 32711043
When Newman Riplan’s flight into the unknown turns into a nightmarish slide between worlds, he must explore an unnamed city where unpredictable terrors are the norm. By the end of his first day adrift, his life has spun completely out of his control, but the most mind-twisting and soul-crushing revelations are only beginning. As he desperately searches for a way out, he starts to realise that the city isn’t in the habit of releasing its captives.

And it seems to have a plan for him...]]> 227 Darren Dash Darren 5 3.86 2016
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 60435878 Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.

By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the 'Battle-Axe' anyway. Even if her body doesn't move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.]]> 384 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158687 Darren 4 4.19 2022
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Darren
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 44678633
Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan stopped the serial child-killer dubbed 'Mister Whisper,' earning himself a commendation, a drinking problem, and a broken marriage in the process.

Now, he spends his days working in Glasgow's Major Incident Team, and his nights reliving the horrors of what he saw.

And what he did.

When another child disappears a hundred miles north in the Highlands, Jack is sent to lead the investigation and bring the boy home.

But as similarities between the two cases grow, could it be that Jack caught the wrong man all those years ago?

And, if so, is the real Mister Whisper about to claim his fourth victim?

A Litter of Bones is the explosive debut crime thriller novel from JD Kirk, an exciting new voice in Scottish crime fiction.]]> 327 J.D. Kirk Darren 4 4.28 2019
author: J.D. Kirk
name: Darren
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 50247161 He will find the truth. Even if it kills him.

Five months ago, DCI Robert Kett’s wife Billie was snatched from a London street.

Five months of no leads, no evidence, and no suspects.

Until now.

When a routine police search uncovers a chamber of horrors beneath one of the city’s most expensive houses, detectives find a clue that points to Billie’s fate, and to the identity of her kidnapper—an enigmatic killer known as the Pig Man.

Desperate for closure, and still reeling from his last investigation, Kett returns to London for his most personal and most dangerous case yet—a case that pits him against a terrifying evil.

He doesn’t know if Billie is alive or dead. He doesn’t know if he’s too late to save her. All he knows is that he swore he’d go to hell and back to find out what happened.

And now, he's about to.]]> 298 Alex Smith Darren 5 4.47 2020
author: Alex Smith
name: Darren
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/14
shelves:
review:
I ripped through this at top speed. The first two books in the series were very enjoyable, but this took things to a different level, building on them expertly and delivering perfect payoffs to some big questions rasied in the first couple, not least of which was -- what the hell happened to Kett's wife?!? It moved swiftly, with rarely a pause for breath, and although it has the cute factor of the detective's three young daughters always tagging along with their dad, it got VERY dark in places. An absolute joy of a read -- but do make sure you read the first two books before you begin this one!
]]> 58329296 What If It's Us meets They Both Die at the End in this postapocalyptic, queer YA adventure romance from debut author Erik J. Brown. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera, Alex London, and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.

The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.]]> 345 Erik J. Brown 0063054973 Darren 3 4.23 2022
author: Erik J. Brown
name: Darren
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 323171
Twenty years after he conquered the underground pool circuit as The Hustler, "Fast" Eddie Felson is playing exhibition matches with former rival Minnesota Fats in shopping malls for prizes like cable television.With one failed marriage and years of running a pool hall behind him, Eddie is now ready to regain the skills needed to compete in a world of pool that has changed dramatically since he left. The real challenge comes when Eddie realizes that in order to compete with a new wave of young players, he must hone his skills in the unfamiliar game of nine-ball as opposed to the straight pool that had once won him fame. With a new generation of competitors, a higher-profile series of matches, and a waning confidence in his own abilities, "Fast" Eddie faces new challenges with unpredictable outcomes. The Color of Money is the source of the 1986 film starring Paul Newman in the role he had originated in The Hustler.]]> 301 Walter Tevis 1560254858 Darren 4 3.78 1984
author: Walter Tevis
name: Darren
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 35661776
Turkey and carols, presents and crackers - they all start to feel a bit . . . samey.

How about a huge exploding mince pie, a pet abominable snowman, or a very helpful partridge in a pear tree? What if Father Christmas went to work at a zoo, or caused chaos in a toy store, or was even arrested for burglary!?

Dive into the fantastically funny world of Terry Pratchett, for a festive treat like no other. These ten stories will have you laughing, gasping and crying (with laughter) - you'll never see Christmas in the same way again.]]> 208 Terry Pratchett 085753551X Darren 2 3.69 2017
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Darren
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 815309
It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. Edward, eager for rapture, frets over Florence’s response to his advances and nurses a private fear of failure, while Florence’s anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by sheer disgust at the idea of physical contact, but dreads disappointing her husband when they finally lie down together in the honeymoon suite.

Ian McEwan has caught with understanding and compassion the innocence of Edward and Florence at a time when marriage was presumed to be the outward sign of maturity and independence. On Chesil Beach is another masterwork from McEwan—a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.]]> 166 Ian McEwan 0224081187 Darren 5 3.61 2007
author: Ian McEwan
name: Darren
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 40603587
But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good... and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Librarian's Note: Alternate cover edition of ASIN B0010SIPT4]]> 400 Andrzej Sapkowski Darren 3 4.12 1993
author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Darren
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 160014
The classic novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a classic of twentieth-century literature which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.]]> 172 Ray Bradbury Darren 4 science, fiction 3.88 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Darren
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: science, fiction
review:

]]> 48862 ISBN 9780099478478 moved to this edition.
A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of Brighton. Seventeen-year-old Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold. Greene's gripping thriller, exposes a world of loneliness and fear, of life lived on the 'dangerous edge of things'.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J.M. COETZEE]]> 269 Graham Greene Darren 4 3.69 1938
author: Graham Greene
name: Darren
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1938
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 60144955
When frantic, disheveled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn’t know quite what to make of the situation. The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the pseudonym of Anomie. Edie is desperate to uncover Anomie’s true identity.

Robin decides that the agency can’t help with this—and thinks nothing more of it until a few days later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been tasered and then murdered in Highgate Cemetery, the location of The Ink Black Heart.

Robin and her business partner, Cormoran Strike, become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity. But with a complex web of online aliases, business interests and family conflicts to navigate, Strike and Robin find themselves embroiled in a case that stretches their powers of deduction to the limits � and which threatens them in new and horrifying ways . . .]]> 1391 Robert Galbraith 0316473537 Darren 4 4.07 2022
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Darren
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 107896 University Challenge—and now, finally, it seems the dream is about to become reality. He's made the school team, and they've completed the qualifying rounds and are limbering up for their first televised match. (And, what's more, he's fallen head over heels for one of his teammates, the beautiful, brainy, and intimidatingly posh Alice Harbinson.) Life seems perfect and triumph inevitable—but as his world opens up, Brian learns that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.]]> 338 David Nicholls 0345498127 Darren 4 3.65 2003
author: David Nicholls
name: Darren
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 34502 288 Terry Pratchett 057506689X Darren 4 4.05 1994
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Darren
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/11/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 83506 243 Robin Jarvis 1587171120 Darren 2 3.83 1989
author: Robin Jarvis
name: Darren
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/10/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 195221648
When Cassique teams up with a couple of relatively famous figures from the past, they start trying to formulate a plan to make time travel work in their favour, and return the reins of control to humanity. But they have to be exceedingly careful, because Father might be listening...

A darkly comic cross between 1984 and Time Bandits , this science fiction work shines a light on the dangers of putting too much power in the hands of a computer, and is more timely than ever when framed against the recent debate concerning the rise of AI.

"A timely, riveting, thought-provoking page-turner." Kirkus .

"Barbed with sarcastic and self-aware narration, this wildly creative read weaves issues of religion, science, and politics into a masterful allegory of contemporary society, seen through the spectacularly inventive lens of a far-flung future. 4.5 stars out of 5." Self-Publishing Review.

"Packed with both references to existing history and imagined events and figures in the centuries to come, this is a fascinating and imaginative science fiction tale that blends fact and fiction to weave an entertaining read." The US Review of Books .

"Darren Dash builds upon an intriguing premise to deliver an engaging sci-fi story with a healthy dose of satire, philosophical discourse, and dark humor. 5 stars out of 5." Readers' Favorite .

"A fun-filled and provocative time travel adventure." The BookLife Prize .

"With enthralling jumps into the past, a dystopian setting, a tortured hero, and a race against time, Father of the Future practically begs to be adapted to the big screen. This story will stick with you for a very long time..." The Literary Connoisseur .

"This book is a true masterpiece set to take the literary world by storm." Midwest Book Review .]]> 221 Darren Dash Darren 5 4.14
author: Darren Dash
name: Darren
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 53327890 An instant classic with a bear-sized heart, Hannah Gold’s debut novel is a touching story of kindness, adventure, and forging your own path—perfect for fans of Pax and A Wolf Called Wander.

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to a faraway Arctic outpost.

But one night, April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear shaped loping across the horizon. A polar bear who shouldn’t be there—who is hungry, lonely and a long way from home.

An excellent choice for readers in grades 3 to 7, this fierce celebration of friendship includes full-page black-and-white illustrations throughout, as well as information about the real Bear Island and the plight of the polar bears.]]> 288 Hannah Gold 0063041073 Darren 3 4.27 2021
author: Hannah Gold
name: Darren
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/13
shelves:
review:

]]> 55410610
But at night, Panenka suffers crippling headaches that he calls his Iron Mask. Faced with losing everything, he meets Esther, a woman who has come to live in the town to escape her own disappointments. Together, they find resonance in each other’s experiences and learn new ways to let love into their broken lives.]]> 164 Ronan Hession 1910422673 Darren 3 3.98 2021
author: Ronan Hession
name: Darren
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 16130537
He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, and the wars they witness on the news, and is totally baffled by concepts such as love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this weird species than he has been led to believe. He drinks wine, reads Emily Dickinson, listens to Talking Heads, and begins to bond with the family he lives with, in disguise. In picking up the pieces of the professor's shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans' imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there--a mission that involves not only thwarting human progress...but murder.]]> 285 Matt Haig 1476727910 Darren 4 4.05 2013
author: Matt Haig
name: Darren
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 41723505 310 Joseph O'Connor 1787300846 Darren 5 3.77 2019
author: Joseph O'Connor
name: Darren
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/10/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 216363
This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.]]> 259 Philip K. Dick 0679740678 Darren 4 3.64 1962
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Darren
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 760702
In linked short stories, he says goodbye to Sally Bowles, to Fraulein Schroeder, to pranksters, perverts, political manipulators; to the very, very guilty and to the dwindling band of innocents. It is goodbye to a Berlin wild, wicked, breathtaking, decadent beyond belief and already -- in the years between the wars -- welcoming death in through the door, though more with a wink than a whimper.

~from the back cover]]> 208 Christopher Isherwood 0586047956 Darren 4 3.95 1939
author: Christopher Isherwood
name: Darren
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/09/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 53171033 Some legends can kill you.

When a young woman is brutally murdered in the Norfolk countryside, the locals blame Black Shuck—a legendary wild dog.

There’s only one problem: the wounds weren’t made by an animal.

DCI Robert Kett is battling a black dog of his own. With his wife still missing, and the injuries from his last case leaving him in constant pain, everything seems impossible—not least looking after his three young children.

But when a second body appears, even bloodier than the last, Kett finds himself on a hunt for one of the most ruthless serial killers the country has ever seen.

A killer who may be hunting him too.]]> 270 Alex Smith Darren 4 4.34 2019
author: Alex Smith
name: Darren
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 13453029
The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. Due to reviewer demand, the rest of the story was released over the next six months.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Alternate cover for B0071XO8RA]]> 509 Hugh Howey Darren 4 4.22 2012
author: Hugh Howey
name: Darren
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 17306293 579 Hugh Howey Darren 4 4.12 2013
author: Hugh Howey
name: Darren
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 62022 258 Walter Tevis 1400030609 Darren 5 4.14 1983
author: Walter Tevis
name: Darren
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/08/03
shelves:
review:

]]> 63005291
Adam has found something incredible in a rubbish dump in London. A mysterious, mythical, magical animal. A TYGER.

And the tyger is in danger.

Adam and his friend Zadie are determined to help, but it isn't just the tyger's life at stake. Their whole world is on the verge of destruction. Can they learn to use their powers before it's too late?]]> 294 S.F. Said 1788452836 Darren 4 4.37 2022
author: S.F. Said
name: Darren
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 136251
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited.]]> 759 J.K. Rowling Darren 3 fantasy 4.61 2007
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Darren
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: fantasy
review:

]]> 107300 316 Nevil Shute 1842323016 Darren 4 4.22 1960
author: Nevil Shute
name: Darren
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1960
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 56920684
In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna, a formidable lawyer whose flaws have caught up with her; and Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful writer who suddenly becomes a cult hit. All of them believed they had double lives. None imagined just how true that was.

This witty variation on the doppelgänger theme, which takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House, is Hervé Le Tellier's most ambitious work yet.]]> 391 Hervé Le Tellier 1635421691 Darren 5 3.80 2020
author: Hervé Le Tellier
name: Darren
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 51796314 The one case he couldn't crack was the one that finally broke him.

Haunted by his inability to track down and save his missing wife, DCI Robert Kett leaves the Metropolitan Police behind and moves to Norwich with his three young children, hoping to heal their broken family.

But his newfound peace doesn’t last. Two newspaper delivery girls have gone missing in the city, and the clues point to a serial kidnapper.

Kett is dragged into the centre of one of the darkest cases of his career � a case that pits him head to head against a horrifying evil.

And a case that might uncover the terrible truth of what happened to his wife.]]> 284 Alex Smith Darren 4 4.26 2019
author: Alex Smith
name: Darren
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/07/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 60547939
Perfect for children age 8+ and fans of David Baddiel, Stephen Mangan, David Walliams, Andy Griffiths, Jenny Pearson and Helen Rutter.]]> 240 Danny Wallace 1471196895 Darren 3 4.25
author: Danny Wallace
name: Darren
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 17894477
This expanded second edition includes more than sixty pages of further thoughts from Kurt (whose good advice wasn’t limited to graduation speeches).

As edited by Dan Wakefield, this book reads like a narrative in the unique voice that made Vonnegut a hero to readers of all ages. At times hilarious, razor-sharp, freewheeling, and deeply serious, these reflections are ideal for anyone undergoing what Vonnegut would call their “long-delayed puberty ceremony”—marking the passage from student to full-time adult.]]> 144 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 1480537373 Darren 3 3.94 2013
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Darren
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/06/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 36236124 Fight Club’s estranged narrator leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret after-hours boxing matches in the basement of bars. There, two men fight "as long as they have to." This is a gloriously original work that exposes the darkness at the core of our modern world.]]> 224 Chuck Palahniuk 0393355942 Darren 4 4.18 1996
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Darren
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/06/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 60929
The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.]]> 248 Octavia E. Butler 0446603775 Darren 2 4.15 1987
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Darren
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1987
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/06/15
shelves:
review:

]]>