Roger's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 22 Jun 2019 18:09:50 -0700 60 Roger's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Dexter in the Dark (Dexter, #3)]]> 206682
Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fiancee raise her two adorable (if somewhat...unique) children, and always planning his next jaunt as Dexter the Dark Avenger under the light of the full moon.

But everthing changes when Dexter is called to a gruesome double homicide. Dex realizes he's dealing with someone a whole lot more sinister than he is and it sends the Dark Passenger into hiding. And when something scares your friendly neighborhood serial killer, you know it's serious...

More used to inspiring fear then experiencing it, Dex must investigate, while simultaneously coping with his demanding family. If he's to save himself, and those around him, Dexter must pose questions he's never dared ask - where does evil come from, and does it hide inside everyone...?]]>
307 Jeff Lindsay 0385518331 Roger 0 currently-reading 3.56 2006 Dexter in the Dark (Dexter, #3)
author: Jeff Lindsay
name: Roger
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2019/06/22
date added: 2019/06/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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Red Phoenix (Red Phoenix #1) 981161 736 Larry Bond 0446359688 Roger 0 4.00 1989 Red Phoenix (Red Phoenix #1)
author: Larry Bond
name: Roger
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at: 2019/06/20
date added: 2019/06/22
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<![CDATA[The President’s Shadow: A Novel By Brad Metzer | Summary & More]]> 25752935

To the outside world, however, Beecher looks like a lowly employee of the National Archives charged with protecting the nation’s most valuable treasures along with gifts from foreign countries until workers build each president’s library after each person leaves office. At work, Tot Westman has taken Beecher under his tutorage training him in all that he needs to do. Westman is responsible for Beecher becoming one of the Culper Ring, but an unknown assassin has shot Westman in the head and he lays comatose in the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital. Beecher is most interested, however, in finding out what happened to his father who died who supposedly died in a car wreck. Meanwhile, the first lady who gardens for stress relief digs up an arm clutching a flattened piece penny.


Brad Metzer is a betselling historical conspiracy fiction author. His previous work in the Culper Ring series has won lots of acclaim. Metzer was born in Brooklyn, New York. He moved to south Florida with his family when he was still a boy. He still lives in Florida with his wife, an attorney, and his two children.








Click the Buy Now With One Click Button, and learn everything about The President's Shadow By Brad Meltzer]]>
17 Miss Analysis Roger 4 3.78 2015 The President’s Shadow: A Novel By Brad Metzer | Summary & More
author: Miss Analysis
name: Roger
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/05/28
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Lash-Up 23168773 New York Times bestselling author Larry Bond thrills again in Lash-Up, an explosive newĚýnovel. In a bid to dominate Asia and the western Pacific, China provokes a military crisis with the United States and then starts shooting down GPS satellites. America has only a short amount of time to devise some way of protecting its remaining satellites or China will gain an enormous advantage in the coming conflict. The only way the satellites can be protected is from orbit, soĚýan armed spacecraft must be quickly designed, built, and launched to fight on this new battlefield.

A team of soldier-scientists must construct a craft capable of knocking space weapons out of the sky. The fate of the United States rests on the shoulders of these determined people.

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415 Larry Bond 0765334917 Roger 4 3.78 2015 Lash-Up
author: Larry Bond
name: Roger
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2019/05/05
date added: 2019/05/28
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<![CDATA[Power and Empire (Jack Ryan Universe, #24)]]> 34793732 A newly belligerent Chinese government leaves US President Jack Ryan with only a few desperate options in this continuation of the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Clancy series.
Ěý
Ěý
Jack Ryan is dealing with an aggresive challenge from the Chinese government. Pawns are being moved around a global chessboard: an attack on an oil platform in Africa, a terrorist strike on an American destroyer and a storm tossed American spy ship that may fall into Chinese hands. It seems that President Zhao is determined to limit Ryan's choices in the upcoming G20 negotiations.
Ěý
But there are hints that there's even more going on behind the scene. A routine traffic stop in rural Texas leads to a shocking discovery--a link to a Chinese spy who may have intelligence that lays bare an unexpected revelation. John Clark and the members of the Campus are in close pursuit, but can they get the information in time?]]>
432 Marc Cameron Roger 0 3.95 2017 Power and Empire (Jack Ryan Universe, #24)
author: Marc Cameron
name: Roger
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2019/03/30
date added: 2019/05/28
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The Fallen (Amos Decker, #4) 35959808 Listening length: 11 hours, 56 minutes

The closer Amos Decker comes to the truth, the deadlier it gets in David Baldacci's latest #1 New York Times bestselling Memory Man thriller.

Something sinister is going on in Baronville. The rust belt town has seen four bizarre murders in the space of two weeks. Cryptic clues left at the scenes--obscure bible verses, odd symbols--have the police stumped.

Amos Decker and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison are in Baronville visiting Alex's sister and her family. It's a bleak place: a former mill and mining town with a crumbling economy and rampant opioid addiction. Decker has only been there a few hours when he stumbles on a horrific double murder scene.

Then the next killing hits sickeningly close to home. And with the lives of people he cares about suddenly hanging in the balance, Decker begins to realize that the recent string of deaths may be only one small piece of a much larger scheme--with consequences that will reach far beyond Baronville.

Decker, with his singular talents, may be the only one who can crack this bizarre case. Only this time--when one mistake could cost him everything--Decker finds that his previously infallible memory may not be so trustworthy after all...]]>
12 David Baldacci 1478999233 Roger 4 4.04 2018 The Fallen (Amos Decker, #4)
author: David Baldacci
name: Roger
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/27
date added: 2019/05/28
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<![CDATA[The Bourne Enigma (Jason Bourne, #13)]]> 29775887 The trail Karpov has been following leads Bourne to Cairo and the doorstep of Ivan Borz, the elusive international arms dealer infamous for hiding behind a never-ending series of false identities, a man Bourne has been hunting ever since he abducted former Treadstone director Soraya Moore and her two-year-old daughter, and brutally murdered her husband.

In war-torn Syria and then Cyprus Bourne moves ever closer to discovering the astonishing truth, and ever closer to his own death.

The clock is ticking, and Bourne has less than four days to solve Karpov's riddle—and hunt down Borz—if he hopes to prevent a cataclysmic international war...

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420 Eric Van Lustbader 1455597945 Roger 0 3.70 2016 The Bourne Enigma (Jason Bourne, #13)
author: Eric Van Lustbader
name: Roger
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2019/04/12
date added: 2019/04/16
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Gravity’s Rainbow 415 776 Thomas Pynchon 0143039946 Roger 0 to-read 4.01 1973 Gravity’s Rainbow
author: Thomas Pynchon
name: Roger
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/16
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Blood Infernal (The Order of the Sanguines, #3)]]> 21025373 352 James Rollins 1409116409 Roger 4 4.20 2015 Blood Infernal (The Order of the Sanguines, #3)
author: James Rollins
name: Roger
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/08
date added: 2019/03/13
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Rollins is one of my favorites. Always entertaining.
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Middlemarch 19089 "People are almost always better than their neighbours think they are"

George Eliot’s most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose pioneering medical methods, combined with an imprudent marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamond, threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama, hailed by Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people".]]>
912 George Eliot 0451529170 Roger 2 4.00 1872 Middlemarch
author: George Eliot
name: Roger
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1872
rating: 2
read at: 2016/06/16
date added: 2019/03/13
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<![CDATA[Support and Defend (Jack Ryan Jr, #6)]]> 21863539 One of Tom Clancy's most storied characters, Dominic Caruso, is the only one who can stop America's secrets from falling into enemy hands in this blockbuster new novel written by Clancy's longtime coauthor.

Over the course of three decades, Tom Clancy created a world alive with prescient action and remarkable individuals. In Tom Clancy Support and Defend, Dominic Caruso is presented with the deadliest challenge of his career.

Dominic Caruso. Nephew of President Jack Ryan. FBI agent and operator for The Campus, a top secret intelligence agency that works off the books for the U.S. government. Already scarred by the death of his brother, Caruso is devastated when he can’t save a friend and his family from a terrorist attack.

Ethan Ross was a mid-level staffer for the National Security Council. Now he’s a wanted fugitive on the run with a microdrive that contains enough information to wreck American intelligence efforts around the world. The CIA is desperate to get the drive back, but so are the Russians and various terrorist groups all of whom are closer to catching the fugitive. Only Caruso stands in their way, but can he succeed without the aid of his Campus colleagues?]]>
503 Mark Greaney 039917334X Roger 4 4.13 2014 Support and Defend (Jack Ryan Jr, #6)
author: Mark Greaney
name: Roger
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2019/02/20
date added: 2019/03/13
shelves:
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Typical Clancy fare...enjoyable for commute listening
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The Bone Clocks 20819685
For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.

A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.]]>
624 David Mitchell 1400065674 Roger 3 3.82 2014 The Bone Clocks
author: David Mitchell
name: Roger
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2019/03/13
date added: 2019/03/13
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The Innocent (Will Robie, #1) 12849385 It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. But something about this mission doesn't seem right to Robie, and he does the unthinkable. He refuses to kill. Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people.

Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen-year-old runaway from a foster home. But she isn't an ordinary runaway -- her parents were murdered, and her own life is in danger. Against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can't walk away. He needs to help her.

Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he's convinced she is at the center of a vast cover-up, one that may explain her parents' deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power.

Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl's life... and perhaps his own.

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422 David Baldacci 0446572993 Roger 4 4.13 2012 The Innocent (Will Robie, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Roger
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/03
date added: 2019/01/12
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Freedom 7905092
But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz—outré rocker and Walter's college best friend and rival—still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become "a very different kind of neighbor," an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street's attentive eyes?

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom's characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.
(jacket)]]>
562 Jonathan Franzen 0374158460 Roger 4 3.78 2010 Freedom
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Roger
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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date added: 2019/01/12
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Soul Mountain 45961 Soul Mountain.

Bold, lyrical, and prodigious, Soul Mountain probes the human soul with an uncommon directness and candor and delights in the freedom of the imagination to expand the notion of the individual self.]]>
510 Gao Xingjian 0060936231 Roger 0 to-read 3.60 1990 Soul Mountain
author: Gao Xingjian
name: Roger
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/08/25
shelves: to-read
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The Guilty (Will Robie, #4) 40606240 But now, his skills have left him. Sent overseas on a critical assignment, he fails, unable to pull the trigger. Absent his talents, Robie is a man without a mission, and without a purpose.
To recover what he has lost, Robie must confront what he has tried to forget for over twenty years: his own past.
THE GUILTY
Will Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi, after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not once. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder.
Father and son haven't spoken or seen each other since the day Robie left town. In that time, Dan Robie--a local attorney and pillar of the community--has been elected town judge. Despite this, most of Cantrell is aligned against Dan. His guilt is assumed.
To make matters worse, Dan has refused to do anything to defend himself. When Robie tries to help, his father responds only with anger and defiance. Could Dan really be guilty?
With the equally formidable Jessica Reel at his side, Robie ignores his father's wishes and begins his own desperate investigation into the case. But Robie is now a stranger to his hometown, an outsider, a man who has forsaken his past and his family. His attempts to save his father are met with distrust and skepticism . . . and violence.
Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son. And this time, there may be no escape for either of them.]]>
433 David Baldacci 1455586412 Roger 4 4.30 2015 The Guilty (Will Robie, #4)
author: David Baldacci
name: Roger
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/08/03
date added: 2018/08/05
shelves:
review:
Always enjoy Baldacci's books. They are well done, interesting, with good twists.
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Memory Man (Amos Decker, #1) 23153154
When Amos Decker returned home to find the bodies of his wife and only daughter, he didn't think he could carry on living.

Overwhelmed with grief, Decker saw his life fall apart, losing his job as a detective, his house, and his self-respect. But when his former partner visits to tell him that someone has confessed to the murder of his family, he knows he must seek justice for them.

Then tragedy strikes at the local school: teenagers are gunned down and the killer is at large. Following the serious brain injury Amos suffered as a professional footballer, he gained a remarkable gift - and the police believe that this unusual skill will assist in the hunt for the killer.

Amos Decker must endure the memories he would rather forget, and when new evidence links the murders, he is left with only one option...]]>
416 David Baldacci 1455559822 Roger 4 4.04 2015 Memory Man (Amos Decker, #1)
author: David Baldacci
name: Roger
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/06/30
date added: 2018/07/31
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<![CDATA[Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy, #3)]]> 23190986
Edge of Eternity is the sweeping, passionate conclusion to Ken Follett’s extraordinary historical epic, The Century Trilogy.
Throughout these books, Follett has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families � American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh � as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution � and rock and roll.
East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she’s been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that will affect her family for the rest of their lives.…George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy’s Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle not only of the seminal events of the civil rights battle, but a much more personal battle of his own.…Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world is a much more dangerous place than he’d imagined.…Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khrushchev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the United States and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister, Tania, carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw � and into history.

As always with Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew but now will never seem the same again.

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0 Ken Follett Roger 3 4.21 2014 Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy, #3)
author: Ken Follett
name: Roger
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2018/06/21
date added: 2018/06/23
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed the first two books of Follett's trilogy, this one left me a bit flat. It wasn't as engaging or absorbing as the first two. The injection of leftist political perspective at every turn made for a vexatious read. On the other hand, it was certainly not hard to remember it was pure fiction. Follett is masterful at character development, which made me wonder why the characters in this book, with a few notable exceptions, were so thin and formulaic. George Jakes and Rebecca Hoffman being the exceptions. Overall, the trilogy was well above average, and enjoyable. Wish it would have ended with one of the other books. Follett is still a great writer and I have read all of his books now.
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<![CDATA[The Diviners (The Diviners, #1)]]> 7728889 578 Libba Bray Roger 4 3.93 2012 The Diviners (The Diviners, #1)
author: Libba Bray
name: Roger
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2018/05/15
date added: 2018/06/23
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The Escape (John Puller, #3) 20767918 Until now.

John Puller's older brother, Robert, was convicted of treason and national security crimes. His inexplicable escape from prison makes him the most wanted criminal in the country. Some in the government believe that John Puller represents their best chance at capturing Robert alive, and so Puller takes on the burden of bringing his brother in to face justice.

But Puller quickly discovers that there are others pursuing his brother, who only see Robert as a traitor and are unconcerned if he survives. Puller is in turn pushed into an uneasy, fraught partnership with another agent, who may have an agenda of her own.


They dig more deeply into the case together, and Puller finds that not only are her allegiances unclear, but that there are troubling details about his brother's conviction....and that someone is out there who doesn't want the truth to ever come to light. As the nation-wide manhunt for Robert grows more urgent, Puller's masterful skills as an investigator and strength as a fighter may not be enough to save his brother-or himself.

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470 David Baldacci 1455521191 Roger 4 4.12 2014 The Escape (John Puller, #3)
author: David Baldacci
name: Roger
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2018/03/31
date added: 2018/04/29
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Hellhole Inferno (Hellhole, #3)]]> 13501884 After the events of Hellhole Awakening, the people of Hellhole and the shadow-Xayans scramble to rally against the threat from the still-living rogue Xayans. Back on Sonjeera, the Monarchy is in an uproar after their surprising defeat and the breakaway of the Deep Zone planets. The dowager Queen decides to go to Hellhole on a diplomatic mission, hoping to keep her power. But after touring Hellhole, Queen Michella is shaken, and begins to realize that she can never have the old Monarchy back.

Before the Queen can return to Sonjeera, she’s captured by the rogue Xayans and learns the reason for their attack: the orthodox Xayans had developed their minds to the point where they could evolve and, in so doing, trigger another Big Bang, wiping out everything.

The rogue Xayans thought they succeeded in stopping the ascension, but the orthodox Xayans on Hellhole are nearly ready. Now, twenty-two huge asteroids from the outer reaches of the solar system are bearing towards Hellhole, summoned by the rogue sect as a last resort. Can all these lives and the planet itself be saved?]]>
528 Brian Herbert 0765322714 Roger 3 3.79 2014 Hellhole Inferno (Hellhole, #3)
author: Brian Herbert
name: Roger
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2018/02/21
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Purity 23754479
Young Pip Tyler doesn't know who she is. She knows that her real name is Purity, that she's saddled with $130,000 in student debt, that she's squatting with anarchists in Oakland, and that her relationship with her mother � her only family � is hazardous. But she doesn't have a clue who her father is, why her mother chose to live as a recluse with an invented name, or how she'll ever have a normal life.

Enter the Germans. A glancing encounter with a German peace activist leads Pip to an internship in South America with The Sunlight Project, an organization that traffics in all the secrets of the world � including, Pip hopes, the secret of her origins. TSP is the brainchild of Andreas Wolf, a charismatic provocateur who rose to fame in the chaos following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now on the lam in Bolivia, Andreas is drawn to Pip for reasons she doesn't understand, and the intensity of her response to him upends her conventional ideas of right and wrong.

Purity is a grand story of youthful idealism, extreme fidelity, and murder. The author of The Corrections and Freedom has imagined a world of vividly original characters � Californians and East Germans, good parents and bad parents, journalists and leakers � and he follows their intertwining paths through landscapes as contemporary as the omnipresent Internet and as ancient as the war between the sexes. Purity is the most daring and penetrating book yet by one of the major writers of our time.]]>
563 Jonathan Franzen 0374239215 Roger 4 3.62 2015 Purity
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Roger
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/02/21
date added: 2018/02/21
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book. But it took awhile to decide whether I wanted to continue with it.Franzen has an interesting style, but sometimes dwells a bit too much on things that don't really move the story forward. And the ending, well, it could have gone one of two ways at the very end. It went in the most disappointing one, imo, but I suppose the most predictable one given Franzen's proclivities. But all in all, a good read. Would read something by him again.
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<![CDATA[Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, #15)]]> 8357992
The Duncans want Reacher gone—and it’s not just past secrets they’re trying to hide. They’re awaiting a secret shipment that’s already late—and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they’re just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world.Ěý

For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to keep on going, to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that’s bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible.]]>
400 Lee Child 0440339340 Roger 4 ]]> 4.20 2010 Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, #15)
author: Lee Child
name: Roger
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2018/01/13
date added: 2018/01/14
shelves:
review:
I enjoy Lee Child's writing style. The Reacher books are light, interesting, and always have a nice twist towards the end. A bit formulaic, but as a commute companion, works well.

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The Goldfinch 17333223
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.]]>
771 Donna Tartt 0316055433 Roger 5 3.94 2013 The Goldfinch
author: Donna Tartt
name: Roger
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/03
date added: 2017/04/08
shelves:
review:
This book was a real find. Possibly the best book I have read in the last 10 years or more. The character development and style were superb. The ending was somewhat weak, which was really too bad, as it was steaming along like the literary juggernaut it is... But still, on balance, it is really not surprising this book won Tartt a Pulitizer for literature. It was excellent. Highly recommend to anyone.
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The Second Saladin 339236
Beg has come over the Mexican border under a hail of bullets--determined to assassinate a leading American political figure and avenge his people's betrayal.ĚýThe CIA wants Chardy to stop the hit.ĚýChardy wants to save Beg's life.

Between the two men is a tragic past, a failed mission, and a woman who knew them in war--and who knows their secrets now.ĚýAround both men is a conspiracy of lies and violence that reaches back to the Cold War.ĚýBut as Beg moves in for his kill and as Chardy breaks loose from his handlers, a terrible truth begins to emerge: somewhere, someone wants both men to die.]]>
496 Stephen Hunter 0440221862 Roger 3 Passable time consumer. 3.64 1982 The Second Saladin
author: Stephen Hunter
name: Roger
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2017/04/07
date added: 2017/04/08
shelves:
review:
Passable time consumer.
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<![CDATA[The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex, #1)]]> 6234910
Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.]]>
492 Caitlin Kittredge 0385738293 Roger 4 3.58 2011 The Iron Thorn (Iron Codex, #1)
author: Caitlin Kittredge
name: Roger
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2017/01/16
date added: 2017/01/17
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle #3)]]> 2248573
It's been only months since Eragon first uttered "brisingr", an ancient language term for fire. Since then, he's not only learned to create magic with words � he's been challenged to his very core. Following the colossal battle against the Empires warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still, there is more adventure at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.

First is Eragon's oath to his cousin, Roran: to help rescue Roran's beloved from King Galbatorix's clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength � as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices � choices that will take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.

Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?

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748 Christopher Paolini 0375826726 Roger 3 4.10 2008 Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle #3)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Roger
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2016/12/29
date added: 2017/01/05
shelves:
review:
Light reading. Fun fantasy book with dragons, magic, etc. Good commute fare.
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<![CDATA[The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)]]> 186074
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.]]>
662 Patrick Rothfuss 075640407X Roger 4 4.52 2007 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Roger
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2016/10/07
date added: 2016/10/27
shelves:
review:

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Escape (Butch Karp, #20) 2636119 In New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum's most explosive thriller yet, Butch Karp takes on a controversial defense in the courtroom, as a deadly terrorist plot unfolds in the heart of Manhattan.

Claiming God commanded her to gruesomely murder her three small children, a radical political science professor with a high-profile politician husband pleads insanity, leaving New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp the arduous -- and incredibly unpopular -- task of proving that she's not. Meanwhile, an American-born jihadist detonates a suicide bomb inside a Manhattan synagogue. A harrowing question links the violent crimes -- is there any defense for a killer who believes committing murder is God's will? As Karp, his wife Marlene, their daughter Lucy, and a cast of eccentric accomplices begin a deadly manhunt, they uncover an intricate terrorist plot to paralyze New York's emergency response system and cripple the economy. They must find an assassin known only as "The Sheik" before he orchestrates a bloody massacre that could devastate the country forever....]]>
552 Robert K. Tanenbaum 1593154747 Roger 4 3.92 2008 Escape (Butch Karp, #20)
author: Robert K. Tanenbaum
name: Roger
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2016/10/26
date added: 2016/10/27
shelves:
review:
First time I read a Tanenbaum novel. Enjoyed the book, which is #20 in a series about Butch Karp, DA in a fictional NYC, and his wife Marlene, and children. This book centers around a murder trial and a terrorist plot. I would certainly read another of his books. I understand Tanenbaum used a ghostwriter like Michael Gruber to help crank out the prolific tomes in the series, so not sure how that all works. But apparently Gruber is no longer doing that.
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<![CDATA[A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (The Tales of Dunk and Egg, #1-3)]]> 18635622 368 George R.R. Martin 0345533488 Roger 5 4.24 2015 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (The Tales of Dunk and Egg, #1-3)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: Roger
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2016/09/09
date added: 2016/09/12
shelves:
review:
In the same style as Song of Ice and Fire, this book has the same descriptive magic and storytelling prowess that Martin does so well. Only downside to this tome is that it was well too short for a Martin book!! Superb character development and clever plot twists, along with the engaging lineages, conflicts and locales, all make for a fun read. Fantasy done right.
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<![CDATA[Innocent Blood (The Order of the Sanguines, #2)]]> 18089930
But an enigmatic enemy of immense power and terrifying ambition seeks the same child--not to save the world, but to hasten its destruction. For any hope of victory, Erin must discover the truth behind Christ's early years and understand His first true miracle, an event wrapped in sin and destruction, an act that yet remains unfulfilled and holds the only hope for the world.

The search for the truth will take Erin and the others across centuries and around the world, from the dusty plains of the Holy Land to the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, from the catacombs of Rome to an iron fortress in the Mediterranean Sea, and at last to the very gates of Hell itself, where their destiny--and the fate of mankind--awaits.

With The Blood Gospel, the first novel in the Order of the Sanguines series, James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell breathtakingly combined science, myth, and religion and introduced a world where miracles hold new meaning and the fight for good over evil is far more complicated than we ever dreamed. In Innocent Blood they again take us to the edge of destruction . . . and into the deepest reaches of imagination.]]>
437 James Rollins 0061991066 Roger 5 4.13 2013 Innocent Blood (The Order of the Sanguines, #2)
author: James Rollins
name: Roger
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2016/08/08
shelves:
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<![CDATA[The Bone Labyrinth (Sigma Force, #11)]]> 23434061
In this groundbreaking masterpiece of ingenuity and intrigue that spans 50,000 years in human history, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins takes us to mankind’s next great leap.

But will it mark a new chapter in our development . . . or our extinction?

In the remote mountains of Croatia, an archaeologist makes a strange discovery:Ěý a subterranean Catholic chapel, hidden for centuries, holds the bones of a Neanderthal woman. In the same cavern system, elaborate primitive paintings tell the story of an immense battle between tribes of Neanderthals and monstrous shadowy figures. Who is this mysterious enemy depicted in these ancient drawings and what do the paintings mean?

Before any answers could be made, the investigative team is attacked, while at the same time, a bloody assault is made upon a primate research center outside of Atlanta. How are these events connected? Who is behind these attacks?Ěý The search for the truth will take Commander Gray Pierce of Sigma Force 50,000 years into the past. As he and Sigma trace the evolution of human intelligence to its true source, they will be plunged into a cataclysmic battle for the future of humanity that stretches across the globe . . . and beyond.

With the fate of our future at stake, Sigma embarks on its most harrowing odyssey ever—a breathtaking quest that will take them from ancient tunnels in Ecuador that span the breadth of South America to a millennia-old necropolis holding the bones of our ancestors. Along the way, revelations involving the lost continent of Atlantis will reveal true mysteries tied to mankind’s first steps on the moon. In the end, Gray Pierce and his team will face to their greatest threat: an ancient evil, resurrected by modern genetic science, strong enough to bring about the end of man’s dominance on this planet.

Only this time, Sigma will falter—and the world we know will change forever.]]>
688 James Rollins 0062381636 Roger 4 4.11 2015 The Bone Labyrinth (Sigma Force, #11)
author: James Rollins
name: Roger
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/09
date added: 2016/05/19
shelves:
review:
I like Rollins' books. This one was fairly standard Sigma Force fare, but I enjoyed the sub-plot with the hybrid gorilla (part gorilla/part neanderthal DNA) and what his fate was to be.
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<![CDATA[Locked On (Jack Ryan Jr, #3; Jack Ryan Universe, #14)]]> 12687461
Tom Clancy's all-star lineup is back. Jack Ryan, his son, Jack Junior, John Clark, â€Dingâ€� Chavez and the rest of the Campus team are facing their greatest challenge ever.

Jack Ryan, Sr. has made a momentous choice. He's running for President of the United States again, giving up a peaceful retirement to help his country in its darkest hour. But he doesn't anticipate the treachery of his opponent, who uses trumped-up charges to attack one of Ryan's closest comrades, John Clark.

Now Clark is in a race against time and must travel the world, staying one step ahead of his adversaries, including a shadowy organization tasked to bring him in, all while trying to find who is behind this.

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr., â€Dingâ€� Chavez, Dom Caruso and other members of the Campus—the top-secret, off-the-books intelligence agency founded by Jack during his first term in the White House—deal with a question of their own: Why is a Pakistani military officer meeting with Dagestani terrorists? The answer will ultimately lead to a desperate struggle, with nothing short of the fate of the world at stake.

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853 Tom Clancy 039915731X Roger 4 4.04 2011 Locked On (Jack Ryan Jr, #3; Jack Ryan Universe, #14)
author: Tom Clancy
name: Roger
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/01
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Warheart (Sword of Truth, #15; Richard and Kahlan, #4)]]> 23848607
Except what isn't lost is Kahlan Amnell. Following an inner prompting beyond all reason, the last Confessor will wager everything on a final desperate gambit, and in so doing, she will change the world forever.

Terry Goodkind's Warheart is the direct sequel to, and the conclusion of, the story begun in The Omen Machine, The Third Kingdom, and Severed Souls.]]>
464 Terry Goodkind 0765383187 Roger 2 3.99 2015 Warheart (Sword of Truth, #15; Richard and Kahlan, #4)
author: Terry Goodkind
name: Roger
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2016/03/01
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves:
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Under the Dome 6320534
When food, electricity and water run short, the normal rules of society are changed. A new and more sinister social order develops, Dale Barbara, a young Iraq veteran, teams up with a handful of intrepid citizens to fight against the corruption that is sweeping through the town and to try to discover the source of the Dome before it is too late...]]>
1074 Stephen King 1439148503 Roger 1 3.92 2009 Under the Dome
author: Stephen King
name: Roger
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 1
read at: 2016/01/01
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves:
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<![CDATA[Cathedral: By the Author of The Way Things Work (Sandpiper)]]> 769471 80 David Macaulay 0395316685 Roger 3 to-read 4.26 1973 Cathedral: By the Author of The Way Things Work (Sandpiper)
author: David Macaulay
name: Roger
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1973
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Bear and the Dragon: Part 1 of 3]]> 358969 Tom Clancy 0736655719 Roger 4 4.02 The Bear and the Dragon: Part 1 of 3
author: Tom Clancy
name: Roger
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/18
date added: 2016/04/08
shelves:
review:
I hadn't read any Clancy books before. I enjoyed the story. It was a long book, which I tend to like. The plots/subplots were interesting and the characters as well. Clancy has a way with words that is engaging. Will read another of his, for sure
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Freddy and Fredericka 87060 Freddy and Fredericka—a brilliantly refashioned fairy tale and a magnificently funny farce—only seems like a radical departure of form, for behind the laughter, Helprin speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and the primacy of love. Helprin’s latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory about a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities.]]> 553 Mark Helprin 0143037250 Roger 5 3.80 2005 Freddy and Fredericka
author: Mark Helprin
name: Roger
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2015/10/24
date added: 2016/01/26
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<![CDATA[The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)]]> 1215032 There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.�

My name is Kvothe.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view � a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived ... until Kvothe.

In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

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994 Patrick Rothfuss 0756404738 Roger 4 4.55 2011 The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Roger
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2015/10/23
date added: 2015/10/24
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<![CDATA[The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children, #6)]]> 8318666 The land of Painted Caves, Jean M. Auel brings the ice-age epic Earth's Children series to an extraordinary conclusion. Ayla, one of the most remarkable and beloved heroines in contemporary fiction, continues to explore the world and the people around her with curiosity, insight, and above all, courage.

As the story opens, Ayla, Jondalar, and their infant daughter, Jonayla are welcomed by the Zelandonii, but problems arise. They are faced with new challenges, not just the ordinary trials of sheer survival, but the complications posed by many groups of people who need to live and work together. The wisdom that Ayla gained from her struggles as an orphaned child, alone in a hostile environment, strengthens her as she moves closer to leadership of the Zelandonia.

Ayla and Jondalar's first priority is the care for their golden-haired child, Jonayla, and the well-being of their amazing animals, Wolf, Whinney, Racer, and Gray. The two participate in hunts to provide food, in travels to Summer Meetings for decision making, and in social activities. Whatever the obstacles, Ayla's inventive spirit produces new ways to lessen the difficulties of daily life: searching for wild edibles to make delicious meals, experimenting with techniques to ease the long journeys the Zelandoni must take, honing her skills as a healer and a leader. And then, there are the Sacred Caves, the caves that Ayla's mentor--the Donier, the First of the Zelandonia--takes her to see. These caves are filled with remarkable art--paintings of mammoths, lions, aurochs, rhinoceros, reindeer, bison, bear. The powerful, mystical aura within these caves sometimes overwhelms Ayla.

Ayla's final preparations for her initiation as a Zelandoni bring The Land of Painted Caves to a riveting climax. So much time apart from Jondalar has caused him to drift away from her. The rituals themselves bring her close to death. But through those rituals, Ayla gains A Gift of Knowledge so important that it will change the world.

Spellbinding drama, meticulous research, fascinating detail, and superb narrative skill combine to make The Land of Painted Caves a captivating, utterly believable creation of a civilization that resonates long after the reader has turned the last page, and serves as an astonishing end to this beloved saga.]]>
828 Jean M. Auel 0517580519 Roger 0 to-read 3.33 2011 The Land of Painted Caves (Earth's Children, #6)
author: Jean M. Auel
name: Roger
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2015/09/19
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[A Mighty Fortress (Safehold, #4)]]> 6940561
Their success may prove short-lived. The Church of God Awaiting, which controls most of Safehold, has decreed their destruction. Mother Church’s entire purpose is to prevent the very things to which Charis is committed. Since the first attempt to crush the heretics failed, the Church has no choice but to adopt some of the hated Charisian innovations for themselves. Soon a mighty fleet will sail against Cayleb, destroying everything in its path.

But there are still matters about which the Church knows nothing, including Cayleb and Sharleyan’s adviser, friend, and guardian� the mystic warrior-monk named Merlin Athrawes. Merlin knows all about battles against impossible odds, because he is in fact the cybernetic avatar of a young woman named Nimue Alban, who died a thousand years before. As Nimue, Merlin saw the entire Terran Federation go down in fire and slaughter at the hands of a foe it could not defeat. He knows that Safehold is the last human planet in existence, and that the stasis the Church was created to enforce will be the human race’s death sentence if it is allowed to stand.

The juggernaut is rumbling down on Charis, but Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in its path. The Church is about to discover just how potent the power of human freedom truly is.]]>
718 David Weber 076531505X Roger 2 4.12 2010 A Mighty Fortress (Safehold, #4)
author: David Weber
name: Roger
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2015/09/16
date added: 2015/09/16
shelves:
review:
Should have been the kind of story I enjoy....but after way too many chapters, the character development left no characters one could care about at all.
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<![CDATA[The Golden Lion (Courtney publication, #14; Courtney chronological, #2)]]> 25143178
The son pirate and merchant Sir Frances Courtney, Henry “Hal� Courtney was raised at sea. When war broke out between the English and the Dutch empires, his father, fighting for the English crown, attacked a fleet of Dutch East India Company ships off the coast of Africa. That bravery was met with betrayal, and Sir Francis was executed. His heartbroken son witnessed his death and dedicated his young adulthood to avenging his father’s name.

Now, twenty years of war have passed. It is 1784, and a truce has been made between the English and the Dutch, ending the long years of battle on the seas. Hal, too has changed. He has become the captain of his own ship, and is soon to become a father himself. Navigating his crew across the waves of danger, Hal sails his ship, the Golden Bough, from the slave markets of Zanzibar to the pirate-riddled waters of the Indian Ocean in search of fortune and treasure.

But though the war is over, the final battle has not been won. Soon, Hal will learn that the more a man achieves, the more he has to lose. . . .

Bursting with swashbuckling action and thrilling adventure, this magnificent novel breathes new life into one of Wilbur Smith’s most beloved family sagas and confirms his status as our “best historical novelist� (Stephen King).]]>
382 Wilbur Smith 0062276468 Roger 0 to-read 3.73 2015 The Golden Lion (Courtney publication, #14; Courtney chronological, #2)
author: Wilbur Smith
name: Roger
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/08/19
shelves: to-read
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Empire (Empire, #1) 7955
The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side, and militia foot-soldiers on the other, devastating the cities, and overrunning the countryside. But the vast majority, who only want the killing to stop and the nation to return to more peaceful days, have technology, weapons and strategic geniuses of their own.

When the American dream shatters into violence, who can hold the people and the government together? And which side will you be on?

Orson Scott Card is a master storyteller, who has earned millions of fans and reams of praise for his previous science fiction and fantasy novels. Now he steps a little closer to the present day with this chilling look at a near future scenario of a new American Civil War.]]>
352 Orson Scott Card 0765316110 Roger 4 3.44 2006 Empire (Empire, #1)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Roger
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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date added: 2015/08/19
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Give Me Back My Legions! 4190426 Arminius, a prince of the Cherusci, is playing a deadly game. He serves in the Roman army, gaining Roman citizenship and officer’s rank, and learning the arts of war and policy as practiced by the Romans. What he learns is essential for the survival of Germany, for he must unite his people against Rome before they become enslaved by the Empire and lose their way of life forever.
An epic battle is brewing, and these two men stand on opposite sides of what will forever be known as The Battle of the Teutoberg Forest—a ferocious, bloody clash that will change the course of history.]]>
310 Harry Turtledove 0312371063 Roger 3 3.29 2009 Give Me Back My Legions!
author: Harry Turtledove
name: Roger
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2009
rating: 3
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date added: 2015/08/19
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<![CDATA[The Big Switch (The War That Came Early, #3)]]> 9609421
Weaving together a cast of characters that ranges from a brawling American fighter in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain to a woman who has seen Hitler’s evil face-to-face, Harry Turtledove takes us into a world shaping up very differently in 1941. The Germans and their Polish allies have slammed into the gut of the Soviet Union in the west, while Japan pummels away in the east. In trench warfare in France, French and Czech fighters are outmanned but not outfought by their Nazi enemy. Then the stalemate is shattered. In England, Winston Churchill dies in an apparent accident, and the gray men who walk behind his funeral cortege wonder who their real enemy is. The USSR, fighting for its life, makes peace with Japan—and Japan’s war with America is about to begin.

A sweeping saga of human passions, foolishness, and courage, of families and lovers and soldiers by choice and by chance, The Big Switch is a provocative, gripping, and utterly convincing work of alternate history at its best. For history buffs and fans of big, blood-and-guts fiction, Harry Turtledove delivers a panoramic clash of ideals as powerful as armies themselves.]]>
418 Harry Turtledove 0345491866 Roger 3 3.65 2011 The Big Switch (The War That Came Early, #3)
author: Harry Turtledove
name: Roger
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2011
rating: 3
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date added: 2015/08/19
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River God (Ancient Egypt, #1) 429138 664 Wilbur Smith 0312954468 Roger 2 4.21 1993 River God (Ancient Egypt, #1)
author: Wilbur Smith
name: Roger
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 2
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date added: 2015/06/22
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<![CDATA[The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey]]> 78508 The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.

The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.

After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.

Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.
From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.]]>
416 Candice Millard 0767913736 Roger 5 4.18 2005 The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
author: Candice Millard
name: Roger
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/06/22
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<![CDATA[Gods and Generals (The Civil War Trilogy, #1)]]> 29925 The Killer Angels, Jeff Shaara explores the lives of Generals Lee, Hancock, Jackson and Chamberlain as the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg approaches.

Shaara captures the disillusionment of both Lee and Hancock early in their careers, Lee's conflict with loyalty, Jackson's overwhelming Christian ethic and Chamberlain's total lack of experience, while illustrating how each compensated for shortcomings and failures when put to the test.

The perspectives of the four men, particularly concerning the battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, make vivid the realities of war.]]>
498 Jeff Shaara 1841580651 Roger 5 4.08 1996 Gods and Generals (The Civil War Trilogy, #1)
author: Jeff Shaara
name: Roger
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1996
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/06/22
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<![CDATA[A Blaze of Glory (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater, #1)]]> 12788665
It’s the spring of 1862. The Confederate Army in the West teeters on the brink of collapse following the catastrophic loss of Fort Donelson. Commanding general Albert Sidney Johnston is forced to pull up stakes, abandon the critical city of Nashville, and rally his troops in defense of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Hot on Johnston’s trail are two of the Union’s best generals: the relentless Ulysses Grant, fresh off his career-making victory at Fort Donelson, and Don Carlos Buell. If their combined forces can crush Johnston’s army and capture the railroad, the war in the West likely will be over. There’s just one problem: Johnston knows of the Union plans, and is poised to launch an audacious surprise attack on Grant’s encampment—a small settlement in southwestern Tennessee anchored by a humble church named Shiloh.

With stunning you-are-there immediacy, Shaara takes us inside the maelstrom of Shiloh as no novelist has before. Drawing on meticulous research, he dramatizes the key actions and decisions of the commanders on both sides: Johnston, Grant, Sherman, Beauregard, and the illustrious Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. Here too are the thoughts and voices of the junior officers, conscripts, and enlisted men who gave their all for the cause, among them Confederate cavalry lieutenant James Seeley and Private Fritz “Dutchie� Bauer of the 16th Wisconsin Regiment—brave participants in a pitched back-and-forth battle whose casualty count would far surpass anything the American public had yet seen in this war. By the end of the first day of fighting, as Grant’s bedraggled forces regroup for could be their last stand, two major events—both totally unexpected—will turn the tide of the battle and perhaps the war itself.]]>
435 Jeff Shaara 0345527356 Roger 5 4.03 2012 A Blaze of Glory (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater, #1)
author: Jeff Shaara
name: Roger
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/06/22
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<![CDATA[The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)]]> 682804 The Killer Angels is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—a dramatic re-creation of the battleground for America's destiny.]]> 345 Michael Shaara 0345348109 Roger 5 4.32 1974 The Killer Angels (The Civil War Trilogy, #2)
author: Michael Shaara
name: Roger
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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date added: 2015/06/22
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<![CDATA[Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal]]> 8575701 516 James D. Hornfischer 055380670X Roger 4 4.26 2011 Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
author: James D. Hornfischer
name: Roger
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/06/22
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Visitors (Pathfinder, #3) 20201434 Rigg, Umbo e Param hanno finalmente scoperto cos'è che condurrà alla morte il loro mondo: gli umani. La sfida per loro è adesso quella di capire come impedire la distruzione di tutto ciò che conoscono. Mentre cercano una via di salvezza, si trovano davanti a un difficile dilemma morale: è giusto sacrificare un mondo per salvarne un altro? Soprattutto se uno di quei mondi è la Terra, la culla dell'umanità? Dovranno viaggiare attraverso la storia di Giardino, nella speranza di scoprire le ragioni del loro destino e preservare il loro pianeta senza condannarne un altro.

Le loro facoltà saranno messe a dura prova nel tentativo di fermare una guerra letale tra due mondi� prima ancora che tutto accada.

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609 Orson Scott Card Roger 2 3.98 2014 Visitors (Pathfinder, #3)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Roger
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2014
rating: 2
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Visitors (Pathfinder, #3) 18668428
In Pathfinder , Rigg joined forces with another teen with special talents on a quest to find Rigg’s sister and discover the true depth and significance of their powers. Then Rigg’s story continued in Ruins as he was tasked to decipher the paths of the past before the arrival of a destructive force with deadly intentions. Now, in Visitors , Rigg’s journey comes to an epic and explosive conclusion as everything that has been building up finally comes to pass, and Rigg is forced to put his powers to the test in order to save his world and end the war once and for all.]]>
608 Orson Scott Card 1416991786 Roger 2 3.72 2014 Visitors (Pathfinder, #3)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Roger
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2014
rating: 2
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<![CDATA[The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume One]]> 10644631 The Eye of the World has been turned into a stunning comic book series written by Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Chase Conley. The first Robert Jordan graphic novel, New Spring: the Graphic Novel, was a New York Times bestseller.

The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume One begins Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy tale by introducing Rand al’Thor and his friends Matrim and Perrin at the spring festival. Moiraine Damodred and Lan Mandragoran appear, and almost before Rand knows it, he and his friends are fleeing his home village with Moiraine, Lan, and Egwene al’Vere, the innkeeper’s daughter, who wishes to become an Aes Sedai. The conclusion of this volume leaves the travelers on the road to Baerlon, barely ahead of the pursuing Trollocs and Draghkar. As they run for their lives, Moiraine and Lan begin to teach the young people what they need to know to survive in this dangerous world.

Collects issues #1-6.]]>
240 Chuck Dixon 0765324881 Roger 3 4.47 2011 The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume One
author: Chuck Dixon
name: Roger
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2011
rating: 3
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Outlander (Outlander, #1) 10964
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.]]>
850 Diana Gabaldon 0440242940 Roger 3 4.25 1991 Outlander (Outlander, #1)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Roger
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1991
rating: 3
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<![CDATA[The Book of Strange New Things]]> 20697435
It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings—his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter.

Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.

Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.]]>
500 Michel Faber 055341884X Roger 2 But....I have to say it had about as lame an ending as any book I have read. A huge disappointment. It was as if the author simply ran out of interest in the project and chose to move on to something else.]]> 3.65 2014 The Book of Strange New Things
author: Michel Faber
name: Roger
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2015/03/24
date added: 2015/03/24
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I enjoyed most of the book. I am not a hardcore science fiction fan, but I did enjoy the premise of the book. The long-distance interaction between Bea and Peter was engaging. The aliens were more interesting for what you imagined they might reveal.
But....I have to say it had about as lame an ending as any book I have read. A huge disappointment. It was as if the author simply ran out of interest in the project and chose to move on to something else.
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<![CDATA[The Blood Gospel (The Order of the Sanguines, #1)]]> 15818164
But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb’s sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ’s own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. But the enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.

From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity.

Here is a novel that is explosive in its revelation of a secret history. Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? And why does Catholicism insist that the consecration of wine during Mass results in its transformation to Christ’s own blood? The answers to all go back to a secret sect within the Vatican, one whispered as rumor but whose very existence was painted for all to see by Rembrandt himself, a shadowy order known simply as the Sanguines.

In the end, be warned: some books should never be found, never opened—until now.]]>
479 James Rollins 006199104X Roger 4 3.99 2013 The Blood Gospel (The Order of the Sanguines, #1)
author: James Rollins
name: Roger
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2013
rating: 4
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Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5) 20721959 New York Times bestselling author Wilbur Smith—hailed by Stephen King as the “best historical novelist� and one of the world’s biggest-selling authors—returns to Ancient Egypt in this breathtaking epic that conjures the magic, mystery, romance, and bloody intrigue of a fascinating lost world.

Game of Thrones meets Ancient Egypt in this magnificent, action-packed epic. On the gleaming banks of the Nile, the brilliant Taita—slave and advisor to the Pharaoh—finds himself at the center of a vortex of passion, intrigue, and danger. His quest to destroy the Hyksos army and form an alliance with Crete takes him on an epic journey up the Nile, through Arabia and the magical city of Babylon, and across the open seas. With the future of Egypt itself on his shoulders, Taita enters a world where the line between loyalty and betrayal shifts like the desert sands, evil enemies await in the shadows, and death lingers on the edges of darkness.]]>
425 Wilbur Smith 006227645X Roger 1 3.61 2014 Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5)
author: Wilbur Smith
name: Roger
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2014
rating: 1
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Steve Jobs 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Roger 1 4.15 2011 Steve Jobs
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Roger
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 1
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<![CDATA[Tomb of the Golden Bird (Amelia Peabody, #18)]]> 130876
Powerless to intervene but determined to stay close to the unattainable tomb, the family returns to Luxor and prepares to continue their dig in the less promising West Valley—and to watch from the sidelines as Carter and Carnarvon "discover" the greatest Egyptian treasure of all time: King Tut's tomb. But before their own excavation can get underway, Emerson and his son, Ramses, find themselves lured into a trap by a strange group of villains ominously demanding "Where is he?" Driven by distress—and, of course, Amelia's insatiable curiosity—the Emersons embark on a quest to uncover who "he" is and why "he" must be found, only to discover that the answer is uncomfortably close to home. Now Amelia must find a way to protect her family—and perhaps even her would-be nemesis—from the sinister forces that will stop at nothing to succeed in the nefarious plot that threatens the peace of the entire region.

Filled with heart-stopping suspense, political intrigue, and Amelia Peabody's trademark wit and wisdom, Tomb of the Golden Bird is the latest thrilling installment from the renowned and beloved "grande dame of historical mystery" (Washington Post).]]>
381 Elizabeth Peters 0060591803 Roger 1 4.14 2006 Tomb of the Golden Bird (Amelia Peabody, #18)
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: Roger
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2006
rating: 1
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<![CDATA[A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century]]> 568236 Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived.]]> 714 Barbara W. Tuchman 0345349571 Roger 0 to-read 4.04 1978 A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
author: Barbara W. Tuchman
name: Roger
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1978
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 5043 Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.

Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

For the TV tie-in edition with the same ISBN go to this Alternate Cover Edition
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976 Ken Follett 045122213X Roger 5 4.34 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: Roger
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1989
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)]]> 5064 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas—about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race—the Black Death.]]>
1237 Ken Follett Roger 5 4.30 2007 World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)
author: Ken Follett
name: Roger
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream]]> 9742 The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward.]]> 375 Barack Obama 0307237699 Roger 1 3.83 2006 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
author: Barack Obama
name: Roger
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2006
rating: 1
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<![CDATA[Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance]]> 88061 453 Barack Obama 1921351438 Roger 1 3.93 1995 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
author: Barack Obama
name: Roger
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1995
rating: 1
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Theodore Rex 40923
President McKinley's assassination brought the 43-year-old TR a challenging presidency, one to which Morris is a clearsighted guide. At home, TR had to persuade Congress to curb competition-stifling corporate trusts, monopolistic transcontinental railroads, and unhygienic food industries that saw consumers as sheep. He also faced labor and racial strife. Abroad, the American presence in Cuba and the Philippines brought criticism, the Russo-Japanese conflict threatened major power shifts in the Far East and Europe, and a politically and financially fraught decision on the Central American canal route - Panama or Nicaragua? - had to be made. TR rose to every challenge. Despite the demands of family and social life, he read, wrote, and traveled extensively. Not least, TR put national parks and conservation of natural resources on the legislative agenda.

All TR's notable contemporaries - including historian Henry Adams, naturalists John Burroughs and John Muir, robber barons E. H. Harriman and James J. Hill, poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, financier J. P. Morgan, fellow politician William Howard Taft, civil rights leader Booker T. Washington, and novelist Owen Wister - appear onstage, their clear voices projecting the excitement of the day.

Morris is blessed with the imagination and skills to write gripping popular history. He doesn't dilute but illuminates events in presenting an account that immediately sparks interest and captures the mind. Readers will note that American interventionism abroad (today's major issue) was much debated during TR's presidency, when major interventional imperatives challenged the new superpower's tradition of relative restraint in foreign affairs.

Theodore Rex is the long-awaited second volume of the TR saga. Morris delivered the first volume, , in 1979. It won a Pulitzer Prize; Theodore Rex is a solid bet for another.
(Peter Skinner)]]>
772 Edmund Morris 0812966007 Roger 2 4.18 2001 Theodore Rex
author: Edmund Morris
name: Roger
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2001
rating: 2
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<![CDATA[Einstein: His Life and Universe]]> 10884 675 Walter Isaacson 0743264738 Roger 5 4.16 2007 Einstein: His Life and Universe
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Roger
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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The Diary of a Young Girl 48855
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe� of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
--back cover]]>
283 Anne Frank Roger 4 4.19 1947 The Diary of a Young Girl
author: Anne Frank
name: Roger
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1947
rating: 4
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Brave New World 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]>
268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Roger 5 3.99 1932 Brave New World
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Roger
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 5
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 14891 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.]]> 496 Betty Smith 0061120073 Roger 3 4.29 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
author: Betty Smith
name: Roger
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1943
rating: 3
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To Kill a Mockingbird 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]>
323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Roger 5 4.25 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird
author: Harper Lee
name: Roger
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)]]> 15241
Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs.

Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin -- alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.]]>
322 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618346260 Roger 5 4.45 1954 The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Roger
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[The Hobbit, or There and Back Again]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Roger 5 4.29 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Roger
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1937
rating: 5
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The Lord of the Rings 33 One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

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

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.]]>
1216 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618640150 Roger 5 4.52 1954 The Lord of the Rings
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Roger
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1954
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)]]> 18512 here.

The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures as the quest continues. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escaped into Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents. Gandalf returned, miraculously, and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Meanwhile, Sam and Frodo progressed towards Mordor to destroy the Ring, accompanied by SmEagol--Gollum, still obsessed by his 'precious'. After a battle with the giant spider, Shelob, Sam left his master for dead; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And all the time the armies of the Dark Lord are massing. J.R.R. Tolkien's great work of imaginative fiction has been labeled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail.]]>
404 J.R.R. Tolkien Roger 5 4.54 1955 The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Roger
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1955
rating: 5
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A Clockwork Orange 227463 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. And when the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him, the novel asks, "At what cost?"

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."]]>
192 Anthony Burgess Roger 3 3.98 1962 A Clockwork Orange
author: Anthony Burgess
name: Roger
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 3
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The Hobbit 659469
'The Hobbit' is the story of Bilbo Baggins…a quiet and contented hobbit whose life is turned upside down when he joins the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves on their quest to reclaim the dwarves' stolen treasure. It is a journey fraught with danger � and in the end it is Bilbo alone who must face the guardian of this treasure, the most-dreaded dragon Smaug.

Illustrated in full colour throughout, and accompanied by the carefully abridged text of the original novel, this handsome authorised edition will introduce new generations to a magical masterpiece � and be treasured by Hobbit fans of all ages, everywhere.]]>
133 Chuck Dixon 0345368584 Roger 5 4.52 1989 The Hobbit
author: Chuck Dixon
name: Roger
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1989
rating: 5
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