Em's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 09:10:21 -0700 60 Em's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Lucy 333971 164 Jamaica Kincaid 0374527350 Em 0 to-read 3.81 1990 Lucy
author: Jamaica Kincaid
name: Em
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Ascendant Sun (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #5)]]> 831908 Ascendant Sun is the direct sequel to The Last Hawk, in which Kelric, heir to the Skolian Empire, crash-landed his fighter on the Restricted planet of Coba. He was imprisoned by the powerful mistresses of the great estates—women who, over time, fell in love with him. After 18 years of living in their gilded cage, Kelric finally made his escape.

In Ascendant Sun, Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth—thanks to the upheaval of the Radiance War. With little more than the clothes on his back, Kelric is forced to take work on a merchant vessel. But when that vessel enters Euban space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he becomes a slave to the cruel Aristos—who subject slaves to torture and sex to provide their ultimate telepathic emotional drug.]]> 384 Catherine Asaro 0312868243 Em 0 to-read 3.89 2000 Ascendant Sun (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #5)
author: Catherine Asaro
name: Em
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Radiant Seas (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #4)]]> 637578 ]]> 512 Catherine Asaro 0812580362 Em 0 to-read 3.97 1998 The Radiant Seas (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #4)
author: Catherine Asaro
name: Em
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Catch the Lightning (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #2)]]> 367993 320 Catherine Asaro 0812551028 Em 0 to-read 3.78 1996 Catch the Lightning (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #2)
author: Catherine Asaro
name: Em
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Last Hawk (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #3)]]> 672961
First they take him prisoner.

Then, one by one, the most powerful women on the planet fall in love with him!]]> 480 Catherine Asaro 0812551109 Em 0 to-read 3.91 1997 The Last Hawk (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #3)
author: Catherine Asaro
name: Em
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Powers (Annals of the Western Shore, #3)]]> 68020
In what becomes a treacherous journey for freedom, Gav's greatest test of all is facing his powers so that he can come to understand himself and finally find a true home.]]> 502 Ursula K. Le Guin 0152057706 Em 0 to-read 4.01 2007 Powers (Annals of the Western Shore, #3)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Em
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> The Windup Girl 6597651
Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.]]> 359 Paolo Bacigalupi 1597801577 Em 0 to-read 3.75 2009 The Windup Girl
author: Paolo Bacigalupi
name: Em
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> Camouflage 21607
Now, a sunken relic that holds the key to their origins calls to them to take them home—but the Chameleon has decided there's only room for one.]]> 289 Joe Haldeman 0441012523 Em 0 to-read 3.62 2004 Camouflage
author: Joe Haldeman
name: Em
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Forever Peace (The Forever War, #3)]]> 21618 351 Joe Haldeman 0441005667 Em 0 to-read 3.76 1997 Forever Peace (The Forever War, #3)
author: Joe Haldeman
name: Em
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> Seeker (Alex Benedict, #3) 352777 The Barnes & Noble Review
Alex Benedict and his executive assistant, Chase Kolpath -- ambitious antiquities dealers from Jack McDevitt's A Talent for War (1989) and, more recently, Polaris -- are back in Seeker, a story in which the two antiquarians search for a legendary lost colony that is both a science fiction thriller and a remarkably complex mystery.

More than 9,000 years after an interstellar transport named Seeker left an overcrowded and politically repressive Earth with the dream of founding a new society on an unspecified planet, Benedict and Kolpath stumble across a ceramic cup that was once on the now-legendary lost starship. But tracking down how the ancient artifact got from the ship into the hands of a maltreated woman and her thuggish boyfriend turns out to be more than Benedict and Kolpath bargained for -- as their search leads them across multiple star systems and straight into an anonymous assassin's crosshairs. But as the killer closes in, the two courageous antiquarians uncover the jaw-dropping truth about the lost starship and the legendary colony

Equally reminiscent of Frederik Pohl's Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Heechee saga (Gateway, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, et al.) and a classic Ellery Queen mystery, McDevitt's Seeker will appeal to readers of hard-core science fiction, as well as adventurous mystery fans looking for an out-of-this-world story. And just like Polaris, Seeker is characterized by a bombshell of an ending that will leave readers absolutely awestruck. Paul Goat Allen]]> 373 Jack McDevitt 0441013759 Em 0 to-read 3.91 2005 Seeker (Alex Benedict, #3)
author: Jack McDevitt
name: Em
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2)]]> 6552070
Three years have passed since the widowed Dowager Royina Ista found release from the curse of madness that kept her imprisoned in her family's castle of Valenda. Her newfound freedom is costly, bittersweet with memories, regrets, and guilty secrets -- for she knows the truth of what brought her land to the brink of destruction. And now the road -- escape -- beckons. . . . A simple pilgrimage, perhaps. Quite fitting for the Dowager Royina of all Chalion.

Yet something else is free, too -- something beyond deadly. To the north lies the vital border fortress of Porifors. Memories linger there as well, of wars and invasions and the mighty Golden General of Jokona. And someone, something, watches from across that border -- humans, demons, gods.

Ista thinks her little party of pilgrims wanders at will. But whose? When Ista's retinue is unexpectedly set upon not long into its travels, a mysterious ally appears -- a warrior nobleman who fights like a berserker. The temporary safety of her enigmatic champion's castle cannot ease Ista's mounting dread, however, when she finds his dark secrets are entangled with hers in a net of the gods' own weaving.

In her dreams the threads are already drawing her to unforeseen chances, fateful meetings, fearsome choices. What the inscrutable gods commanded of her in the past brought her land to the brink of devastation. Now, once again, they have chosen Ista as their instrument. And again, for good or for ill, she must comply.]]> 496 Lois McMaster Bujold Em 0 to-read 4.33 2003 Paladin of Souls (World of the Five Gods, #2)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Em
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio, #1)]]> 64923 is waking up.

Molecular biologist Kaye Lang has spent her career tracing ancient retroviruses in the human genome. She believes these microscopic fossils can come to life again. But when Dicken’s discovery becomes public, Lang’s theory suddenly turns to chilling fact. As the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dicken and Lang must race against time to assemble the pieces of a puzzle only they are equipped to solve—an evolutionary puzzle that will determine the future of the human race . . . if a future exists at all.]]> 448 Greg Bear 0345459814 Em 0 to-read 3.73 1999 Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio, #1)
author: Greg Bear
name: Em
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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]]> Stations of the Tide 243859 256 Michael Swanwick 0380817616 Em 0 to-read 3.69 1991 Stations of the Tide
author: Michael Swanwick
name: Em
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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]]> The Moon and the Sun 263023 432 Vonda N. McIntyre 0671567659 Em 0 to-read 3.63 1997 The Moon and the Sun
author: Vonda N. McIntyre
name: Em
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> The Healer's War 491093
Lt. Kitty McCulley, a young and inexperienced nurse tossed into a stressful and chaotic situation, is having a difficult time reconciling her duty to help and heal with the indifference and overt racism of some of her colleagues and with the horrendously damaged soldiers and Vietnamese civilians whom she encounters during her service at the China Beach medical facilities.

She is unexpectedly helped by the mysterious and inexplicable properties of an amulet, given to her by one of her patients, an elderly, dying Vietnamese holy man, which allows her to see other people's "auras" and to understand more about them as a result. This eventually leads to a strange, almost surrealistic journey through the jungle, accompanied by a one-legged boy and a battle-seasoned but crazed soldier and, by the end of the journey, McCulley has found herself and a way to live and survive through the madness and destruction.]]> 312 Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 0553282522 Em 0 to-read 3.65 1988 The Healer's War
author: Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
name: Em
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Moving Mars (Queen of Angels, #3)]]> 340816
Moving Mars is a story of human courage and love set within the greater saga of a planetary liberation movement. Mars is a colonial world, governed by corporate interests on Earth. The citizens of Mars are hardworking, but held back by their lack of access to the best education, and the desire of the Earthly powers to keep the best new inventions for themselves. The young Martians -- the second and third generations born on Mars -- have little loyalty to Earth, and a strong belief that their planet can be independent. The revolution begins slowly, but will grow in power over decades of political struggle until it becomes irresistible.
Told through the eyes of an extraordinary character, Casseia Majumdar, a daughter of one of Mars' oldest, most conservative Binding Multiples, Moving Mars is Greg Bear's brilliant conception of the human colonization of the red planet, with lovingly painted details and a grand historical sweep, embellishing an audacious scientific speculation.
]]> 448 Greg Bear 0765318237 Em 0 to-read 3.84 1993 Moving Mars (Queen of Angels, #3)
author: Greg Bear
name: Em
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4)]]> 61915 Leo Graf adopted a thousand quaddies---now all he had to do was teach them to be free.

Falling Free takes place approximately 200 yearsĚýbeforeĚýthe events inĚýCordelia's HonorĚýand does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series.

]]> 288 Lois McMaster Bujold 1886778531 Em 0 to-read 3.84 1988 Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga, #4)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: Em
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1988
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2)]]> 234501 Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War—a New York Times bestseller—together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind?

The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history. Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret—the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.]]> 458 David Brin 055327418X Em 0 to-read 4.05 1983 Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, #2)
author: David Brin
name: Em
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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]]> No Enemy But Time 637400
In early Pleistocene Africa, living among the prehuman species Homo habilis, experiencing the same hardships and the same intense pleasures, Joshua finds, for the first time in his troubled life, not only contentment but real love � a love that transcends almost everything.

Intelligent, thoughtful and deeply moving, No Enemy But Time brilliantly evokes the remote past and, at the same time, presents a powerful and convincing portrayal of a relationship surmounting even the most daunting barriers. It is a challenging and highly original novel exploring the nature and origins of humankind.]]> 397 Michael Bishop 057507096X Em 0 to-read 3.53 1982 No Enemy But Time
author: Michael Bishop
name: Em
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)]]> 7967
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.

Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.]]> 382 Orson Scott Card 0812550757 Em 0 to-read 4.10 1986 Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Em
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun, #2)]]> 463376 303 Gene Wolfe 0671416162 Em 0 to-read 4.02 1981 The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun, #2)
author: Gene Wolfe
name: Em
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1981
rating: 0
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]]> Man Plus (Man Plus #1) 367215 215 Frederik Pohl 1857989465 Em 0 to-read 3.76 1976 Man Plus (Man Plus #1)
author: Frederik Pohl
name: Em
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1976
rating: 0
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]]> The Fountains of Paradise 149049 332 Arthur C. Clarke 0446677949 Em 0 to-read 3.96 1979 The Fountains of Paradise
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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]]> The Gods Themselves 41821
Only a few know the terrifying truth--an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun.ĚýĚýThey know the truth--but who will listen?ĚýĚýThey have foreseen the cost of abundant energy--but who will believe?ĚýĚýThese few beings, human and alien, hold the key to the Earth's survival.]]> 288 Isaac Asimov 1857989341 Em 0 to-read 4.10 1972 The Gods Themselves
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Em
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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]]> Gateway (Heechee Saga, #1) 218427
When prospector Robinette Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Rob Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he has become... in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!]]> 278 Frederik Pohl 0345475836 Em 0 to-read 4.07 1977 Gateway (Heechee Saga, #1)
author: Frederik Pohl
name: Em
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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]]> Timescape 778990 Tides of LightĚýoffers his Nebula Award-winning SF classic—a combination of hard science, bold speculation, and human drama. In the year 1998, a group of scientists works desperately to communicate with the scientists of 1962, warning of an ecological disaster that will destroy the oceans in the future—if it is not averted in the past.]]> 499 Gregory Benford 0553297090 Em 0 to-read 3.74 1980 Timescape
author: Gregory Benford
name: Em
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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]]> Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) 61179 288 Larry Niven 0575077026 Em 0 to-read 3.96 1970 Ringworld (Ringworld, #1)
author: Larry Niven
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1970
rating: 0
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]]> A Time of Changes 1706646 205 Robert Silverberg 0586039953 Em 0 to-read 3.70 1971 A Time of Changes
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Em
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Tom Brown's Schooldays (Tom Brown, #1)]]> 1147633 466 Thomas Hughes 0192835351 Em 0 to-read 3.40 1857 Tom Brown's Schooldays (Tom Brown, #1)
author: Thomas Hughes
name: Em
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1857
rating: 0
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]]> Rite of Passage 229021 260 Alexei Panshin 0978907825 Em 0 to-read 3.84 1968 Rite of Passage
author: Alexei Panshin
name: Em
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour]]> 288448
Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness.]]> 424 Kate Fox 0340752122 Em 0 to-read 3.91 2004 Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
author: Kate Fox
name: Em
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The New Book of Middle Eastern Food]]> 394182 Book of Middle Eastern Food, Claudia Roden re-creates a classic. The book was originally published here in 1972 and was hailed by James Beard as "a landmark in the field of cookery"; this new version represents the accumulation of the author's thirty years of further extensive travel throughout the ever-changing landscape of the Middle East, gathering recipes and stories.

Now Ms. Roden gives us more than 800 recipes, including the aromatic variations that accent a dish and define the country of origin: fried garlic and cumin and coriander from Egypt, cinnamon and allspice from Turkey, sumac and tamarind from Syria and Lebanon, pomegranate syrup from Iran, preserved lemon and harissa from North Africa. She has worked out simpler approaches to traditional dishes, using healthier ingredients and time-saving methods without ever sacrificing any of the extraordinary flavor, freshness, and texture that distinguish the cooking of this part of the world.

Throughout these pages she draws on all four of the region's major cooking styles:
ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý-ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýThe refined haute cuisine of Iran, based on rice exquisitely prepared and embellished with a range of meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts
ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý-ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýArab cooking from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan--at its finest today, and a good source for vegetable and bulgur wheat dishes
ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý-ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýThe legendary Turkish cuisine, with its kebabs, wheat and rice dishes, yogurt salads, savory pies, and syrupy pastries
ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚý-ĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýĚýNorth African cooking, particularly the splendid fare of Morocco, with its heady mix of hot and sweet, orchestrated to perfection in its couscous dishes and tagines

From the tantalizing mezze--those succulent bites of filled fillo crescents and cigars, chopped salads, and stuffed morsels, as well as tahina, chickpeas, and eggplant in their many guises--to the skewered meats and savory stews and hearty grain and vegetable dishes, here is a rich array of the cooking that Americans embrace today. No longer considered exotic--all the essential ingredients are now available in supermarkets, and the more rare can be obtained through mail order sources (readily available on the Internet)--the foods of the Middle East are a boon to the home cook looking for healthy, inexpensive, flavorful, and wonderfully satisfying dishes, both for everyday eating and for special occasions.]]> 513 Claudia Roden 0375405062 Em 0 to-read 4.13 1968 The New Book of Middle Eastern Food
author: Claudia Roden
name: Em
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1968
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)]]> 46756 Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.]]> 389 Margaret Atwood Em 0 to-read 4.01 2003 Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Em
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Scheisshaus Luck: Surviving the Unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora]]> 3930572 Librarian's note: There is an Advance Reader Copy for this edition of this book here.

In 1943, eighteen year old Pierre Berg picked the wrong time to visit a friend's house--at the same time as the Gestapo. He was thrown into the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. But through a mixture of savvy and chance, he managed to survive...and ultimately got out alive. "As far as I'm concerned," says Berg, "it was all shithouse luck, which is to say--inelegantly--that I kept landing on the right side of the randomness of life."

Such begins the first memoir of a French gentile Holocaust survivor published in the U.S. Originally penned shortly after the war when memories were still fresh, "Scheisshaus Luck" recounts Berg's constant struggle in the camps, escaping death countless times while enduring inhumane conditions, exhaustive labor, and near starvation. The book takes readers through Berg's time in Auschwitz, his hair's breadth avoidance of Allied bombing raids, his harrowing "death march" out of Auschwitz to Dora, a slave labor camp (only to be placed in another forced labor camp manufacturing the Nazis' V1 & V2 rockets), and his eventual daring escape in the middle of a pitched battle between Nazi and Red Army forces.

Utterly frank and tinged with irony, irreverence, and gallows humor, " Scheisshaus Luck" ranks in importance among the work of fellow survivors Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi. As we quickly approach the day when there will be no living eyewitnesses to the Nazi's "Final Solution," Berg's memoir stands as a searing reminder of how the Holocaust affected us all.]]> 304 Pierre Berg 0814412998 Em 0 to-read 4.10 2008 Scheisshaus Luck: Surviving the Unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora
author: Pierre Berg
name: Em
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time]]> 7933560 Ěý
The world needed a hero, but how would an editor with no off-switch answer the call? For Jeff Deck, the writing was literally on the wall: “NO TRESSPASSING.â€� In that moment, his greater purpose became clear.Ěý Dark hordes of typos had descended upon civilizationâ€� and only he could wield the marker to defeat them.
Ěý
Recruiting his friend Benjamin and other valiant companions, he created the Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL). Armed with markers, chalk, and correction fluid, they circumnavigated America, righting the glaring errors displayed in grocery stores, museums, malls, restaurants, mini-golf courses, beaches, and even a national park. Jeff and Benjamin championed the cause of clear communication, blogging about their adventures transforming horor into horror, ľ±łŮ’s into its, and coconunut into coconut.
Ěý
But at the Grand Canyon, they took one correction too far: fixing the bad grammar in a fake Native American watchtower.Ěý The government charged them with defacing federal propertyĚý and summoned them to court—with a typo-ridden complaint that claimed that they had violated “criminal statues.â€� Now the press turned these paragons of punctuation into “grammar vigilantes,â€� airing errors about their errant errand..
Ěý
The radiant dream of TEAL would not fade, though.Ěý ĚýBeneath all those misspelled words and mislaid apostrophes, Jeff and Benjamin unearthed deeper dilemmas about education, race, history, and how we communicate. Ultimately their typo-hunting journey tells a larger story not just of proper punctuation but of the power of language and literacy—and the importance of always taking a second look.]]> 269 Jeff Deck 0307591077 Em 0 to-read 3.18 2010 The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time
author: Jeff Deck
name: Em
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> Cairo: The City Victorious 108815
With intimate knowlege, humor, and affection, Rodenbeck takes us on an insider's tour of the magnificent city: its backstreets and bazaars, its belly-dance theaters and hashish dens, its crowded slums and fashionable salons, its incomparably rich past and its challenging future. Cairo: The City Victorious is a unique blend of travel and history, an epic, resonant work that brings one of the world's great metropolises to life in all its dusty, chaotic beauty.]]> 320 Max Rodenbeck 0679767274 Em 0 to-read 4.08 1998 Cairo: The City Victorious
author: Max Rodenbeck
name: Em
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> Paula 24790 432 Isabel Allende 849759388X Em 0 to-read 4.21 1994 Paula
author: Isabel Allende
name: Em
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death]]> 193755 Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed, a victim of "locked-in syndrome." Where once he had been renowned for his gregariousness and wit, Bauby now found himself imprisoned in an inert body, able to communicate only by blinking his left eye. The miracle is that in doing so he was able to compose this stunningly eloquent memoir, which was published two days before Bauby's death in 1996 and went on to become a number-one bestseller across Europe.

The second miracle is that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is less a record of affliction than it is a celebration of the liberating power of consciousness. In a voice that is by turns wistful and mischievous, angry and sardonic, Bauby tells us what it is like to spend a day with his children; to imagine lying in bed beside his lover; to conjure up the flavor of delectable meals even as he is fed by tube. Most of all, this triumphant book allows us to follow the flight of an indomitable spirit and to share its exultation at its own survival.]]> 132 Jean-Dominique Bauby 0375701214 Em 0 to-read 4.00 1997 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
author: Jean-Dominique Bauby
name: Em
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
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]]> Church Booty 2343898 140 Carol Manley 1604890096 Em 0 to-read 4.50 2008 Church Booty
author: Carol Manley
name: Em
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> Cairo Modern 6878694
Cairo of the 1930s is a place of vast social and economic inequities. It is also a time of change, when the universities have just opened to women and heady new philosophies imported from Europe are stirring up debates among the young. Mahgub is a fiercely proud student who is determined to keep both his poverty and his lack of principles secret from his idealistic friends. When he finds that there are no jobs for those without connections, out of desperation he agrees to participate in an elaborate deception. But what begins as a mere strategy for survival soon becomes much more for both Mahgub and his partner in crime, an equally desperate young woman named Ihsan. As they make their way through Cairo's lavish high society their precarious charade begins to unravel and the terrible price of Mahgub's Faustian bargain becomes clear.
Ěý
Translated by William M. Hutchins]]> 243 Naguib Mahfouz 0307473538 Em 0 to-read 3.70 1945 Cairo Modern
author: Naguib Mahfouz
name: Em
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1945
rating: 0
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]]> Dune 53732 Librarian's note: There are Alternate Cover Editions for this edition of this book here, here, here and here.

Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family--and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what it undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.]]> 535 Frank Herbert Em 0 to-read 4.28 1965 Dune
author: Frank Herbert
name: Em
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1965
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society]]> 7827586 512 Bill Bryson 0061999768 Em 0 to-read 3.46 2010 Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society
author: Bill Bryson
name: Em
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet]]> 7141642
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken. The consequences will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings. As one cynical colleague asks, “Who ain’t a gambler in the glorious Orient, with his very life?�

A magnificent mix of luminous writing, prodigious research, and heedless imagination, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is the most impressive achievement of its eminent author.]]> 479 David Mitchell 1400065453 Em 0 to-read 4.01 2010 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
author: David Mitchell
name: Em
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> Room 7937843
Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience—and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough ... not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.]]> 321 Emma Donoghue Em 0 to-read 4.04 2010 Room
author: Emma Donoghue
name: Em
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)]]> 402045 884 Marion Zimmer Bradley 0345350499 Em 0 to-read 4.12 1982 The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)
author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
name: Em
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction]]> 838575 511 Brian W. Aldiss 0575039434 Em 0 to-read 4.06 1986 Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction
author: Brian W. Aldiss
name: Em
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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]]> A House for Mr Biswas 5849 623 V.S. Naipaul 0330487191 Em 0 to-read 3.82 1961 A House for Mr Biswas
author: V.S. Naipaul
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence]]> 6544536 368 Susan Schneider 1405149078 Em 0 to-read 3.80 2009 Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence
author: Susan Schneider
name: Em
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1)]]> 7736182 JASON HAS A PROBLEM. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and his best friend is a guy named Leo. They’re all students at the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids," as Leo puts it. What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Jason doesn't know anything—except that everything seems very wrong.

PIPER HAS A SECRET. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out, whether she wants to or not.

LEO HAS A WAY WITH TOOLS. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

Join new and old friends from Camp Half-Blood in this thrilling first book in The Heroes of Olympus series. Best-selling author Rick Riordan has pumped up the action, humor, suspense, and mystery in an epic adventure that will leave readers panting for the next installment.]]> 576 Rick Riordan 142311339X Em 0 to-read 4.28 2010 The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Em
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (The Doomsday Books, #1)]]> 61215948
The Marsh is another world, a strange, empty place notorious for its ruthless gangs of smugglers. And one of them is dangerously familiar...

Joss Doomsday has run the Doomsday smuggling clan since he was a boy. When the new baronet—his old lover—agrees to testify against Joss's sister, Joss acts fast to stop him. Their reunion is anything but happy, yet after the dust settles, neither can stay away. Soon, all Joss and Gareth want is the chance to be together. But the bleak, bare Marsh holds deadly secrets. And when Gareth finds himself threatened from every side, the gentleman and the smuggler must trust one another not just with their hearts, but with their lives.]]> 353 K.J. Charles Em 0 to-read 4.28 2023 The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (The Doomsday Books, #1)
author: K.J. Charles
name: Em
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
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]]> <![CDATA[The Silmarillion [Illustrated Edition]: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien Illustrated Editions)]]> 61472820 For the first time ever, a very special edition of the forerunner to The Lord of the Rings, illustrated throughout in color by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and with the complete text printed in two colors

The Silmarilli were three perfect jewels, fashioned by F�anor, most gifted of the Elves, and within them was imprisoned the last Light of the Two Trees of Valinor. But the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, stole the jewels and set them within his iron crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.

The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of F�anor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all the heroism, against the great Enemy. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.

The book also includes several shorter works: the ´ˇľ±˛ÔłÜ±ôľ±˛Ô»ĺ˛ą±ôďż�, a myth of the Creation, and the Valaquenta, in which the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The ´ˇ°ě˛ą±ô±ô˛ą˛úďż˝tłó recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Nďż˝menor at the end of the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien could not publish The Silmarillion in his lifetime, as it grew with him, so he would leave it to his son, Christopher Tolkien, to edit the work from many manuscripts and bring his father's great vision to publishable form, so completing the literary achievement of a lifetime. This special edition presents anew this seminal first step towards mapping out the posthumous publishing of Middle-earth, and the beginning of an illustrious forty years and more than twenty books celebrating his father's legacy.

This definitive new edition includes, by way of an introduction, a letter written by Tolkien in 1951 which provides a brilliant exposition of the earlier Ages, and for the first time in its history is presented with J.R.R. Tolkien's own paintings and drawings, which reveal the breathtaking grandeur and beauty of his vision of the First Age of Middle-earth.]]> 591 J.R.R. Tolkien 0063280787 Em 0 to-read 4.54 1977 The Silmarillion [Illustrated Edition]: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien Illustrated Editions)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Em
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1977
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]]> <![CDATA[A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2)]]> 40864030
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

They're going to need to ask it a lot.]]> 152 Becky Chambers Em 0 to-read 4.40 2022 A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Em
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X Em 0 to-read 4.04 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: Em
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
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]]> Bluebird 59595446
Three factions vie for control of the galaxy. Rig, a gunslinging, thieving, rebel with a cause, doesn’t give a damn about them and she hasn’t looked back since abandoning her faction three years ago.

That is, until her former faction sends her a message: return what she stole from them, or they’ll kill her twin sister.

Rig embarks on a journey across the galaxy to save her sister � but for once she’s not alone. She has help from her network of resistance contacts, her taser-wielding librarian girlfriend, and a mysterious bounty hunter.

If Rig fails and her former faction finds what she stole from them, trillions of lives will be lost--including her sister's. But if she succeeds, she might just pull the whole damn faction system down around their ears. Either way, she’s going to do it with panache and pizzazz.]]> 464 Ciel Pierlot 0857669672 Em 0 to-read 4.04 2022 Bluebird
author: Ciel Pierlot
name: Em
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities (Fandom & Culture)]]> 46212059
Contributors: Evangeline Aguas, Christoffer Bagger, Bridget Blodgett, Cassie Brummitt, Leyre Carcas, Jessica Carniel, Jennifer Duggan, Monique Franklin, Divya Garg, Danielle S. Girard, Mary Ingram-Waters, Hannah McCann, Michael McDermott, E. J. Nielsen, Emma Nordin, Holly Eva Katherine Randell-Moon, Emily E. Roach, Anastasia Salter, Elisabeth Schneider, Kieran Sellars, Isabela Silva, Guillaume Sirois, Clare Southerton]]> 296 Joseph Brennan 160938671X Em 0 to-read 3.94 2019 Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities (Fandom & Culture)
author: Joseph Brennan
name: Em
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II]]> 8215631 Coming Out Under Fire, Allan Berube examines in depth and detail these social and political confrontation--not as a story of how the military victimized homosexuals, but as a story of how a dynamic power relationship developed between gay citizens and their government, transforming them both. Drawing on GIs' wartime letters, extensive interviews with gay veterans, and declassified military documents, Berube thoughtfully constructs a startling history of the two wars gay military men and women fough--one for America and another as homosexuals within the military.

Berube's book, the inspiration for the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary film of the same name, has become a classic since it was published in 1990, just three years prior to the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which has continued to serve as an uneasy compromise between gays and the military. With a new foreword by historians John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, this book remains a valuable contribution to the history of World War II, as well as to the ongoing debate regarding the role of gays in the U.S. military.]]> 416 Allan Bérubé 080787177X Em 0 to-read 4.42 1990 Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II
author: Allan Bérubé
name: Em
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)]]> 50523477 Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess's traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters � but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.]]> 533 Tasha Suri 0356515648 Em 0 to-read 4.12 2021 The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)
author: Tasha Suri
name: Em
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[Something That May Shock and Discredit You]]> 38592954 From the writer of Slate’s “Dear Prudence� column comes a witty and clever collection of essays and cultural observations spanning pop culture�from the endearingly popular to the staggeringly obscure.

Sometimes you just have to yell. New York Times bestselling author of Texts from Jane Eyre Daniel M. Lavery publishing as Daniel Mallory Ortberg has mastered the art of “poetic yelling,� a genre surely familiar to fans of his cult-favorite website The Toast.

In this irreverent essay collection, Ortberg expands on this concept with in-depth and hilarious studies of all things pop culture, from the high to low brow. From a thoughtful analysis on the beauty of William Shatner to a sinister reimagining of HGTV’s House Hunters, Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a laugh-out-loud funny and whip-smart collection for those who don’t take anything—including themselves—much too seriously.]]> 256 Daniel Mallory Ortberg 1982105216 Em 0 to-read 3.85 2020 Something That May Shock and Discredit You
author: Daniel Mallory Ortberg
name: Em
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)]]> 57680116 Exit Strategy.]]> 19 Martha Wells Em 0 to-read 4.24 2020 Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)
author: Martha Wells
name: Em
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants]]> 34272887 Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.

Read by the author.]]> 17 Robin Wall Kimmerer Em 0 to-read 4.44 2013 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Em
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Path of Daggers (The Wheel of Time, #8)]]> 8260833
The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne's rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan.

In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before. But signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.

In Ghealdan, Perrin faces the intrigues of Whitecloaks, Seanchan invaders, the scattered Shaido Aiel, and the Prophet himself. Perrin's beloved wife, Faile, may pay with her life, and Perrin himself may have to destroy his soul to save her.

Meanwhile the rebel Aes Sedai under their young Amyrlin, Egwene al'Vere, face an army that intends to keep them away from the White Tower. But Egwene is determined to unseat the usurper Elaida and reunite the Aes Sedai. She does not yet understand the price that others--and she herself--will pay.]]> 669 Robert Jordan Em 0 to-read 4.16 1998 The Path of Daggers (The Wheel of Time, #8)
author: Robert Jordan
name: Em
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> Under the Udala Trees 26337867
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child, and the star-crossed pair fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls.

When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.

As Edwidge Danticat has made personal the legacy of Haiti s political coming-of-age, Okparanta s "Under the Udala Trees "uses one woman s lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice. But this story offers a glimmer of hope a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love."]]> Chinelo Okparanta Em 0 to-read 3.89 2015 Under the Udala Trees
author: Chinelo Okparanta
name: Em
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon]]> 551793 Houston, Houston, Do You Read? and The Women Men Don't See. For nearly ten years he wrote and carried on intimate correspondences with other writers�Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, and Ursula K. Le Guin, though none of them knew his true identity. Then the cover was blown on his alter ego: "he" was actually a sixty-one-year-old woman named Alice Bradley Sheldon. A feminist, she took a male name as a joke—and found the voice to write her stories.

Based on extensive research, exclusive interviews, and full access to Alice Sheldon's papers, Julie Phillips has penned a biography of a profoundly original writer and a woman far ahead of her time.]]> 545 Julie Phillips 0312426941 Em 0 to-read 4.35 2006 James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
author: Julie Phillips
name: Em
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson]]> 3361966 432 Brenda Wineapple 1400044014 Em 0 to-read 3.99 2008 White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson
author: Brenda Wineapple
name: Em
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> Blood Over Bright Haven 208455470 The first woman ever admitted to a prestigious order of mages unravels a secret conspiracy that could change the practice of magic forever, in this standalone dark fantasy from the author of The Sword of Kaigen.

For twenty years, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry.

When Sciona finally passes the qualifying exam and becomes a highmage, she finds her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues are determined to make her feel unwelcome—and, instead of a qualified lab assistant, they give her a janitor.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was not always a janitor. Ten years ago, he was a nomadic hunter who lost his family on their perilous journey from the wild plains to the city. But now he sees the opportunity to understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the privileged in power.

At first, mage and outsider have a fractious relationship. But working together, they uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first.]]> 422 M.L. Wang 059387336X Em 0 to-read 4.41 2023 Blood Over Bright Haven
author: M.L. Wang
name: Em
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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]]> Azumanga Daioh: The Omnibus 7103884 With its strong cast of characters and punchy dialogue, Azumanga Daioh has become one of the most widely-recognized books in the market, not to mention the first four-panel comic from Japan to gain wide popularity in the U.S.]]> 688 Kiyohiko Azuma 0316077380 Em 0 to-read 4.43 2007 Azumanga Daioh: The Omnibus
author: Kiyohiko Azuma
name: Em
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation]]> 1056805 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was rediscovered only two hundred years ago and published for the first time in 1839. One of the earliest great stories of English literature after Beowulf, the poem narrates the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager.

The virtuous Gawain accepts and decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide Gawain dutifully sets forth. His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dreamlike castle, a dire challenge answered - and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.

Following in the tradition of Ted Hughes, Marie Boroff, and J. R. R. Tolkien, Simon Armitage, one of England's leading poets, has produced an inventive translation of this Arthurian epic that resounds with both clarity and verve. As England's Sunday Telegraph wrote, "Armitage's animated translation is to be welcomed for helping to liberate Gawain from academia, as Seamus Heaney did in 1999 for Beowulf." His work, presented here with facing original text and a note on the text by Harvard scholar James Simpson, is meticulously responsible to the sophistication of the original - but responds equally to its own powerfully persuasive ambition to be read as a totally new poem. It is as if two poets, six hundred years apart, set out on a journey through the same mesmerizing landscapes - acoustic, physical, and metaphorical -in the course of which the Gawain poet has finally found his true and long-awaited translator.]]> 198 Simon Armitage 0393060489 Em 0 to-read 3.98 1375 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation
author: Simon Armitage
name: Em
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1375
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> When You Reach Me 8466181 199 Rebecca Stead 0375850864 Em 0 to-read 4.19 2009 When You Reach Me
author: Rebecca Stead
name: Em
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)]]> 12089922 8 hrs 1 min

HARRY DRESDEN � WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.]]> 9 Jim Butcher Em 3 3.78 2000 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)
author: Jim Butcher
name: Em
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2020/04/28
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #1)]]> 10862575
This new edition of Sailor Moon will feature:

- An entirely new, incredibly accurate translation!
- Japanese-style, right-to-left reading!
- New cover art never before seen in the U.S.!
- The original Japanese character names!
- Detailed translation notes!

This version of Sailor Moon will be completely true to original. Join us as Sailor Moon returns to the U.S. for the first time in years!]]> 240 Naoko Takeuchi 1935429744 Em 5 4.29 2003 Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #1)
author: Naoko Takeuchi
name: Em
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2012/08/01
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Em 0 to-read 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Em
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 52739975
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 11 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593213874 Em 5 3.49 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Em
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/02
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 12 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #12)]]> 16071860 277 Naoko Takeuchi 1612620086 Em 0 to-read 4.49 2004 Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 12 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #12)
author: Naoko Takeuchi
name: Em
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 11 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #11)]]> 16071859
This new edition of Sailor Moon features:
-An entirely new, incredibly accurate translation!
-Japanese-style, right-to-left reading!
-New cover art never before seen in the U.S.!
-The original Japanese character names!
-Detailed translation notes!]]> 238 Naoko Takeuchi 1612620078 Em 0 to-read 4.34 2004 Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 11 (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Renewal Edition, #11)
author: Naoko Takeuchi
name: Em
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Island Keeper 1752413


Her destination is a deserted island her father owns in Canada. She is determined to stay and survive, through her supplies are scanty and she knows nothing about living out of doors.



As the summer months pass, Cleo does fend for herself, and finally she feels ready to face her family on the mainland. But by a cruel twist of fate her canoe is destroyed, and instead she must prove herself again and face the brutal Canadian winter.]]> 176 Harry Mazer 044094774X Em 0 to-read 4.13 1981 The Island Keeper
author: Harry Mazer
name: Em
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Northline 19436148 Fleeing Las Vegas and her abusive boyfriend, Allison Johnson moves to Reno, intent on making a new life for herself. Haunted by the mistakes of her past, and lacking any self-belief, her only comfort seems to come from the imaginary conversations she has with Paul Newman, and the characters he played. But as life crawls on and she finds work, small acts of kindness start to reveal themselves to her, and slowly the chance of a new life begins to emerge. Full of memorable characters and imbued with a beautiful sense of yearning, Northline is an extraordinary portrait of contemporary America from a writer and musician whose work has been lauded as "mournful, understated, and proudly steeped in menthol smoke and bourbon" (New York Times Book Review).

]]> 212 Willy Vlautin 0062127292 Em 5 4.02 2008 Northline
author: Willy Vlautin
name: Em
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/27
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Highlander In Her Bed (Highlander #1)]]> 8483490 352 Allie Mackay 1101099445 Em 2 3.82 2006 Highlander In Her Bed (Highlander #1)
author: Allie Mackay
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2010/01/01
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:
I believe this falls in the "so bad, it's good" category.
]]> <![CDATA[On Teaching and Writing Fiction]]> 19350450 146 Wallace Stegner 1440621276 Em 2 4.23 2002 On Teaching and Writing Fiction
author: Wallace Stegner
name: Em
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2010/01/01
date added: 2024/09/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[206 Bones (Temperance Brennan, #12)]]> 7027885
There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. When Tempe finds herself regaining consciousness in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space—bound, hands to feet—Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy—and the case. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third. Seamlessly weaving between Tempe’s present-tense terror as she’s held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs reveals the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab. The chemistry between Tempe and Ryan intensifies as this complex, riveting tale unfolds, proving once again, that Reichs is the dominant talent in forensic mystery writing.]]> 384 Kathy Reichs 141652567X Em 0 to-read 3.81 2009 206 Bones (Temperance Brennan, #12)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: Em
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)]]> 754713 242 Arthur Conan Doyle 0755334434 Em 0 4.26 1917 His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes, #8)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Em
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1917
rating: 0
read at: 2021/03/09
date added: 2024/08/07
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #4)]]> 778789 He is the Napoleon of Crime...He is the organiser of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city'.

A man like Sherlock Holmes has many enemies. Violent murderers, deviant villains, ghosts of old loves, blackmailers and poisonous scribes, to to name but a few. But none are so deadly, so powerful, as Professor Moriarty. Moriarty - the only man who can compete with Holmes' genius. The only man who can, perhaps, ultimately defeat the great detective ...]]> 320 Arthur Conan Doyle 0755334396 Em 0 4.14 1893 The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #4)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Em
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1893
rating: 0
read at: 2021/03/01
date added: 2024/07/14
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Uncanny Case of Gilles/Jeannette]]> 168434521
“Cleverly pushes the Jekyll and Hyde premise toward an exploration of gender and desire ... like all great horror � feels particularly timely. A pointed contemporary twist on a classic horror setup.� - Kirkus Reviews

“An exploration of psycho-sexual duality propelled by a narrative engine that drives this expert updating of the classic Jekyll and Hyde paradigm. Ripe with intrigue and invention." � Scooter McCrae, director, Saint Frankenstein and Shatter Dead

“Cinematic and seductive. This bold novella will tear at your heart.� � Rob Schmidt, director, Fran Frankenstein and Wrong Turn]]> 79 Jill Dearman Em 1
For a novella that does address the complexity of gender and being trans, read this instead: ]]> 4.00 The Uncanny Case of Gilles/Jeannette
author: Jill Dearman
name: Em
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves:
review:
This novella begins with Ella reflecting how she misses her trans masc partner’s pre-transition body. Gilles, the Hyde character, is even more violent than Stevenson’s Hyde. Neither of these things are grappled with in any meaningful or critically conscious way by the end of the novella. I would not call this novella an exploration of “the complex issues of gender, homophobia, race,� the latter of which is barely mentioned at all.

For a novella that does address the complexity of gender and being trans, read this instead:
]]> The Jeeves Omnibus - Vol 3 18890828 The Mating Season, Ring for Jeeves and Very Good, Jeeves...]]> 578 P.G. Wodehouse Em 0 to-read 4.62 1991 The Jeeves Omnibus - Vol 3
author: P.G. Wodehouse
name: Em
average rating: 4.62
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1)]]> 54756850
Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, ľ±łŮ’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.
Ěý
When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Ěý
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to...]]> 375 Ashley Herring Blake 0593336402 Em 0 to-read 4.06 2022 Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, #1)
author: Ashley Herring Blake
name: Em
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer]]> 1188927 317 Alasdair Gray 0156000687 Em 0 to-read 4.27 1992 Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer
author: Alasdair Gray
name: Em
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Marriage Portrait 60353768 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de� Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.

Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.

Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.]]> 355 Maggie O'Farrell Em 0 to-read 3.97 2022 The Marriage Portrait
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: Em
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> When Women Were Dragons 58783802 A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are.

The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.]]> 367 Kelly Barnhill 0385548222 Em 0 to-read 3.79 2022 When Women Were Dragons
author: Kelly Barnhill
name: Em
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Passage (The Passage, #1) 6690798 THIRTY-TWO MINUTES FOR ONE WORLD TO DIE, ANOTHER TO BE BORN.

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he's done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. Wolgast is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors, but for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—toward the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterly prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.]]> 784 Justin Cronin 0345504968 Em 0 to-read 4.04 2010 The Passage (The Passage, #1)
author: Justin Cronin
name: Em
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Em 5 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/21
date added: 2023/07/13
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]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 30333227
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6]]> 208 Marjorie M. Liu Em 5 3.92 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Em
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)]]> 58724626
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.]]> 165 T. Kingfisher 1250830753 Em 0 to-read 3.86 2022 What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Em
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix (Remixed Classics)]]> 56978097 In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. This thrilling female-led Robin Hood remix reframes the legend’s tales of the Third Crusade from a Muslim perspective, rewriting its origin’s male and overwhelmingly white Euro-centric narrative.

Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.

But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.

On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers—including a kind-hearted Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma's childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie—as well as a healthy bit of mischief—in each other's company.

But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.

Praise for Travelers Along the Way:

"Travelers Along the Way is the Robin Hood retelling I did not know I wanted. Deeply researched and masterfully written, here is a story that’s not only thrilling, but also delightfully clever!" —Tanaz Bhathena, author of A Girl Like That and Hunted by the Sky

"If you love heists, found family, and stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, then put Aminah Mae Safi's heartfelt and humorous take on Robin Hood at the very top of your TBR." —Jodi Meadows, New York Times bestselling co-author of My Lady Jane]]> 352 Aminah Mae Safi 1250771277 Em 0 to-read 3.88 2022 Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix (Remixed Classics)
author: Aminah Mae Safi
name: Em
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> Most Ardently 111673641 A trans boy searches for a future―and a romance―in which he can live and love openly as himself in this heartrending young-adult reimagining of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, part of the Remixed Classics series.

London, 1812 . Oliver Bennet feels trapped—not just by the endless corsets, petticoats, and skirts he's forced to wear on a daily basis, but also by society's expectations. The world, and the vast majority of his family and friends, think Oliver is a girl named Elizabeth. He is therefore expected to mingle at balls wearing a pretty dress, entertain suitors regardless of his interest in them, and ultimately become someone's wife.

But Oliver can't bear the thought of such a fate. He finds solace in the few times he can sneak out of his family's home and explore the city rightfully dressed as a young gentleman. It's during one such excursion when Oliver becomes acquainted with Darcy, a sulky young man who had been rude to "Elizabeth" at a recent social function. But in the comfort of being out of the public eye, Oliver comes to find that Darcy is actually a sweet, intelligent boy with a warm heart, not to mention attractive.

As Oliver spends more time as his true self, often with Darcy, part of him dares to hope that his dream of love and life as a man can be possible. But suitors are growing bolder―and even threatening―and his mother is growing more desperate to see him settled into an engagement. Oliver will have to choose: settle for safety, security, and a life of pretending to be something he's not, or risk it all for a slim chance at freedom, love, and a life that can be truly his own.]]> 304 Gabe Cole Novoa 1250869803 Em 0 to-read 3.96 2024 Most Ardently
author: Gabe Cole Novoa
name: Em
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 168646 Ěý
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time
Ěý
Slaughterhouse-Five , an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.� George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.�

More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 215 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0440180295 Em 3 4.08 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Em
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2012/08/29
date added: 2023/06/04
shelves:
review:

]]> And This is How to Stay Alive 59207703 & This is How to Stay Alive by Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Nyokabi's world unravels after her brother Baraka's death by suicide. When an eccentric auntie gives Nyokabi a potion that sends her back in time to when Baraka was still alive, it becomes her only goal to keep him that way. Nyokabi learns that storytellers may be the carriers of time, but defying the past comes with its own repercussions.

Praise:

A beautiful and rending look at family, loss, and grief, all while sharply dissecting time travel tropes and delivering a powerful message about memory, storytelling, and responsibility. It's a story that hurts in the best of ways, confronting death and healing without losing its sense of humor or its impulse for rebellion.
--Charles Payseur, author of The Burning Day and Other Stories

& This is How to Stay Alive is a powerful manual for recovering from grief, exploring intergenerational trauma, and traveling through time. Kagunda's prose is intense and relatable; you'll feel like you're jumping through time with these characters. The perfect read for anyone and everyone.
--Eboni Dunbar, author of Stone and Steel

Highly inventive and brilliantly crafted. Kagunda pushes the envelope in this exceptional novella, playing with time and form as she explores grief and the drama of the human condition.
--Tendai Huchu, author of The Hairdresser of Harare

Rich with the beauty and harshness of life.
--Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Friday Black]]> 102 Shingai Njeri Kagunda 1952086337 Em 0 to-read 4.07 2021 And This is How to Stay Alive
author: Shingai Njeri Kagunda
name: Em
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[There Will Be War (There Will Be War, #1)]]> 1911349 Book 352 Jerry Pournelle 0523485557 Em 0 to-read 3.81 1983 There Will Be War (There Will Be War, #1)
author: Jerry Pournelle
name: Em
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle]]> 40033006
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit.

We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer.

Understood? Then let's begin . . .

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .

The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.]]> 482 Stuart Turton Em 0 to-read 3.78 2018 The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
author: Stuart Turton
name: Em
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Even Though I Knew the End 59807975
An exiled auspex who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can't resist―the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves.

To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago's most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.]]> 136 C.L. Polk 1250849454 Em 0 3.80 2022 Even Though I Knew the End
author: C.L. Polk
name: Em
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/15
date added: 2023/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism]]> 55338982
What makes “cults� so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.� But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,� revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish� everywhere.]]> 309 Amanda Montell 0062993151 Em 0 3.82 2021 Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
author: Amanda Montell
name: Em
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/04/11
date added: 2023/04/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Can Vibe Me On My FemmePhone]]> 56955939 97 Kamala Puligandla Em 0 4.32 2021 You Can Vibe Me On My FemmePhone
author: Kamala Puligandla
name: Em
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/08
date added: 2023/04/14
shelves:
review:

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