Alyssa's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:51:23 -0800 60 Alyssa's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives]]> 215805855 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before distills her key insights into simple truths for living with greater satisfaction, clarity, and happiness.

The right idea, invoked at the right time, can change our lives. Drawing from her long studies of happiness, and also from the challenges she’s faced herself, writer Gretchen Rubin has discovered the “Secrets of Adulthood� that can help us manage the complexities of life. To convey her conclusions, she turned to the aphorism—the ancient literary discipline that demands that a writer convey a large truth in a few words.

Perhaps you’re paralyzed by indecision, struggling to navigate a big change, fighting a temptation, or puzzled by the behavior of someone you love; whatever you face, the right aphorism can help. From procrastination to the pursuit of happiness, Secrets of Adulthood is filled with witty and thought-provoking reflections such Ěý

“Recognize that, like sleeping with a big dog in a small bed, things that are uncomfortable can also be comforting�“Accept yourself, expect more from yourself�“Easy children raise good parents”� “What can be done at any time is often done at no time�
For anyone undergoing a major life transition, such as graduation, career switch, marriage, or moving, or for those just encountering everyday dilemmas, these disarmingly brief aphorisms will inspire you by articulating truths that you never before noticed—and instantly recognize.]]> 176 Gretchen Rubin 0593800737 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.54 Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives
author: Gretchen Rubin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.54
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Histories of Surveillance from Antiquity to the Digital Era: The Eyes and Ears of Power (Routledge Studies in Modern History)]]> 56356900
� Who are the central actors in the history of surveillance?

� What kinds of phenomena have been deemed eligible for surveillance, for example, information flows, political movements, border-crossing trade, interacting with foreign states, workplace relations, gender relations, andsexuality?]]> 212 Andreas Marklund 1000401383 Alyssa 0 to-read 0.0 Histories of Surveillance from Antiquity to the Digital Era: The Eyes and Ears of Power (Routledge Studies in Modern History)
author: Andreas Marklund
name: Alyssa
average rating: 0.0
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date added: 2024/09/14
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]]> A Wild and Heavenly Place 150246127
“A story of love, despair, jealousy, revenge, and hope…Beautiful.”—Elizabeth George, New York Times bestselling author

How far would you go? How much would you risk?

Hailey MacIntyre seems conjured from the depths of Samuel Fiddes’s loneliness. Caring for his young sister in the tenements of Glasgow, Scotland, Samuel has known only hunger, while Hailey has never known want. Yet, when Samuel saves Hailey’s brother from a runaway carriage, their connection is undeniable.

Through secret meetings and stolen moments, their improbable love grows. But then the City of Glasgow Bank fails, and Hailey’s bankrupt father impulsively moves their family across the globe to Seattle, a city rumored to have coal in its hills and easy money for anyone willing to work for it.

Samuel is haunted by Hailey’s parting Remember, Washington Territory. Armed only with his wits, he determines to follow her, leaving behind everything he has ever known in search of Hailey and the chance of a better life for his sister. But the fledgling town barely cut out of the wilderness holds its own secrets and will test them all in ways unimaginable.

Poignant and lyrical, A Wild and Heavenly Place is an ode to the Pacific Northwest, to those courageous enough to chase the American Dream, and to a love so powerful it endures beyond distance, beyond hope.]]> 416 Robin Oliveira 0593543858 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.87 2024 A Wild and Heavenly Place
author: Robin Oliveira
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/25
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]]> Bloodbath Nation 61355436 An intimate and astonishing rumination on gun violence in America from one of our greatest living writers and "genuine American original" (The Boston Globe) Paul Auster

Paul Auster was a crack marksman as a kid, and like most American boys of his generation he grew up playing with toy six-shooters and mimicking the gun-slinging cowboys in B-Westerns. But he also knows how families can be wrecked by a single act of gun violence: His grandmother shot and killed his grandfather when his father was just six years old.
Now, at this time of intense national discord, no issue divides Americans more deeply than the debate about guns. There are currently more guns than people in the United States, and every day more than one hundred Americans are killed by guns and another two hundred are wounded. These numbers are so large, so catastrophic, so disproportionate to what goes on elsewhere, that one must ask why. Why is America so different--and why are we the most violent country in the Western world?
In this short, searing book, Auster traces centuries of America's use and abuse of guns, through the colonial prehistory of the Republic, armed conflict against the native population, the forced enslavement of millions, and the mass shootings that dominate the current news cycle. He examines the embattled gun-control and anti-gun-control camps, frames gun violence as a public health issue, and investigates the details of one horrific incident- including the perpetrator's unchecked purchase of the gun he used and the suffering of a bystander-turned-hero. Filled with haunting photographs by Spencer Ostrander that document the abandoned sites of more than thirty mass shootings, Bloodbath Nation is an unflinching work about guns in America that asks: What kind of society do we want to live in?]]> 160 Paul Auster 0802160468 Alyssa 4 3.91 2023 Bloodbath Nation
author: Paul Auster
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/24
date added: 2023/04/24
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Paul Auster's writing is as ever incisive but also personable. He weaves some personal storytelling, making it clear what his background is, and I think he comes off as thoughtful and reasoned. At one point he refers to this piece as an essay - which really is what it is -- it's only about 150 pages and includes many pictures of sites where killings have occurred, so if you're looking for something deeply analytical and exhaustive, this isn't it. He raises a lot of good questions about why now, and why is it that so many predominantly young men carry out random killings. (Again and again, he also points out that about half of gun deaths are from suicide). As he says, it's these killings that frighten us the most because we just don't understand them, and because they can happen anywhere at any time. What's most useful about this essay is the historical framework he supplies, tracing the "right to bear arms" to the history of colonists. He points out that the reason the British raised taxes in the 1700s was because they were trying to keep American colonists from spreading into areas they weren't supposed to be - ie further into the West. Early police in the South were primarily formed to prevent slaves from escaping. Ironically, it was the Black Panthers who resisted gun control but it's predominantly white gun owners who have picked up this argument. Auster's points are nothing new; they speak to the urgency of our need to come together and come up with some solutions. The pictures are purposely without any traces of death. They are sterile, every day types of pictures. I'm not sure how effective they are in helping to make his argument. I think if they wanted to avoid sensationalist pictures, they could have shared pictures of people, perhaps survivors.
]]> <![CDATA[As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back]]> 123164577
Carlie steals ten thousand dollars from her parents to get as far from them as possible: Southeast Asia. There, the Lonely Planet path of hooks, heat, alcohol and drugs takes on a terrifying reality.

Landing in Tokyo in the late 1980s, teaching English and practicing tai chi, Carlie has the chance at a journey she didn’t plan for: one to find the self-respect ripped from her as a child and the healthy sexuality she desires.]]> 266 Alle C. Hall 1685131476 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.08 As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back
author: Alle C. Hall
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.08
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rating: 0
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date added: 2023/03/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Story-Driven Outreach: 2x or more your email response rates by telling clear, concise, and compelling stories. (Story-Driven Foundation Book 1)]]> 60451156
This book contains four main chapters that will help you craft your SDO.

Chapter 1, we’ll discuss story structure and how to get your story straight.Chapter 2, we dig into the anatomy of outreach with some real-world examples.Chapter 3, we’ll craft your perfect email outreach using my proven method.Chapter 4, we’ll start doing outreach to see how well you did, along with some results I have gotten on some of my outreach.If you want to 2x or more your email response rates by telling clear, concise, and compelling stories, then Story-Driven Outreach is for you.]]> 98 Jarie Bolander Alyssa 5 4.75 Story-Driven Outreach: 2x or more your email response rates by telling clear, concise, and compelling stories. (Story-Driven Foundation Book 1)
author: Jarie Bolander
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/08
date added: 2022/08/08
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Straight to the point, with lots of strategies that will help businesses and marketers improve their outreach.
]]> <![CDATA[From Me to You: The Power of Storytelling and Its Inherent Generational Wealth―An African American Story]]> 60661017 248 Deidra Moore 1645436233 Alyssa 0 to-read 5.00 From Me to You: The Power of Storytelling and Its Inherent Generational Wealth―An African American Story
author: Deidra Moore
name: Alyssa
average rating: 5.00
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rating: 0
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date added: 2022/08/08
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]]> <![CDATA[I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times]]> 59433346
"Like all skills, these techniques take practice. But anyone who sincerely wants to bridge the gaps in understanding will appreciate this book. Guzmán is emphatic about making an effort to work on difficult conversations." —Manhattan Book Review

We think we have the answers, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out to find what was blinding us and discovered the most eye-opening tool we're not using: our own built-in curiosity.

Partisanship is up, trust is down, and our social media feeds make us sure we're right and everyone else is ignorant (or worse). But avoiding one another is hurting our relationships and our society. In this timely, personal guide, Mónica, the chief storyteller for the national cross-partisan depolarization organization Braver Angels, takes you to the real front lines of a crisis that threatens to grind America to a halt—broken conversations among confounded people.

She shows you how to overcome the fear and certainty that surround us to finally do what only seems impossible: understand and even learn from people in your life whose whole worldview is different from or even opposed to yours.

In these pages, you'll learn:

* How to ask what you really want to know (even if you're afraid to)
* How to grow smarter from even the most tense interactions, online or off
* How to cross boundaries and find common ground—with anyone
Whether you're left, right, center, or not a fan of labels: If you're ready to fight back against the confusion, heartbreak, and madness of our dangerously divided times—in your own life, at least—Mónica's got the tools and fresh, surprising insights to prove that seeing where people are coming from isn't just possible. It's easier than you think.]]> 304 Monica Guzmán 1637740328 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.88 I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times
author: Monica Guzmán
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.88
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date added: 2022/03/07
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]]> Girl, Woman, Other 41081373
Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years.

Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.]]> 453 Bernardine Evaristo 0241364906 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.27 2019 Girl, Woman, Other
author: Bernardine Evaristo
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander, #9)]]> 57699848
Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same.

It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible.

Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s teakettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep.

Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the twentieth century might catch up to them. Sometimes they question whether risking the perils of the 1700s—among them disease, starvation, and an impending war—was indeed the safer choice for their family.

Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity—and thus his own—and Lord John Grey has reconciliations to make, and dangers to meet . . . on his son’s behalf, and his own.

Meanwhile, the Revolutionary War creeps ever closer to Fraser’s Ridge. And with the family finally together, Jamie and Claire have more at stake than ever before.]]> 902 Diana Gabaldon 0385685548 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.31 2021 Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (Outlander, #9)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/03
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]]> The Lines Between Us 54339830
In 1992 Missouri, in her deceased mother’s home, Rachel finds a packet of letters, and a diary written by a woman named Juliana. Rachel’s reserved mother has never mentioned these items, but Rachel recognizes the names Ana and Juliana: her mother uttered them on her deathbed. She soon becomes immersed in Juliana’s diary, which recounts the young woman’s journey to Mexico City and her life in a convent. As she learns the truth about Juliana’s tragic family history, Rachel seeks to understand her connection to the writings―hoping that in finding those answers, she will somehow heal the wounds caused by her mother’s lifelong reticence.]]> 376 Rebecca D’Harlingue 1631527436 Alyssa 4 4.06 2020 The Lines Between Us
author: Rebecca D’Harlingue
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/27
date added: 2021/12/27
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Using different narrative points of view and diary entries, D'Harlingue recreates the 17th century world of Spain, centered around the mystery of a missing girl. In the first part of the book, readers are wondering what happened to the girl; in the next part, while this is answered, we want to know what happens next. In the last part, we follow along as we find out how this all relates to a character in the present day. In the end the character's decision is a satisfying conclusion - it takes awhile for it all to be "resolved" but it works. D'Harlingue's writing is well-crafted, bringing to life the world of Sevilla and Madrid of the 1600s, a Mexican convent, and later, a Spanish professor's grappling with the past. I would definitely love toe read another book by this author!
]]> Innocent Traitor 111218
Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey–“the Nine Days� Queen”–a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.

The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn’s beheading and the demise of Jane’s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. With the premature passing of Jane’s adolescent cousin, and Henry’s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor.

Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.

Alison Weir uses her unmatched skills as a historian to enliven the many dynamic characters of this majestic drama. Along with Lady Jane Grey, Weir vividly renders her devious parents; her much-loved nanny; the benevolent Queen Katherine Parr; Jane’s ambitious cousins; the Catholic “Bloody� Mary, who will stop at nothing to seize the throne; and the protestant and future queen Elizabeth. Readers venture inside royal drawing rooms and bedchambers to witness the power-grabbing that swirls around Lady Jane Grey from the day of her birth to her unbearably poignant death. Innocent Traitor paints a complete and compelling portrait of this captivating young woman, a faithful servant of God whose short reign and brief life would make her a legend.]]> 402 Alison Weir 0345494857 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.97 2006 Innocent Traitor
author: Alison Weir
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> London 92160 1152 Edward Rutherfurd 0345455681 Alyssa 3 4.08 1997 London
author: Edward Rutherfurd
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1997
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Take Off Your Pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing]]> 25126763 This is an alternate cover edition of ASIN B00UKC0GHA

When it comes to writing books, are you a “plotter� or a “pantser?� Is one method really better than the other?

In this instructional ebook, author Libbie Hawker explains the benefits and technique of planning a story before you begin to write. She’ll show you how to develop a foolproof character arc and plot, how to pace any book for a can’t-put-down reading experience, and how to ensure that your stories are complete and satisfying without wasting time or words.

Hawker’s outlining technique works no matter what genre you write, and no matter the age of your audience. If you want to improve your writing speed, increase your backlist, and ensure a quality book before you even write the first word, this is the how-to book for you.

Take off your pants! It’s time to start outlining.]]> 108 Libbie Hawker Alyssa 0 to-read 4.23 2015 Take Off Your Pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing
author: Libbie Hawker
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Making It in Historical Fiction]]> 27406300 172 Libbie Hawker Alyssa 4 4.32 Making It in Historical Fiction
author: Libbie Hawker
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/18
date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change]]> 52053133 Marie Claire’s The 2020 Books You Should Pre-Order Now
The Washington Post’s What to Read in 2020 Based on the Books You Loved in 2019
Parade’s 25 Self-Help Books To Get Your 2020 Off On The Right Foot

�Keep Moving speaks to you like an encouraging friend reminding you that you can feel and survive deep loss, sink into life’s deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new.� —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and Untamed

For fans of Anne Lamott and Cleo Wade, a collection of quotes and essays on facing life’s challenges with creativity, courage, and resilience.

When Maggie Smith, the award-winning author of the viral poem “Good Bones,� started writing daily Twitter posts in the wake of her divorce, they unexpectedly caught fire. In this deeply moving book of quotes and essays, Maggie writes about new beginnings as opportunities for transformation. Like kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, Keep Moving celebrates the beauty and strength on the other side of loss. This is a book for anyone who has gone through a difficult time and is wondering: What comes next?]]> 214 Maggie Smith 1982132078 Alyssa 5 3.88 2020 Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change
author: Maggie Smith
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> The Jane Austen Project 31371749
London, 1815: Two travelers—Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane—arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters—a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team from the future to “go back,� their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.

Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.

But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it…however heartbreaking that may prove.

Ěý

Ěý]]> 373 Kathleen A. Flynn 0062651250 Alyssa 4 3.70 2017 The Jane Austen Project
author: Kathleen A. Flynn
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2017
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> The Handmaid's Tale 34729940 Listening Length: 12 hours and 12 minutes

"Are there any questions?" The final line in Margaret Atwood's modern classic, The Handmaid's Tale, has teased and perplexed fans since the book's original release more than 30 years ago. Now, in this Audible Original production, listeners get some of the answers they've waited so long to hear.

Featuring an all-new interview with Professor Piexoto, written by Atwood and performed by a full cast, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition is a must-listen for both fans and newcomers alike. Emmy Award winner Claire Danes (Homeland, Temple Grandin) gives a stirring performance of this classic in speculative fiction, where the message (and the warning) is now more timely than ever. In addition to rich sound design that honors the audio origins of Atwood's classic, the special edition also includes a brand-new afterword from the author and an introduction written by author Valerie Martin (Mary Reilly, Property).

After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life for mere glimpses of her former freedom, and records her story for future listeners.

Whether you're a fan of the original novel or someone who has recently discovered it, The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition will shock, impress, and satisfy all those who listen.

Listening Length: 12 hours and 12 minutes

©1985 O.W. Toad, Ltd. First American Edition 1986. Published by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.]]> 11 Margaret Atwood Alyssa 5 4.22 1985 The Handmaid's Tale
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[The Soulmate Secret: Manifest the Love of Your Life with the Law of Attraction]]> 8460894 228 Arielle Ford Alyssa 4 4.12 The Soulmate Secret: Manifest the Love of Your Life with the Law of Attraction
author: Arielle Ford
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/18
date added: 2021/10/18
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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 Alyssa 5 4.01 2003 Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2021/10/18
date added: 2021/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)]]> 9507168 A new Outlander novel � the seventh � from #1 National Bestselling author Diana Gabaldon.

Readers have been waiting with bated breath for the seventh volume in bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander saga � a masterpiece of historical fiction featuring Jamie and Claire, from one of the genre’s most popular and beloved authors.

Jamie Fraser, erstwhile Jacobite and reluctant rebel, knows three things about the American rebellion: the Americans will win, unlikely as that seems in 1778; being on the winning side is no guarantee of survival; and he’d rather die than face his illegitimate son � a young lieutenant in the British Army � across the barrel of a gun. Fraser’s time-travelling wife, Claire, also knows a couple of things: that the Americans will win, but that the ultimate price of victory is a mystery. What she does believe is that the price won’t include Jamie’s life or happiness � not if she has anything to say.

Claire’s grown daughter Brianna, and her husband, Roger, watch the unfolding of Brianna’s parents� history � a past that may be sneaking up behind their own family.]]> 1155 Diana Gabaldon 0440245680 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.43 2009 An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> Ego Is the Enemy 27036528
Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.

The Ego is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures like Howard Hughes, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.

But why should we bother fighting ego in an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion?Ěý Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”]]> 226 Ryan Holiday 1591847818 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.12 2016 Ego Is the Enemy
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[AC: The Power of Appetite Correction]]> 27236141 160 Bert Herring Alyssa 0 4.17 2015 AC: The Power of Appetite Correction
author: Bert Herring
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/04
date added: 2021/10/04
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]]> <![CDATA[A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6)]]> 1983168 1488 Diana Gabaldon 0440225809 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.44 2005 A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> It All Comes Down to This 58724924
Beck, the eldest, is a freelance journalist whose marriage has long been devoid of passion, and she's recently begun to suspect that her husband, Paul, is hiding something from her. Though middle sister Claire is an accomplished pediatric cardiologist, her own heart is a mess, and her unrequited love for the wrong man is slowly destroying her. And while Sophie, the youngest, appears to have an Instagram-ready life of glamorous work and travel, her true existence is a cash-strapped house of cards that may fall at any moment.

But Marti’s will surprises them with its provision that the family’s summer cottage in Maine must be sold, the proceeds split equally between the three sisters. While there’s a ready buyer in C.J. Reynolds, he’s an ex-con with a complicated past and a tangled history with one of the women.

Choices and consequences, mistakes and misapprehensions, obligations and desires: before long, everyone in this cast of indelible characters will have to come to terms with the ways their lives have turned out differently than they expected, as well as the secrets they’ve been keeping from each other––and themselves.]]> 352 Therese Anne Fowler 1250278074 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.31 2022 It All Comes Down to This
author: Therese Anne Fowler
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity]]> 615570 The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.]]> 237 Julia Cameron 1585421464 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 3.93 2002 The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
author: Julia Cameron
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The American Heiress 9999107
Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

Witty, moving, and brilliantly entertaining, Cora's story marks the debut of a glorious storyteller who brings a fresh new spirit to the world of Edith Wharton and Henry James.]]> 468 Daisy Goodwin 0312658656 Alyssa 4 3.44 2010 The American Heiress
author: Daisy Goodwin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/09/23
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review:
Solid story. The use of comma splices drove me nuts. The subplot of Bertha, her maid, added a lot of texture and was integrated into the plot well. Also gave another side to the main character. I liked the use of the American perspective on decaying English old houses; kind of took the glamour out of it and made it much more real.
]]> <![CDATA[The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World]]> 42099289 A debut from Forbes' third most powerful woman in the world, Melinda Gates, a timely and necessary call to action for women's empowerment.

For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission. Her goal, as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to If you want to lift a society up, invest in women.

In this candid and inspiring book, Gates traces her awakening to the link between women’s empowerment and the health of societies. She shows some of the tremendous opportunities that exist right now to “turbo-charge� change. And she provides simple and effective ways each one of us can make a difference.

Convinced that all women should be free to decide whether and when to have children, Gates took her first step onto the global stage to make a stand for family planning. That step launched her into further to ensure women everywhere have access to every kind of job; to encourage men around the globe to share equally in the burdens of household work; to advocate for paid family leave for everyone; to eliminate gender bias in all its forms.

Throughout, Gates introduces us to her heroes in the movement towards equality, offers startling data, shares moving conversations she’s had with women from all over the world—and shows how we can all get involved.

A personal statement of passionate conviction, this book tells of Gates� journey from a partner working behind the scenes to one of the world’s foremost advocates for women, driven by the belief that no one should be excluded, all lives have equal value, and gender equity is the lever that lifts everything.]]> 293 Melinda French Gates 1250313562 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.35 2019 The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World
author: Melinda French Gates
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America]]> 32191706 de facto segregation—that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation—the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments—that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

Through extraordinary revelations and extensive research that Ta-Nehisi Coates has lauded as "brilliant" (The Atlantic), Rothstein comes to chronicle nothing less than an untold story that begins in the 1920s, showing how this process of de jure segregation began with explicit racial zoning, as millions of African Americans moved in a great historical migration from the south to the north.

As Jane Jacobs established in her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, it was the deeply flawed urban planning of the 1950s that created many of the impoverished neighborhoods we know. Now, Rothstein expands our understanding of this history, showing how government policies led to the creation of officially segregated public housing and the demolition of previously integrated neighborhoods. While urban areas rapidly deteriorated, the great American suburbanization of the post–World War II years was spurred on by federal subsidies for builders on the condition that no homes be sold to African Americans. Finally, Rothstein shows how police and prosecutors brutally upheld these standards by supporting violent resistance to black families in white neighborhoods.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited future discrimination but did nothing to reverse residential patterns that had become deeply embedded. Yet recent outbursts of violence in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and Minneapolis show us precisely how the legacy of these earlier eras contributes to persistent racial unrest. “The American landscape will never look the same to readers of this important book� (Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), as Rothstein’s invaluable examination shows that only by relearning this history can we finally pave the way for the nation to remedy its unconstitutional past.]]> 368 Richard Rothstein 1631492853 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.44 2017 The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
author: Richard Rothstein
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell, #3)]]> 45992717 If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?�

England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves.

Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to the breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?

With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion, and courage.]]> 757 Hilary Mantel 0805096604 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.36 2020 The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell, #3)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald]]> 15994634
When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the "ungettable" Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn't wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame.

Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner's, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick's Cathedral and take the rest as it comes.]]> 464 Therese Anne Fowler 1250028647 Alyssa 5 3.86 2013 Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
author: Therese Anne Fowler
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/08/16
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Well-written and illuminating. A convincing and empathetic portrait of a woman who had the means and time to create art but was prevented from doing it fully because of her chauvinistic jealous husband. The novel follows Zelda's meeting and marriage to Scott Fitzgerald, both the highs and lows. I don't know how true to life it is, but it's definitely worth reading.
]]> Lavinia 5989447
Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.

Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.]]> 279 Ursula K. Le Guin 0156033682 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.86 2008 Lavinia
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/06/26
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]]> We Can Only Save Ourselves 52034322 With echoes of The Virgin Suicides and The Fates Will Find Their Way, Alison Wisdom’s debut novel is the story of one teenage girl’s unlikely indoctrination and the reverberations in the tight-knit community she leaves behind.

Alice Lange’s neighbors are proud to know her—a high-achieving student, cheerleader, and all-around good citizen, she’s a perfect emblem of their sunny neighborhood. The night before she’s expected to be crowned Homecoming Queen, though, she commits an act of vandalism, then disappears, following a magnetic stranger named Wesley to a bungalow in another part of the state. There, he promises, Alice can be her true self, shedding the shackles of conformity.

At the bungalow, however, she learns that four other young women seeking enlightenment and adventure have already followed him there. Her new lifestyle is intoxicating at first, but as Wesley’s demands on all of them increase, the house becomes a pressure cooker—until one day they reach the point of no return.

Back home, the story of Alice’s disappearance and radicalization is framed by the first-person plural chorus of the mothers who knew her before, who worry about her, but also resent the tear she made in the fabric of their perfect world, one that exposes the question: Isn’t suburbia a kind of cult unto itself?

Combining the sharp social critique of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere with the elegiac beauty of Emma Cline’s The Girls, this is a fierce literary debut from a writer to watch.]]> 336 Alison Wisdom Alyssa 0 to-read 3.18 2021 We Can Only Save Ourselves
author: Alison Wisdom
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility]]> 52024958 SET IN HIGH-SOCIETY GEORGETOWN, AN IRRESISTIBLE FAMILY DRAMA ABOUT TWO SISTERS AND THE PUBLIC SCANDAL THAT JUST MAY LEAD THEM TO REWRITE THE RULES...

*Named a Best Book of February by Good Morning America, Bustle, Popsugar, BookBub, and Frolic*

No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to thirty-four-year-old Daisy Richardson. So when it's revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy's life becomes complicated--and fast.

For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy's mother is holding on with an iron grip. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible. And then there's Atlas, Daisy's best friend. She's always wished they could be more, but now he's writing an exposé on the one subject she's been desperate to avoid: her father.

Daisy's plan is to maintain a low profile as she works to keep her family intact amid social exile, public shaming, and quickly dwindling savings. But the spotlight always seems to find the Richardsons, and when another twist in the scandal comes to light, Daisy must confront the consequences of her continued silence and summon the courage to stand up and accept the power of her own voice.]]> 384 Lauren Edmondson 1525895966 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.54 2021 Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility
author: Lauren Edmondson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas (For Marketers and Creators)]]> 51689293 The Content Fuel Framework. The Focus + Format approach is a simple yet highly effective way to inspire numerous rich ideas to rescue any content marketing program."
�Lee Odden, CEO and Co-Founder of TopRank Marketing

In The Content Fuel Framework, trained journalist and award-winning content marketer Melanie Deziel shows you how to maximize your creativity by systematizing it. This simple framework catalyzes the brainstorming process, making idea generation effortless and nearly automatic. No more writer's block. No more asking "what should I post?" No more waiting for that "big idea" to show up in its own time. This system allows storytellers from any industry to produce fresh story ideas on demand, any time.

Never before have we consumed as much content, in as many forms, and in as many places as we do now. This means marketers, creators, and anyone who communicates with an audience is under more pressure than ever to deliver unique content, consistently. How can you fill all those web pages, social feeds, blogs, and newsletters, every single day?

The Content Fuel Framework will challenge you—and enable you—to tell stories in entirely new ways. It's an adaptable and evergreen guide you'll come back to again and again.]]> 206 Melanie Deziel 1734329017 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.31 The Content Fuel Framework: How to Generate Unlimited Story Ideas (For Marketers and Creators)
author: Melanie Deziel
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/02/08
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Winter Sisters (Mary Sutter, #2)]]> 35876392
As contemporary as it is historic, Winter Sisters is part gripping thriller, part family saga, and ultimately a story of trauma and resilience that explores the tremendous good and unspeakable evil of which humans are capable.]]> 416 Robin Oliveira 039956425X Alyssa 0 to-read 4.02 2018 Winter Sisters (Mary Sutter, #2)
author: Robin Oliveira
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/01/11
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]]> The Girl in the Tree 49762636
A young woman climbs the tallest tree in Istanbul’s centuries-old Gülhane Park, determined to live out the rest of her days there. Perched in an abandoned stork’s nest in a sanctuary of branches and leaves, she tries to make sense of the rising tide of violence in the world below. Torn between the desire to forget all that has happened and the need to remember, her story, and the stories of those around her, begins to unfold.

Then, unexpectedly, comes a soul mate with a shared destiny. A lonely boy working at a nearby hotel looks up and falls in love. The two share stories of the fates of their families, of a changing city, and of their political awakenings in the Gezi Park protests. Together, they navigate their histories of love and loss, set against a backdrop of societal tension leading up to the tragic bombing that marked a turn in Turkey’s democracy—and sent a young girl fleeing into the trees.

Narrated by one of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary fiction—as full of audacious humor and irony as she is of rage and grief—this unsparing and poetic novel of political madness, precarious dreams, and the will to survive brilliantly captures a girl’s road to defiance in a world turned upside down, in which it is only from the treetops that she can find a grip on reality—and the promise of hope.]]> 360 Şebnem İşigüzel 1542041473 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 3.05 2016 The Girl in the Tree
author: Ĺžebnem Ä°ĹźigĂĽzel
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/10/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)]]> 34017126 The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

Essun has inherited the phenomenal power of Alabaster Tenring. With it, she hopes to find her daughter Nassun and forge a world in which every outcast child can grow up safe.

For Nassun, her mother's mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.]]> 398 N.K. Jemisin Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.47 2017 The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/09/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)]]> 28147302 The second novel in a new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula & World Fantasy Award nominated author N.K. Jemisin.

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS... FOR THE LAST TIME.

The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring -- madman, world-crusher, savior -- has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy.

It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last.

The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken.
]]> 321 N.K. Jemisin Alyssa 0 4.44 2016 The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2020/09/09
date added: 2020/09/09
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]]> The Last of the Moon Girls 49343950
Lizzy discovers a Book of Remembrances meant to help Lizzy embrace her own special gifts. When she reconnects with Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town who believed in Althea’s innocence, she resolves to clear her Grandmother’s name.]]> 397 Barbara Davis 1542006481 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.20 2020 The Last of the Moon Girls
author: Barbara Davis
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/06
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]]> Dearly 50706476 A new book of poetry from internationally acclaimed, award-winning and bestselling author Margaret Atwood

InĚýDearly, Margaret Atwood’s first collection of poetry in over a decade, Atwood addresses themes such as love, loss, the passage of time, the nature of nature and - zombies. Her new poetry is introspective and personal in tone, but wide-ranging in topic. In poem after poem, she casts her unique imagination and unyielding, observant eye over the landscape of a life carefully and intuitively lived.


While many are familiar with Margaret Atwood’s fiction—including her groundbreaking and bestselling novelsĚýThe Handmaid’s Tale,ĚýThe Testaments,ĚýOryx and Crake, among others—she has, from the beginning of her career, been one of our most significant contemporary poets. And she is one of the very few writers equally accomplished in fiction and poetry.ĚýĚýThis collection is a stunning achievement that will be appreciated by fans of her novels and poetry readers alike.]]> 124 Margaret Atwood 006303249X Alyssa 0 to-read 3.75 2020 Dearly
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/07/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Science of Success: What Researchers Know that You Should Know]]> 33308548
This may seem like a tall order for one book, but it isn’t. Hundreds of researchers have spent more than three decades studying what the most successful and happiest people do differently than others. Based on this research, this book will help you find answers to the following (1) Why do some people achieve their life goals while others muddle through and never reach the success they hope for? (2) Why do some people who excel in school (and seem destined for success) stall early in their careers, while some who don’t perform as well in school end up enjoying meaningful and productive careers, often exceeding the expectations of others? (3) Why do some people thrive in their jobs while others simply go through the motions? (4) Why do some people bounce back from failure while others become immobilized? (5) Why are some people able to have successful careers as well as a fulfilling life outside of work, while others get consumed by their work? (6) What are the most important lessons that children should learn early in life to help them lead happy, fulfilling, and productive lives?

In short, this book answers these three main

(1) What do the most successful people do differently than other people?

(2) How can those characteristics and behaviors be learned?

(3) How can you apply these lessons to your own life?

The author presents this book in a way that is both engaging and immediately practical. Throughout the book, the author exposes myths about success that hold people back from achieving their goals, and then replaces those myths with research-based strategies for success. Her credibility comes not only from how she expertly describes the research and the real-life examples she provides, but also from her inspiring description of her own journey to success. She navigated her way from being a waitress in her family’s luncheonette through community college to a Ph.D. from Yale University and a faculty position with the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

The author has written this book using practical language so that you can read it quickly and apply what you learn to your own life immediately. In addition, this book includes self assessments, end-of-chapter questions to help readers clarify their goals and steps they will take to achieve those goals, and a template for creating a personalized action plan to help you begin applying what you’ve learned about achieving success to your own life. The author has also included references at the end of the book in case you want to read more about the original research that inspired this book.

Some people will read this book because they are just starting to think about their careers and the kind of lives they want to lead. Others will want to learn how to advance their careers, either to take their careers to the next level or to get back on track after setbacks. Counselors and mentors will read this book because they want to help others achieve their goals. And parents will want to help their children make choices that will lead to happy, healthy, and productive lives. No matter who you are, if you’re interested in achieving the success in life that you desire and deserve, or are interested in helping others do so, then this book is designed for you.]]> 215 Paula J. Caproni 099705669X Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.27 The Science of Success: What Researchers Know that You Should Know
author: Paula J. Caproni
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/04/06
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]]> <![CDATA[Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander, #8)]]> 29808760 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKLIST
In her now classic novel Outlander, Diana Gabaldon told the story of Claire Randall, an English ex-combat nurse who walks through a stone circle in the Scottish Highlands in 1946, and disappears . . . into 1743. The story unfolded from there in seven bestselling novels, and CNN has called it a grand adventure written on a canvas that probes the heart, weighs the soul and measures the human spirit across [centuries]. Now the story continues in Written in My Own Heart s Blood.
1778: France declares war on Great Britain, the British army leaves Philadelphia, and George Washington s troops leave Valley Forge in pursuit. At this moment, Jamie Fraser returns from a presumed watery grave to discover that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered (to his horror) who his father really is, and his beloved nephew, Ian, wants to marry a Quaker. Meanwhile, Jamie s wife, Claire, and his sister, Jenny, are busy picking up the pieces.
The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself.
Written in My Own Heart s Blood is the brilliant next chapter in a masterpiece of the imagination unlike any other.
]]> 1131 Diana Gabaldon 110188424X Alyssa 0 to-read 4.55 2014 Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander, #8)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/10/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Blogging for Authors: ** Updated April 2019 **]]> 30408077


Technical trainer Barb Drozdowich has been blogging for the better part of a decade & knows what authors need.

Finding readers is the key to success. One of the best ways to connect with these readers is through the establishment of a blog - one that isn’t just a billboard for sales & releases, but a method for establishing long term relationships with readers.

In award winning Blogging for Authors , Barb teaches not just how to set up a blog but how to turn it into a powerful tool of communication with readers. She brings several decades of teaching experience to help even the beginner author.

In this book you’ll






Through a series of free tools & helpful hints, Blogging for Authors helps you choose the right platform, understand the technical aspects & get started today.

If you like an easy to understand book that cuts through the technobabble that exists in many tech manuals, this book is for you!

Pick up this great deal today & start connecting with readers right away.]]> 164 Barb Drozdowich 0993879594 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.50 2016 Blogging for Authors: ** Updated April 2019 **
author: Barb Drozdowich
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance]]> 40712499 The powerful story of a young poet who becomes an activist through a trial by fire

What You Have Heard is True is a devastating, lyrical, and visionary memoir about a young woman's brave choice to engage with horror in order to help others. Written by one of the most gifted poets of her generation, this is the story of a woman's radical act of empathy, and her fateful encounter with an intriguing man who changes the course of her life.

Carolyn Forché is twenty-seven when the mysterious stranger appears on her doorstep. The relative of a friend, he is a charming polymath with a mind as seemingly disordered as it is brilliant. She's heard rumors from her friend about who he might be: a lone wolf, a communist, a CIA operative, a sharpshooter, a revolutionary, a small coffee farmer, but according to her, no one seemed to know for certain. He has driven from El Salvador to invite Forché to visit and learn about his country. Captivated for reasons she doesn't fully understand, she accepts and becomes enmeshed in something beyond her comprehension.

Together they meet with high-ranking military officers, impoverished farm workers, and clergy desperately trying to assist the poor and keep the peace. These encounters are a part of his plan to educate her, but also to learn for himself just how close the country is to war. As priests and farm-workers are murdered and protest marches attacked, he is determined to save his country, and Forché is swept up in his work and in the lives of his friends. Pursued by death squads and sheltering in safe houses, the two forge a rich friendship, as she attempts to make sense of what she's experiencing and establish a moral foothold amidst profound suffering. This is the powerful story of a poet's experience in a country on the verge of war, and a journey toward social conscience in a perilous time.]]> 400 Carolyn Forché 0525560378 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.43 2019 What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
author: Carolyn Forché
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/26
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review:

]]> The Witches: Salem, 1692 28449076 Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff, author of the #1 bestseller Cleopatra, provides an electrifying, fresh view of the Salem witch trials.

The panic began early in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's niece began to writhe and roar. It spread quickly, confounding the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, husbands accused wives, parents and children one another. It ended less than a year later, but not before nineteen men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death.

Speaking loudly and emphatically, adolescent girls stood at the center of the crisis. Along with suffrage and Prohibition, the Salem witch trials represent one of the few moments when women played the central role in American history. Drawing masterfully on the archives, Stacy Schiff introduces us to the strains on a Puritan adolescent's life and to the authorities whose delicate agendas were at risk. She illuminates the demands of a rigorous faith, the vulnerability of settlements adrift from the mother country, perched-at a politically tumultuous time-on the edge of what a visitor termed a "remote, rocky, barren, bushy, wild-woody wilderness."

With devastating clarity, the textures and tensions of colonial life emerge; hidden patterns subtly, startlingly detach themselves from the darkness. Schiff brings early American anxieties to the fore to align them brilliantly with our own. In an era of religious provocations, crowdsourcing, and invisible enemies, this enthralling story makes more sense than ever.

The Witches is Schiff 's riveting account of a seminal episode, a primal American mystery unveiled-in crackling detail and lyrical prose-by one of our most acclaimed historians.]]> 512 Stacy Schiff Alyssa 4
I was a bit disappointed, though, that she doesn't really explicitly take up the various theories about what happened. It seems she basically did her research and came to her conclusions and then presented them. There is not much discussion/critique of alternative theories and perspectives. A good read for a general audience in better understanding what happened, but for anyone wanting to understand the scholarship, I would suggest more academic texts. This might be good to use for excerpts when teaching The Crucible--esp important to contrast with Miller's fictionalized version.

Reading this does make me more likely to read her other work. ]]> 3.22 2015 The Witches: Salem, 1692
author: Stacy Schiff
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2017/01/31
date added: 2019/03/15
shelves:
review:
Well-written nonfiction narrative about the Salem witch trials. The writing is lovely and flows and there are a lot of details here I've haven't encountered before (I've read a few books on this subject). Overall, I think it gives good insight into what happened and the context surrounding it, especially the political and theological issues that contributed to the persecutions.

I was a bit disappointed, though, that she doesn't really explicitly take up the various theories about what happened. It seems she basically did her research and came to her conclusions and then presented them. There is not much discussion/critique of alternative theories and perspectives. A good read for a general audience in better understanding what happened, but for anyone wanting to understand the scholarship, I would suggest more academic texts. This might be good to use for excerpts when teaching The Crucible--esp important to contrast with Miller's fictionalized version.

Reading this does make me more likely to read her other work.
]]> <![CDATA[Content Marketing Made Easy: The Simple, Step-by-Step System to Attract Your Ideal Audience & Put Your Marketing on Autopilot using Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Social Media & More!]]> 42790022 SPECIAL Includes Free Access to Bonus Training Videos, Scripts, Templates and More!Discover how to use Blogs, Video, Podcasts, Social Media and other forms of Content Marketing to attract your ideal clients, put your marketing on autopilot and make sales simple and seamless!Content Marketing Made Easy is a Simple, How To, Step-by-Step, Guide to growing your business online WITHOUT having to resort to cold calls, paid advertising, meetings and everything else you hate about outdated sales and lead generation methods!WHAT YOU'LL � What is Content Marketing and How Does it Work?� Idea How To Come Up With Content Your Audience Will Go Bananas For� How to Set Up (and Automate!) a Sales Funnel Using Content� Simply How To Create Magnetic Content Your Audience Will Devour� The Secret Sauce That Makes Content Go Viral� How To Instantly (and Easily) Create Compelling Content ... Even if you're not creative or hate writing� The Single Best Content Marketing Tool in Existence Today� Calendars, Automation and Systems - Oh My!� Proven Content Marketing Strategies that help you build powerful Online Marketing and Digital Marketing Systems� Includes online access to free bonus training videos, copy-and-paste scripts, templates and much more!WHAT OTHERS “You know me. I don’t recommend people lightly. John Nemo is worth your time. Jump on this!� - Chris Brogan, New York Times Bestselling Author & Speaker“I highly encourage you to check out John Nemo. I know it will make a difference for you just like it has for me!� - Tom Ziglar, CEO, Ziglar, Inc.“John Nemo invests himself in dramatically improving all aspects of your marketing where he feels he can add value. I’m very honored to recommend him.� - Bob Burg, International Bestselling Author of “The Go Giver� & Keynote SpeakerABOUT THE JOHN NEMO is an Online Course Creator and Bestselling Author who helps Business Coaches, Consultants, Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners generate quality leads, build their client base and increase revenue using digital marketing platforms, tools and strategies like Content Marketing, LinkedIn and Webinars.John regularly guest blogs for Inc. Magazine and American City Business Journals, and his work has also been featured in The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Social Media Examiner, the Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast, on LinkedIn's official marketing blog and many other outlets online.The author of 8 books, John is a former Associated Press Reporter, Talk Radio Producer, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.]]> 231 John Nemo Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.39 Content Marketing Made Easy: The Simple, Step-by-Step System to Attract Your Ideal Audience & Put Your Marketing on Autopilot using Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Social Media & More!
author: John Nemo
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Make Money from Non-Fiction Kindle Books: How to Maximize Your Royalties, Get Paid to Capture Leads and Rapidly Build a Successful “Backend� Business]]> 27804793 Over 14,500 copies sold...Would you like to maximize your royalties and build multiple passive income streams through Kindle publishing?Would you like to build a 6 figure plus “backend� business based on your book?Would you like to position yourself as an expert so that you can attract more and better clients and charge what you’re truly worth?Would you like to use a book to generate hyper-targeted leads and rapidly grow your business?If any of these apply then this book was written for you!How to make money from non-fiction Kindle There are lots and lots of books available on how to write and how to market Kindle books. This is not a book about how to write or market Kindle books...This is a book about how to make money from non-fiction Kindle books. That distinction is critical. Before you even think about what to write or how to market your books you need to be crystal clear on how you plan to make money from them.Most people don’t bother and they leave a huge amount of money on the table as a result! They could be losing anywhere from thousands of dollars a year to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands� It depends on the number of Kindle books they have and the nature of their Kindle business and the crazy thing is they don’t even know it!I don’t want you to make that make that mistake. I don’t want you to leave thousands of dollars on the table month after month because you didn’t know how to tap into the multiple income streams that are possible through Kindle books.I don’t want you to be out of pocket to the tune of thousands of dollars because you weren’t aware of how simple pricing strategies can triple your royalties or double your leads overnight.This book will help you think through how you will make money from your non-fiction Kindle books so that you can maximize your income from each one. If you get this right then you have the chance to achieve something that’s both very rare and very special. You have the chance to build powerful income streams and start living life on your terms.]]> 100 John Tighe Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.04 Make Money from Non-Fiction Kindle Books: How to Maximize Your Royalties, Get Paid to Capture Leads and Rapidly Build a Successful “Backend” Business
author: John Tighe
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness]]> 39901314
In the context of a happy life, a messy desk or crowded coat closet is a trivial problem–yet Gretchen Rubin has found that getting control of the stuff of life makes us feel more in control of our lives generally. By getting rid of things we don’t use, don’t need, or don’t love, as well as things that don’t work, don’t fit, or don’t suit, we free our mind (and our shelves) for what we truly value.

In this trim book filled with insights, strategies, and sometimes surprising tips, Gretchen tackles the key challenges of creating outer order, by explaining how to “Make Choices,� “Create Order,� “Know Yourself–and Others,� “Cultivate Helpful Habits,� and, of course, “Add Beauty.�

When we get our possessions under control, we feel both calmer and more energetic. With a sense of humor, and also a clear sense of what’s realistic for most people, Gretchen suggests dozens of manageable steps for creating a more serene, orderly environment–one that helps us to create the lives we yearn for.]]> 208 Gretchen Rubin Alyssa 0 to-read 3.54 2019 Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness
author: Gretchen Rubin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance � What Women Should Know]]> 18052969 Lean In and Why Women Should Rule the World, the authors of the bestselling Womenomics provide an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of confidence—and learning how to achieve it—for women of all ages and at all stages of their career.

Working women today are better educated and more well qualified than ever before. Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.

Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in."Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.Ěý]]> 272 Katty Kay 0062230646 Alyssa 3 3.69 2014 The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know
author: Katty Kay
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2019/02/01
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:
I listened to this as an audiobook then went and checked out the book at the library so I could go back and take some notes. If you want some insight into how both biology and environment shape confidence - as well as some practical tools for building confidence - this is an excellent resource.
]]> <![CDATA[Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)]]> 6101138 This is an alternative cover edition for ISBN 9780007230181

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?]]> 653 Hilary Mantel Alyssa 5 3.90 2009 Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/01
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Essex Serpent 40382679
Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.]]> 433 Sarah Perry Alyssa 3 3.61 2016 The Essex Serpent
author: Sarah Perry
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2018/11/11
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Business of Being a Writer]]> 35960731
The Business of Being a Writer offers the business education writers need but so rarely receive. It is meant for early-career writers looking to develop a realistic set of expectations about making money from their work or for working writers who want a better understanding of the industry. Writers will gain a comprehensive picture of how the publishing world works—from queries and agents to blogging and advertising—and will learn how they can best position themselves for success over the long term.]]> 313 Jane Friedman 022639316X Alyssa 5 4.40 2018 The Business of Being a Writer
author: Jane Friedman
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> All the Light We Cannot See 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Alyssa 4 4.31 2014 All the Light We Cannot See
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/06
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:
An excellent, absorbing read. A unique perspective on WWII with empathy and gentleness.
]]> Accidents of Providence 11234265
It is 1649. King Charles has been beheaded for treason. Amid civil war, Cromwell's army is running the country. The Levellers, a small faction of political agitators, are calling for rights to the people. And a new law targeting unwed mothers and “lewd women� presumes anyone who conceals the death of her illegitimate child is guilty of murder.

Rachel Lockyer, unmarried glove maker, and William Walwyn, Leveller hero, are locked in a secret affair. But while William is imprisoned in the Tower, a child is found buried in the woods and Rachel is arrested.

So comes an investigation, public trial, and a cast of extraordinary characters made up of ordinary gouty investigator Thomas Bartwain, fiery Elizabeth Lilburne and her revolution-chasing husband, Huguenot glover Mary Du Gard, a lawyer for the prosecution hell-bent on making an example of Rachel, and others. Spinning within are Rachel and William, their remarkable love story, and the miracles that come to even the commonest lives.

Accidents of Providence is absorbing historical fiction for fans of Fingersmith and The Dress Lodger . And Rachel Lockyer, a woman wronged by her time, is a character neither history, nor we, will ever again forget.]]> 272 Stacia M. Brown 0547490801 Alyssa 4 3.25 2012 Accidents of Providence
author: Stacia M. Brown
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Hag-Seed 28588073
Eventually he takes a job teaching Literacy Through Theatre to the prisoners at the nearby Burgess Correctional Institution, and is making a modest success of it when an auspicious star places his enemies within his reach. With the help of their own interpretations, digital effects, and the talents of a professional actress and choreographer, the Burgess Correctional Players prepare to video their Tempest. Not surprisingly, they view Caliban as the character with whom they have the most in common. However, Felix has another twist in mind, and his enemies are about to find themselves taking part in an interactive and illusion-ridden version of The Tempest that will change their lives forever. But how will Felix deal with his invisible Miranda’s decision to take a part in the play?]]> 301 Margaret Atwood 0804141290 Alyssa 4 3.77 2016 Hag-Seed
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/30
date added: 2019/02/01
shelves:
review:
This was kind of a fun and pretty unique retelling of the Tempest... a contemporary down and out director takes a job teaching Shakespeare in a prison... Complete with rap songs!
]]> Everything Under 36396289
One phone call from her mother is all it takes for the past to come rushing back. To find her, Gretel will have to recover buried memories of her final, fateful winter on the canals. A runaway boy had found community and shelter with them, and all three were haunted by their past and stalked by an ominous creature lurking in the canal: the bonak. Everything and nothing at once, the bonak was Gretel’s name for the thing she feared most. And now that she’s searching for her mother, she’ll have to face it.]]> 264 Daisy Johnson 191070234X Alyssa 0 to-read 3.51 2018 Everything Under
author: Daisy Johnson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Want of Kindness: A Novel of Queen Anne]]> 25706817 Every time I see the King and the Queen, I am reminded of what it is I have done, and then I am afraid, I am beyond all expression afraid.

The wicked, bawdy Restoration court is no place for a child princess. Ten-year-old Anne cuts an odd figure: a sickly child, she is drawn towards improper pursuits. Cards, sweetmeats, scandal and gossip with her Ladies of the Bedchamber figure large in her life. But as King Charles's niece, Anne is also a political pawn, who will be forced to play her part in the troubled Stuart dynasty.

As Anne grows to maturity, she is transformed from overlooked Princess to the heiress of England. Forced to overcome grief for her lost children, the political manoeuvrings of her sister and her closest friends and her own betrayal of her father, she becomes one of the most complex and fascinating figures of English history.]]> 464 Joanne Limburg 1782395881 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.07 2015 A Want of Kindness: A Novel of Queen Anne
author: Joanne Limburg
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.07
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Dark Lady's Mask 25897736 Shakespeare in Love meets Shakespeare’s Sister in this novel of England’s first professional woman poet and her collaboration and love affair with William Shakespeare.

London, 1593. Aemilia Bassano Lanier is beautiful and accomplished, but her societal conformity ends there. She frequently cross-dresses to escape her loveless marriage and to gain freedoms only men enjoy, but a chance encounter with a ragged, little-known poet named Shakespeare changes everything.

Aemilia grabs at the chance to pursue her long-held dream of writing and the two outsiders strike up a literary bargain. They leave plague-ridden London for Italy, where they begin secretly writing comedies together and where Will falls in love with the beautiful country � and with Aemilia, his Dark Lady. Their Italian idyll, though, cannot last and their collaborative affair comes to a devastating end. Will gains fame and fortune for their plays back in London and years later publishes the sonnets mocking his former muse. Not one to stand by in humiliation, Aemilia takes up her own pen in her defense and in defense of all women.

The Dark Lady’s Mask gives voice to a real Renaissance woman in every sense of the word.]]> 416 Mary Sharratt 0544300769 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.79 2016 The Dark Lady's Mask
author: Mary Sharratt
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Freelance Content Marketing Writer: Find your perfect clients, Make tons of money and Build a business you love]]> 40039408 274 Jennifer Goforth Gregory Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.54 The Freelance Content Marketing Writer: Find your perfect clients, Make tons of money and Build a business you love
author: Jennifer Goforth Gregory
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less]]> 18077875 Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized?
Are you often busy but not productive?
ĚýDo you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the EssentialistThe Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.Ěý It is notĚýĚýa time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.Ěý

By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy � instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Essentialism is not one more thing â€� it’s a whole new way of doing everything. A must-read for any leader, manager, or individual who wants to learn how to do less, but better, in every area of their lives, Essentialism Ěýis a movement whose time has come.]]> 260 Greg McKeown 0804137382 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.05 2011 Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
author: Greg McKeown
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)]]> 34524485
In What Editors Do, Peter Ginna gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children’s publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers—and readers—everywhere.

Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to actually approach the work of editing. This book will serve as a compendium of professional advice and will be a resource both for those entering the profession (or already in it) and for those outside publishing who seek an understanding of it. It sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor’s vital role at each stage of the publishing process—a role that extends far beyond marking up the author’s text.

This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing. What Editors Do shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever.]]> 320 Peter Ginna 022629983X Alyssa 0 to-read 4.14 2017 What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
author: Peter Ginna
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Author In Progress: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published]]> 28627395
Writing can be a lonely profession plagued by blind stumbles, writer's block, and despair--but it doesn't have to be. Written by members of the popular Writer Unboxed website, Author in Progress is filled with practical, candid essays to help you reach the next rung on the publishing ladder. By tracking your creative journey from first draft to completion and beyond, you can improve your craft, find your community, and overcome the mental barriers that stand in the way of success.

Author in Progress is the perfect no-nonsense guide for excelling at every step of the novel-writing process, from setting goals, researching, and drafting to giving and receiving critiques, polishing prose, and seeking publication.

You'll love Author in Progress if...

ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýYou're an aspiring novelist working on your first book.
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýYou're an experienced veteran looking for ways to enhance your career and connect with your writing community.
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýYou've finished your first draft and want to know the next steps.
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýYou're seeking clear, effective advice about publication-from professionals who are "down in the trenches" every day.

What's Inside
Author in Progress

ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýMore than 50 essays from best-selling authors, editors, and industry leaders on a variety of writing and publishing topics.
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýAdvice on writing first drafts, conducting research, building and fostering community, seeking critique, revising, and getting published.
ĚýĚýĚý•ĚýAn encouraging approach to the writing and publishing process, from authors who've walked this path.]]> 352 Therese Walsh 1440346712 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.30 2016 Author In Progress: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published
author: Therese Walsh
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Free Tools for Writers, Bloggers and Solopreneurs]]> 20940827 33 Karen Banes Alyssa 4 4.21 2014 Free Tools for Writers, Bloggers and Solopreneurs
author: Karen Banes
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/06
date added: 2018/12/06
shelves:
review:
Some useful stuff; mostly tools & info online.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century]]> 39204055 The Lost History of Liberalism challenges our most basic assumptions about a political creed that has become a rallying cry—and a term of derision—in today’s increasingly divided public square. Taking readers from ancient Rome to today, Helena Rosenblatt traces the evolution of the words “liberal� and “liberalism,� revealing the heated debates that have taken place over their meaning.

In this timely and provocative book, Rosenblatt debunks the popular myth of liberalism as a uniquely Anglo-American tradition centered on individual rights. She shows that it was the French Revolution that gave birth to liberalism and Germans who transformed it. Only in the mid-twentieth century did the concept become widely known in the United States—and then, as now, its meaning was hotly debated. Liberals were originally moralists at heart. They believed in the power of religion to reform society, emphasized the sanctity of the family, and never spoke of rights without speaking of duties. It was only during the Cold War and America’s growing world hegemony that liberalism was refashioned into an American ideology focused so strongly on individual freedoms.

Today, we still can’t seem to agree on liberalism’s meaning. In the United States, a “liberal� is someone who advocates big government, while in France, big government is contrary to “liberalism.� Political debates become befuddled because of semantic and conceptual confusion. The Lost History of Liberalism sets the record straight on a core tenet of today’s political conversation and lays the foundations for a more constructive discussion about the future of liberal democracy.]]> 368 Helena Rosenblatt 0691170703 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.97 2018 The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century
author: Helena Rosenblatt
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Write and Grow Rich: Secrets of Successful Authors and Publishers]]> 40784754 Now a USA Today and Wall Street Journal best-seller!
Want to use the written word to supercharge your career? Discover the behind-the-scenes process for 24 authors who've used books to build lucrative, inspiring businesses. 24 successful authors. 24 stories to help you turn books into a six-figure calling.

Have you tried all the entrepreneurial tricks only to end up back where you started? Are you passionate about an idea that you want to share with the world? Do you wish you could turn a single book into something more? Bestselling author Alinka Rutkowska started with one book and transformed it into a successful six-figure business. But she isn't the only one. Join her and 23 other powerful author entrepreneurs as they share "how they did it" in this once-in-a-lifetime collection of true stories.

In Write and Grow Rich, you'll discover how this incredible group of authors, marketers, teachers, and trainers turned the corner with the power of writing behind them. By sharing their best practices, authors Adam Houge, Daniel Hall, Caitlyn Pyle, Marc Guberti, Bryan Cohen, Kristen Joy, and many more provide a roadmap to the steps you need to take to join their ranks. Inside, you'll learn which so-called expert advice to avoid and their little-known tools for faster, more resilient success.

In Write and Grow Rich, you'll discover: What these authors would've done differently if they were starting their businesses today How they cope with overwhelm and how you can use this overload as an advantage Key factors for book-based success in a variety of industries How quickly you can expect to start profiting off your writing The skills you should start cultivating to take your business to the next level, and much, much more!

Write and Grow Rich is a jam-packed handbook for making your words worth more than you ever dreamed possible. If you like expert guidance, multiple points of view, and down-to-earth education from entrepreneurs who've made it, then you'll love Alinka Rutkowska's authorpreneurial anthology.

Buy Write and Grow Rich to start applying time-tested wisdom to your business today!
Full contributing authors list: Alinka Rutkowska, Adam Houge, Alexa Bigwarfe, Amy Collins, Bryan Cohen, Caitlin Pyle, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Christine Kloser, Daniel Hall, Donna Kozik, Debbie Drum, Derek Doepker, Derek Murphy, Jason Ladd, Jyotsna Ramachandran, Kirsten Oliphant, Kristen Joy, Lise Cartwright, Marc Guberti, Matt Stone, Sally Miller, Steve Alcorn, Summer Tannhauser, Susan Friedmann.

]]> 234 Alinka Rutkowska 1943386277 Alyssa 0 3.95 Write and Grow Rich: Secrets of Successful Authors and Publishers
author: Alinka Rutkowska
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2018/10/27
date added: 2018/10/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Seveneves 22816087
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .

Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.]]> 872 Neal Stephenson Alyssa 4 He does have a story, and a good sense of when to move on to plot. And it's actually quite interesting some of the things he comes up with (apparently, some of it is based on current research).
A big chunk of the book is a kind of dystopian/disaster narrative of basically the world coming to an end. The last section takes place thousands of years later, when Earth is repopulated. It's not a utopia or a dystopia... it's actually rather realistic.
Apparently one of the impulses for writing this novel was the challenge to write female characters. The female characters are definitely real and multi-dimensional. The place I would have liked to see more was when it's *only* females left.
Overall, an intriguing premise, and if you're kind of a science geek, definitely recommended. ]]> 4.01 2015 Seveneves
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/10/16
date added: 2018/10/26
shelves:
review:
First, if you have not read Stephenson before, be aware that he loves science. Be ready to plow through a lot of scientific stuff. And his books are long.
He does have a story, and a good sense of when to move on to plot. And it's actually quite interesting some of the things he comes up with (apparently, some of it is based on current research).
A big chunk of the book is a kind of dystopian/disaster narrative of basically the world coming to an end. The last section takes place thousands of years later, when Earth is repopulated. It's not a utopia or a dystopia... it's actually rather realistic.
Apparently one of the impulses for writing this novel was the challenge to write female characters. The female characters are definitely real and multi-dimensional. The place I would have liked to see more was when it's *only* females left.
Overall, an intriguing premise, and if you're kind of a science geek, definitely recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[The Writer's Roadmap: Paving the Way To Your Ideal Writing Life]]> 42270819
“What if I’m not good enough? What if nobody wants to read what I have to say? Where do I even start?� Your writing dream can seem impossibly hard to reach.

Writing teacher and author, Leigh Shulman, has helped hundreds of students overcome these blocks. Now in The Writer’s Roadmap she shares her twenty years experience of helping others to write and publish their way to their ideal writing lives.

In this essential writing guide, Leigh takes you through a combination of practical steps and mindset work to show you that achieving your writing aspirations is not only possible but joyful (and profitable.) Over the course of a weekend you can work through her hands-on writing exercises, real-life case studies from her students and stories from her own personal writing journey. The Writer’s Roadmap not only shows you how to decide what you want in your writing life but how to get there, too.

If you want to avoid the number one reason why most people never write, learn how to deal with rejection and believe you can earn money from your writing, then The Writer’s Roadmap will signpost the way to take that big scary writing dream and break it down into manageable steps.

Writing is a journey, but you’ll never reach your destination if you don’t take that first step. If you’re ready to stop dreaming and start writing then adventure awaits…]]> 100 Leigh Shulman Alyssa 5 4.19 2018 The Writer's Roadmap: Paving the Way To Your Ideal Writing Life
author: Leigh Shulman
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2018/10/26
date added: 2018/10/26
shelves:
review:
Make sure to have your notebook and pen ready, because The Writer’s Roadmap by Leigh Shulman has a plan for your success as a writer. Shulman clearly and succinctly lays out actionable steps so aspiring writers who want to achieve some level of success have a guide. Shulman uses a straightforward, easily comprehensible strategy for developing your own vision for your writing life (or really, any entrepreneurial venture), whether it’s as a full-time freelancer or finishing that novel. Examples from her own work as well as others help illuminate the steps, along with exercises to get you going. If you’re looking for a guide that will articulate a vision for your writing career, this is definitely one of the best guides around to get you started.
]]> Voyager (Outlander #3) 34497908 Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues.

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

]]> 870 Diana Gabaldon 1101966122 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.52 1993 Voyager (Outlander #3)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/10/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Hate U Give 38359039
Soon afterward, Khalil's death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr's best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr's neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

Angie Thomas's searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty.]]> 473 Angie Thomas Alyssa 0 to-read 4.56 2017 The Hate U Give
author: Angie Thomas
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies]]> 1842
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: the global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race.

In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed writing, technology, government, and organized religion—as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war—and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth Club of California's Gold Medal]]> 498 Jared Diamond 0739467352 Alyssa 4 4.04 1997 Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
author: Jared Diamond
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2018/09/16
date added: 2018/09/18
shelves:
review:
Jared Diamond opens this book with a premise posed as a question that a student asked, which broadens out to a wider inquiry: why did different societies develop differently, leading to some societies having so much more - and dominating others? The answer is essentially that the physical geography and climates of different areas of the world provided better opportunities than others. Eurasia, he explains, was best positioned from a geographical and climatological standpoint to foster the turn to farming from hunting and gathering, the first step toward building civilizations that develop technologies like writing and guns. The domestication of appropriate animals gave rise to more people being exposed to lethal germs. While Eurasians had time to develop immunity to these diseases, when they brought them to other places, they were fatal. While at times the discussion can get just a bit dry - why some plants are more easily farmed than others, for example - the prose is readable and engaging and never fails to continue to advance his overall argument. If you want to to understand why societies developed differently - and why it has very little to do with racial makeup - then this a must-read.
]]> <![CDATA[Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction]]> 36959766 Canada's productivity expert returns with a totally fresh angle on how to do more with less.

Throughout his experiments and research, Chris Bailey came across many little-known insights into how we focus (a key element of productivity), including the surprising idea that focus isn't so much a state of heightened awareness (as we'd assume), but a balance between two frames of mind. The most recent neuroscientific research on attention reveals that our brain has two powerful modes that can be unlocked when we use our attention well: a focused mode (hyperfocus), which is the foundation for being highly productive, and a creative mode (scatterfocus), which enables us to connect ideas in novel ways. Hyperfocus helps readers unlock both, so they can concentrate more deeply, think more clearly, and work and live more deliberately. Diving deep into the science and theories about how and why we bring our attention to bear on life's big goals and everyday tasks, Chris Bailey takes his unique approach to productivity to the next level in Hyperfocus, while retaining the approachable voice and perspective that made him a fast favourite.]]> 256 Chris Bailey 0735273685 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.86 2018 Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction
author: Chris Bailey
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/09/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Lavinia 2214574 In a richly imagined, beautiful new novel, an acclaimed writer gives an epic heroine her voice.

In The Aeneid, Virgil's hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner--that she will be the cause of a bitter war--and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Virgil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.

Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.]]> 279 Ursula K. Le Guin 0151014248 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.82 2008 Lavinia
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/08/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Woman Most Wild: Three Keys to Liberating the Witch Within]]> 34814204 Discover an Ancient Path to Power, Wisdom & MagickWhat do you think of when you hear the word witch? Through centuries of persecution, our society has been indoctrinated into thinking that witches are evil villains. Author and proud witch Danielle Dulsky debunks this interpretation and reveals the true nature of an ancient spiritual path that rejects religious dogma in favor of female empowerment and a deep reverence for the Earth. In a collaborative, conversational tone, Woman Most Wild reclaims the Earth-centered power of aligning with our wildest, freest selves to create an inclusive world for all. The three keys to liberating your inner witch and owning your power � Wild aligning yourself with the cycles of nature� Wild understanding the importance of ritual and ceremony� Wild bonding with like-minded seekersDulsky’s tools for embracing and experiencing the power of these keys, including moon rituals, healing meditations, yoga postures, circle work, and Goddess encounters, will guide you toward joining the cosmic dance befitting the divine, limitless woman you are.]]> 258 Danielle Dulsky 1608684679 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.37 2017 Woman Most Wild: Three Keys to Liberating the Witch Within
author: Danielle Dulsky
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/07/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Warrior Goddess Way: Claiming the Woman You Are Destined to Be (Warrior Goddess Training)]]> 32733563 Learn the Way of the Warrior Goddess Since its publication a short time ago, HeatherAsh Amara’s Warrior Goddess Training has become much more than just a book—its ten lessons have inspired thousands of women around the world to reclaim their power, their passion, and their freedom. In this much anticipated follow-up, The Warrior Goddess Way, Amara goes deeper, revealing three additional pillars of Warrior Goddess living that readers can apply to travel further down this sacred Wisdom, Authenticity, and Yes!

Wisdom arises naturally when we learn to listen. Not to the voices in our head, but the voices in our cells, our natural discernment, and our creative knowing.Authenticity is embracing your vulnerability, your silliness, and owning all your superpowers. It’s accepting and loving what is, not what “should be.�Yes! is about celebrating everything. All the time. (Even your greatest defeats.)In exploring these three pillars, Amara delves into topics such as forgiveness, relationships, and finding your inner stillness. You will learn the art of maintaining emotional balance, cultivating self-respect, practicing heartfelt communication, and the power of consciously embracing life’s beginnings and endings. Like Warrior Goddess Training, this book is packed full of exercises and explorations designed to help you integrate the Warrior Goddess Way into your everyday life. You CAN learn to enjoy everything you do. Your potential for dancing through life is waiting to be awakened. Live the Warrior Goddess Way and claim the woman you are destined to be.]]> 228 HeatherAsh Amara 1938289587 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.32 The Warrior Goddess Way: Claiming the Woman You Are Destined to Be (Warrior Goddess Training)
author: HeatherAsh Amara
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/06/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Creative Compass: Writing Your Way from Inspiration to Publication]]> 18871000 282 Dan Millman 1932073663 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.05 2013 The Creative Compass: Writing Your Way from Inspiration to Publication
author: Dan Millman
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/06/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomb of the Unknown Racist (Ellen Burns #3)]]> 37648357 The award-winning author of The Revolution of Little Girls and Terminal Velocity concludes her grand survey of political activism twenty years later with her provocative new novel

Blanche McCrary Boyd's first novel in twenty years continues the story of her protagonist Ellen Burns. When Tomb of the Unknown Racist opens in 1999, Ellen-now sober, haunted by her activist past, her failed relationships-is peacefully taking care of her demented mother in South Carolina.

Ellen's brother, Royce, was a celebrated novelist who, a decade earlier, saw his work adopted by racists and fell under the sway of white supremacy. Ellen thought him dead from a botched FBI raid on his compound. But when his estranged daughter turns up on the news claiming he might be responsible for kidnapping her two mixed-race children, Ellen travels to New Mexico to help her newfound niece. The book chronicles Ellen's search for Royce, her descent into the dark abyss of the simmering race war in the country, and the confrontation that occurs when she learns the truth about her family's past.

Tomb of the Unknown Racist is a thrilling novel set in the shadow of the Oklahoma City bombing, the subculture of white supremacy, and deep state government. A family drama set against political and racial struggle, it is a tour de force end to a trilogy by a stunning writer whose work has offered a resonant survey of politics and activism across the American experience.

"Part detective story, part spiritual quest, Tomb of the Unknown Racist explores the intricate world of the white supremacy movement, and the treacherous ways that racism shatters families and spreads its dark roots across America. . . A character both innocent and wise, searching and grounded, [Ellen Burns] sees the worst in the good, and the good in the worst. We need more 'old outlaws' like [her], who try to right the wrongs of the world, even when they're impossible to change." -Hannah Tinti, author of The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley]]> 280 Blanche McCrary Boyd 1640090681 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.28 2018 Tomb of the Unknown Racist (Ellen Burns #3)
author: Blanche McCrary Boyd
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/06/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude]]> 36723047 A wise, passionate account of the pleasures of travelling solo

In our increasingly frantic daily lives, many people are genuinely fearful of the prospect of solitude, but time alone can be both rich and restorative, especially when travelling. Through on-the-ground reporting and recounting the experiences of artists, writers, and innovators who cherished solitude, Stephanie Rosenbloom considers how being alone as a traveller--and even in one's own city--is conducive to becoming acutely aware of the sensual details of the world--patterns, textures, colors, tastes, sounds--in ways that are difficult to do in the company of others.

Alone Time is divided into four parts, each set in a different city, in a different season, in a single year. The destinations--Paris, Istanbul, Florence, New York--are all pedestrian-friendly, allowing travelers to slow down and appreciate casual pleasures instead of hurtling through museums and posting photos to Instagram. Each section spotlights a different theme associated with the joys and benefits of time alone and how it can enable people to enrich their lives--facilitating creativity, learning, self-reliance, as well as the ability to experiment and change. Rosenbloom incorporates insights from psychologists and sociologists who have studied solitude and happiness, and explores such topics as dining alone, learning to savor, discovering interests and passions, and finding or creating silent spaces. Her engaging and elegant prose makes Alone Time as warmly intimate an account as the details of a trip shared by a beloved friend--and will have its many readers eager to set off on their own solo adventures.]]> 272 Stephanie Rosenbloom 0399562303 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.45 2018 Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude
author: Stephanie Rosenbloom
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[5 Secrets of Story Structure: How to Write a Novel That Stands Out]]> 28947421 Want to take your writing to the next level? Discover the “secrets� of story structure other authors are overlooking!If you’ve read all the books on story structure and concluded there has to be more to it than just three acts and a couple of plot points, then you’re absolutely right! It’s time to notch up your writing education from “basic� to “black belt.� Internationally-published author K.M. Weiland shares five “secret� techniques of advanced story structure. In the multi-award-winning Structuring Your Novel, Weiland showed writers how to use a strong three-act structure to build a story with the greatest possible impact on readers. Now it’s time to take that knowledge to the next level.In this supplemental book, you’ll the Inciting Event isn’t what you’ve always thought it isWhat your Key Event is and how to stop putting it in the wrong sceneHow to identify your Pinch Points—and why they can make the middle of your book easier to writeHow to create the perfect Moment of Truth to move your protagonist from reaction to actionHow to ace your story’s Climactic Moment every single timeAnd much more!By the time you’ve finished this quick read, you’ll know more about story structure than the vast majority of aspiring authors will ever know—and you’ll be ready to write an amazing novel that stands above the crowd.Take the next step in your evolution as a writer!]]> 61 K.M. Weiland 1944936009 Alyssa 0 currently-reading 4.23 5 Secrets of Story Structure: How to Write a Novel That Stands Out
author: K.M. Weiland
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/05/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Column of Fire (Kingsbridge, #3)]]> 33571713 As Europe erupts, can one young spy protect his queen? Ken Follett takes us deep into the treacherous world of powerful monarchs, intrigue, murder, and treason with his magnificent epic, A Column of Fire—the chronological latest in the Kingsbridge series, following The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, and the prequel, The Evening and the Morning.

In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty, and love.

Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country’s first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions, and invasion plans. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.

The real enemies, then as now, are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else—no matter what the cost.

Exciting and ambitious, and set during one of the most turbulent and revolutionary times in history, A Column of Fire will delight longtime fans of the Kingsbridge series and serve as the perfect introduction for readers new to Ken Follett.]]> 916 Ken Follett 052595497X Alyssa 4 4.16 2017 A Column of Fire (Kingsbridge, #3)
author: Ken Follett
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2018/05/09
date added: 2018/05/09
shelves:
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This one, appropriately, integrates more politics and history into the story while maintaining similar threads and themes as the first two volumes.
]]> Modern Lovers 27209486 From the New York Times‒bestselling author of The Vacationers, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college—their own kids now going to college—and what it means to finally grow up well after adulthood has set in.

Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.

Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adults' lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.

Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.]]> 353 Emma Straub 159463467X Alyssa 3 3.39 2016 Modern Lovers
author: Emma Straub
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2018/05/02
shelves:
review:
A good, quick read about contemporary marriage and family.
]]> The Secret Life of Aphra Behn 428989 Book by Todd, Janet 560 Janet Todd 0863584160 Alyssa 2 4.06 1997 The Secret Life of Aphra Behn
author: Janet Todd
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at: 2018/05/02
date added: 2018/05/02
shelves:
review:
I actually didn't finish this. I think this will be useful for scholars of Behn, but even for someone who has a scholarly background, I found it a bit dry. Too much analysis and summarizing of her literary works--I wanted more about her and her life.
]]> <![CDATA[World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)]]> 5064 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas—about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race—the Black Death.]]> 1237 Ken Follett Alyssa 4 4.30 2007 World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)
author: Ken Follett
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2018/04/15
date added: 2018/05/02
shelves:
review:
A good read, but not as good as Pillars of the Earth. It moves quickly and the characters are engrossing but I did find the characters a bit anachronistic--especially Caris, who seemed way too feminist, in a very conscious way.
]]> <![CDATA[Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change]]> 11516274
The world-renowned psychologist Timothy Wilson shows us how to redirect the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us, with subtle prompts, in ways that lead to lasting change. Fascinating, groundbreaking, and practical, Redirect demonstrates the remarkable power small changes can have on the ways we see ourselves and our environment, and how we can use this in our everyday lives.

"There are few academics who write with as much grace and wisdom as Timothy Wilson. Redirect is a masterpiece." -- Malcolm Gladwell]]> 288 Timothy D. Wilson 0316051888 Alyssa 3 3.78 2009 Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change
author: Timothy D. Wilson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2018/01/17
date added: 2018/03/29
shelves:
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]]> WEIRD WORLD THATS NOT 35887161 304 Jennifer Romolini 0062472739 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.89 2017 WEIRD WORLD THATS NOT
author: Jennifer Romolini
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 5043 Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

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

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

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

For the TV tie-in edition with the same ISBN go to this Alternate Cover Edition
]]> 976 Ken Follett 045122213X Alyssa 4 4.34 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2018/01/17
date added: 2018/01/17
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race]]> 33606119
Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.]]> 249 Reni Eddo-Lodge 140887055X Alyssa 0 to-read 4.37 2017 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
author: Reni Eddo-Lodge
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)]]> 31951505 How only violence and catastrophes have consistently reduced inequality throughout world history

Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world.

Ever since humans began to farm, herd livestock, and pass on their assets to future generations, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Over thousands of years, only violent events have significantly lessened inequality. The "Four Horsemen" of leveling—mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues—have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich. Scheidel identifies and examines these processes, from the crises of the earliest civilizations to the cataclysmic world wars and communist revolutions of the twentieth century. Today, the violence that reduced inequality in the past seems to have diminished, and that is a good thing. But it casts serious doubt on the prospects for a more equal future.

An essential contribution to the debate about inequality, The Great Leveler provides important new insights about why inequality is so persistent—and why it is unlikely to decline anytime soon.]]> 528 Walter Scheidel 0691165025 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.78 2017 The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
author: Walter Scheidel
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, #3)]]> 116257 The System of the World, the third and concluding volume of Neal Stephenson's shelf-bending Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver and The Confusion), brings the epic historical saga to its thrilling - and truly awe-inspiring - conclusion.

Set in the early 18th century and featuring a diverse cast of characters that includes alchemists, philosophers, mathematicians, spies, thieves, pirates, and royalty, The System of the World follows Daniel Waterhouse, an unassuming philosopher and confidant to some of the most brilliant minds of the age, as he returns to England to try and repair the rift between geniuses Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. After reluctantly leaving his family in Boston, Waterhouse arrives in England and is almost killed by a mysterious Infernal Device. Having been away from the war-decimated country for two decades, Waterhouse quickly learns that although many things have changed, there is still violent revolution simmering just beneath the surface of seemingly civilized society. With Queen Anne deathly ill and Tories and Whigs jostling for political supremacy, Waterhouse and Newton vow to figure out who is trying to kill certain scientists and decipher the riddle behind the legend of King Solomon's gold, a mythical hoard of precious metal with miraculous properties.

Arguably one of the most ambitious -- and most researched -- stories ever written, Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is set in one of the most turbulent and exciting times in human history. Filled with wild adventure, political intrigue, social upheaval, civilization-changing discoveries, cabalistic mysticism, and even a little romance, this massive saga is worth its weight in (Solomon's) gold.
Paul Goat Allen]]> 908 Neal Stephenson 0060750863 Alyssa 4 4.33 2004 The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, #3)
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2017/08/01
date added: 2017/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age]]> 18170162
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee "Tennie" Claflin-the most fascinating and scandalous sisters in American history-were unequaled for their vastly avant-garde crusade for women's fiscal, political, and sexual independence. They escaped a tawdry childhood to become rich and famous, achieving a stunning list of firsts. In 1870 they became the first women to open a brokerage firm, not to be repeated for nearly a century. Amid high gossip that he was Tennie's lover, the richest man in America, fabled tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, bankrolled the sisters. As beautiful as they were audacious, the sisters drew a crowd of more than two thousand Wall Street bankers on opening day. A half century before women could vote, Victoria used her Wall Street fame to become the first woman to run for president, choosing former slave Frederick Douglass as her running mate. She was also the first woman to address a United States congressional committee. Tennie ran for Congress and shocked the world by becoming the honorary colonel of a black regiment.

They were the first female publishers of a radical weekly, and the first to print Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto in America. As free lovers they railed against Victorian hypocrisy and exposed the alleged adultery of Henry Ward Beecher, the most famous preacher in America, igniting the "Trial of the Century" that rivaled the Civil War for media coverage. Eventually banished from the women's movement while imprisoned for allegedly sending "obscenity" through the mail, the sisters sashayed to London and married two of the richest men in England, dining with royalty while pushing for women's rights well into the twentieth century. Vividly telling their story, Myra MacPherson brings these inspiring and outrageous sisters brilliantly to life.

"If the subject of Gilded Age women brings to mind buccaneers in gently rustling hoop skirts rather than feminist firebrands, Myra MacPherson's fascinating dual biography...may go a long way in changing that."
—V´Ç˛µłÜ±đ.ł¦´Çłľ

"In this sweeping, engaging new biography, Myra MacPherson chronicles lives that intersected with nearly all of the era's great themes and famous figures."
—Boston Globe

"[In] MacPherson's enchanting dual biography...the epilogue hammers home that even in 2014 men use women's bodies as political bargaining chips."
—The Washington Post

"A lively account of the unlikely lives of the two most symbiotic and scandalous sisters in American History."
—The New Yorker

"'MacPherson crusades' for 19th century feminists."
—Vanity Fair

"Are these sisters the most scandalous feminists of all time? MacPherson's new book is about two sisters in the late 1800's but couldn't be more timely."
â€Äâ±đłŮ°ů´Ç

"MacPherson, an award-winning journalist, takes a theatrical approach to these radical proceedings. She provides a cast of characters and unfolds the sisters' story over the course of five irresistible 'acts.' This is a grand tale presented on a grand scale."
—B´Ç´Ç°ě±č˛ą˛µ±đ

"MacPherson aims her wit and very sharp pen at a side of the suffrage movement rarely seen in history books, epitomized by these two real sisters...she takes us on a raucous romp through secret trysts, their self-published weekly advocating free speech and free love, sensational trials, fortune-telling, Spiritualism and brushes with the most powerful capitalists and revolutionaries of the time. Along the way the sisters set the suffrage movement on fire--albeit briefly--with their modern ideas, fiery rhetoric and passion for women's rights."
—Los Angeles Daily Journal

"Sensational...MacPherson gives a detailed portrait of the roller-coaster, rags-to-riches lives of two backwoods country girls, who, seeking to better their own situation, hoped to do the same for women everywhere..."
—B´Ç´Ç°ě±ôľ±˛őłŮ

""Delightful...I am going to read it again! It is that good. Thanks to 'Vicky and Tennie' for making history-changing so darn interesting."
—B´Ç´Ç°ě¸é±đ±č´Ç°ůłŮ±đ°ů

"Ordinarily, one would look to the fiction of Twain or Dickens to find a nineteenth-century tale to match the real-life saga of the sisters Claflin-Woodhull. Happily, Myra MacPherson has rediscovered these proto-feminists. Their rebellion against Victorian sexual enslavement and the power of white males captivated and infuriated their contemporaries for good reason, and left a mark that resonates today."
—Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and coauthor of All the President's Men (with Bob Woodward)

"Victoria Woodhull is one of the great unsung characters of American history--a beauty, a radical activist, a con artist, and a true revolutionary who pushed every boundary and every button that the century offered. THE SCARLET SISTERS is a roller-coaster ride though American history that will amaze and delight readers."
—Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

"THE SCARLET SISTERS has everything--from history and intrigue, to sex and money. Myra MacPherson has written this book with the care and professionalism of the great reporter she is but also with the wit, wisdom, and flair of the great novelist she definitely could be. A fabulous delight of a read."
—Jim Lehrer, former host of PBS NewsHour, playwright, and author of Top Down: A Novel of the Kennedy Assassination

"Read the epilogue first, to understand immediately why THE SCARLET SISTERS resonates so richly in today's political world. Myra MacPherson's rich understanding of the threads connecting these colorful pioneers to our contentious twenty-first century issues is wonderfully instructive."
—Lynn Sherr, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words and the forthcoming Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space

"If the Scarlet Sisters hadn't existed, feminism would have had to invent them. Myra MacPherson writes the story of these fearless and path-breaking nineteenth-century radicals with her trademark energy and wit. This sisterhood is indeed powerful."
—Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and coauthor of I Know Just What You Mean: The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives (with Patricia O'Brien)

"Myra MacPherson's THE SCARLET SISTERS vividly and entertainingly brings to life a long lost chapter of American history that will surprise anyone who thinks that feminism is a twentieth century invention. It's both a great tale, and a great read."
—Jane Mayer, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of The Dark Side

"Myra MacPherson is a treasure among American historians. In [her] riveting, often uproarious chronicle, the Sisters' crusades against benighted convention were but the onset of a righteous firestorm that continues to arc into our times."
—Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and author of Mark Twain: A Life

"Woodhull and Claflin deserve credit for crashing the glass front doors of Wall Street, Washington, and bedrooms across the country a century and a half ago. These too long neglected amazing pioneers of the Gilded Age are brought to life in Myra MacPherson's energetic, well researched, and enthralling book."
—Kenneth D. Ackerman, author of The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869]]> 323 Myra MacPherson 0446570230 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.46 2014 The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age
author: Myra MacPherson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2014
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]]> Tipping the Velvet 25104465 472 Sarah Waters Alyssa 0 to-read 4.12 1998 Tipping the Velvet
author: Sarah Waters
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/07/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Grace Period: A Memoir in Pieces]]> 35450740
But after five years of job rejections and a new baby on the way, she decided to take a year off to figure out if the career she trained for was actually the life she wanted. Grace A Memoir in Pieces are the essays that she wrote to make sense of how her life went off-track. Expanding on her popular Chronicle Vitae column of the same name, she documents her transition out of academia and the emotional turmoil of rebuilding a life beyond what she had prepared for. Instead of telling an easy story about her exit from the academy into a brand-new post-academic career, Baker resists smoothing over the hard reality of transitions, the importance of waiting and anticipation, and the realization that the lives we imagine for ourselves are tenuous at best and often are impossible to achieve.]]> 123 Kelly J. Baker Alyssa 0 to-read 4.20 2017 Grace Period: A Memoir in Pieces
author: Kelly J. Baker
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/07/11
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays]]> 32620333
What really makes love last? Does love ever work the way we say it does in movies and books and Facebook posts? Or does obsessing over those love stories hurt our real-life relationships? When her parents divorced after a twenty-eight year marriage and her own ten-year relationship ended, those were the questions that Mandy Len Catron wanted to answer.

In a series of candid, vulnerable, and wise essays that takes a closer look at what it means to love someone, be loved, and how we present our love to the world, Catron deconstructs her own personal canon of love stories. She delves all the way back to 1944, when her grandparents first met in a coal mining town in Appalachia, to her own dating life as a professor in Vancouver, drawing insights from her fascinating research into the universal psychology, biology, history, and literature of love. She uses biologists� research into dopamine triggers to ask whether the need to love is an innate human drive. She uses literary theory to show why we prefer certain kinds of love stories. She urges us to question the unwritten scripts we follow in relationships and looks into where those scripts come from in the first place. And she tells the story of how she decided to test a psychology experiment that she’d read about—where the goal was to create intimacy between strangers using a list of thirty-six questions—and ended up in the surreal situation of having millions of people following her brand-new relationship.

In How to Fall in Love with Anyone Catron flips the script on love and offers a deeply personal, and universal, investigation.]]> 238 Mandy Len Catron 1501137441 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.67 2017 How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays
author: Mandy Len Catron
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/07/05
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]]> The Hour of Daydreams 31213521 232 Renee M. Rutledge 1942436270 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.03 2017 The Hour of Daydreams
author: Renee M. Rutledge
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/03/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon (Avalon, #5)]]> 181886 360 Diana L. Paxson 0451460286 Alyssa 3 3.92 2004 Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon (Avalon, #5)
author: Diana L. Paxson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2017/03/22
date added: 2017/03/22
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I didn't like this one as much as the others. (Mists still remains the best). But it's interesting in the way it posits a history for the backdrop of Avalon and made me curious to go back and now read the books chronologically. I do agree the characters weren't as compelling as in other books. The creation of Stonehenge was fascinating and the use of magic and history together I thought overall worked. What I'd like to know more about is how in coming to Britain, a more Goddess/ female-centered theology was adopted. The idea that there is a repeating, cyclical pattern here is intriguing.
]]> <![CDATA[Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America's Origins to the Twenty-First Century]]> 30231732

Although the Second Great Awakening later came to define America through the lens of evangelical Christianity, nineteenth-century Americans continued to view sex as a matter of private concern, so much so that sexual expression and information about contraception circulated freely, abortions before “quickening� remained legal, and prosecutions for sodomy were almost nonexistent.


The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reversed such tolerance, however, as charismatic spiritual leaders and barnstorming politicians rejected the values of our nation’s founders. Spurred on by Anthony Comstock, America’s most feared enforcer of morality, new laws were enacted banning pornography, contraception, and abortion, with Comstock proposing that the word “unclean� be branded on the foreheads of homosexuals. Women increasingly lost control of their bodies, and birth control advocates, like Margaret Sanger, were imprisoned for advocating their beliefs. In this new world, abortions were for the first time relegated to dank and dangerous back rooms.


The twentieth century gradually saw the emergence of bitter divisions over issues of sexual “morality� and sexual freedom. Fiercely determined organizations and individuals on both the right and the left wrestled in the domains of politics, religion, public opinion, and the courts to win over the soul of the nation. With its stirring portrayals of Supreme Court justices, Sex and the Constitution reads like a dramatic gazette of the critical cases they decided, ranging from Griswold v. Connecticut (contraception), to Roe v. Wade (abortion), to Obergefell v. Hodges (gay marriage), with Stone providing vivid historical context to the decisions that have come to define who we are as a nation.


Now, though, after the 2016 presidential election, we seem to have taken a huge step backward, with the progress of the last half century suddenly imperiled. No one can predict the extent to which constitutional decisions safeguarding our personal freedoms might soon be eroded, but Sex and the Constitution is more vital now than ever before.]]> 704 Geoffrey R. Stone 0871404699 Alyssa 0 to-read 4.37 2017 Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America's Origins to the Twenty-First Century
author: Geoffrey R. Stone
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
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]]> The Book of Madness and Cures 12821037 The Book of Diseases.

After ten years of missing his kindness, insight, and guidance, Gabriella decides to set off on a quest to find him--a daunting journey that will take her through great university cities, centers of medicine, and remote villages across Europe. Despite setbacks, wary strangers, and the menaces of the road, the young doctor bravely follows the clues to her lost father, all while taking notes on maladies and treating the ill to supplement her own work.

Gorgeous and brilliantly written, and filled with details about science, medicine, food, and madness, The Book Of Madness And Cures is an unforgettable debut.]]> 320 Regina O'Melveny 0316195839 Alyssa 4 2.91 2012 The Book of Madness and Cures
author: Regina O'Melveny
name: Alyssa
average rating: 2.91
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2016/12/30
date added: 2017/01/04
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Some lovely descriptive language here about a woman doctor in late 1500s Venice who goes on a quest to find her father. Her journey takes her through Austria, Europe, Scotland, France, Spain and Northern Africa. I found the climax a little bit disappointing; it felt rushed and not entirely developed. But the use of historical and geographical details and the character development of the protagonist were superb. Especially interesting how she presents the medical perspective of the day as still very much influenced by magical thinking. As I'm working on my own piece of historical fiction, I definitely will be going back to look at how the author, a poet, elegantly integrates historical details.
]]> <![CDATA[The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, #2)]]> 822 815 Neal Stephenson 0060733357 Alyssa 4 4.26 2004 The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, #2)
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2016/09/29
date added: 2017/01/04
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Very action-packed! Looking forward to reading the final book of trilogy.
]]> <![CDATA[Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, #1)]]> 823 Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.

It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe--London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds--risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox.

And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance.

A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time.

And it's just the beginning...

(back cover)

This P.S. edition includes 16 pages of supplementary materials.

Cover design by Richard L. Aquan
Cover illustration from the Mary Evans Picture Library; painting of Great Fire of London on stepback]]> 927 Neal Stephenson Alyssa 4 3.91 2003 Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, #1)
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/01
date added: 2016/09/13
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Stephenson's writing is full of detail, humor and insight. Am reading the second book in the cycle-will review the trilogy when I'm done!
]]> Mischling 28664920
Stasha must care for: the funny, the future, the bad.

It's 1944 when the twin sisters arrive at Auschwitz with their mother and grandfather. In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood.

As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain.

That winter, at a concert orchestrated by Mengele, Pearl disappears. Stasha grieves for her twin, but clings to the possibility that Pearl remains alive. When the camp is liberated by the Red Army, she and her companion Feliks--a boy bent on vengeance for his own lost twin--travel through Poland's devastation. Undeterred by injury, starvation, or the chaos around them, motivated by equal parts danger and hope, they encounter hostile villagers, Jewish resistance fighters, and fellow refugees, their quest enabled by the notion that Mengele may be captured and brought to justice within the ruins of the Warsaw Zoo. As the young survivors discover what has become of the world, they must try to imagine a future within it.

A superbly crafted story, told in a voice as exquisite as it is boundlessly original, Mischling defies every expectation, traversing one of the darkest moments in human history to show us the way toward ethereal beauty, moral reckoning, and soaring hope.]]> 344 Affinity Konar 0316308102 Alyssa 0 to-read 3.78 2016 Mischling
author: Affinity Konar
name: Alyssa
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/09/13
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]]>