Leo's bookshelf: all

Leo's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:44:41 -0700 60 Leo's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Lost Heart of Asia 386402 384 Colin Thubron 0060926562 Leo 5 travel-memoir
The recent fall of Communism in Central Asia forms the backdrop to his convoluted wanderings through the lands of the -stans, never shying away from the profane nor the sacred: mosques, drunken picnics, mountain lakes and desecrated churches, he meets a wonderful selection of humanity and confronts the uncertainty and rekindled hopes of peoples unshackled from the staid ideology of Stalin in the late 20th century.

It's particularly interesting to learn that the people of Central Asia do not see themselves as fundamental as the Shia Iranians, nor as godless as the Soviets. They embrace a version of Islam that tolerates a moderate imbibition of alcohol and a love of theatre. There are all sorts of unresolved contradictions in this newly liberated Heart of Asia, and it will be fascinating to see how it all continues to play out in the 21st century as the new post-World War order continues to unravel.]]> 3.90 1994 The Lost Heart of Asia

author: Colin Thubron
name: Leo
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: travel-memoir
review:
Thubron is a fantastic author. Accused by some of being maudlin and pessimistic, I find him to be honest and willing to travel difficult roads at a difficult juncture in history.

The recent fall of Communism in Central Asia forms the backdrop to his convoluted wanderings through the lands of the -stans, never shying away from the profane nor the sacred: mosques, drunken picnics, mountain lakes and desecrated churches, he meets a wonderful selection of humanity and confronts the uncertainty and rekindled hopes of peoples unshackled from the staid ideology of Stalin in the late 20th century.

It's particularly interesting to learn that the people of Central Asia do not see themselves as fundamental as the Shia Iranians, nor as godless as the Soviets. They embrace a version of Islam that tolerates a moderate imbibition of alcohol and a love of theatre. There are all sorts of unresolved contradictions in this newly liberated Heart of Asia, and it will be fascinating to see how it all continues to play out in the 21st century as the new post-World War order continues to unravel.
]]> Men of My Land 34205852 P.S. Nevis 1370746148 Leo 5
The focus of the book is Nazgol, a young Afghan woman, and is narrated from her perspective. She is sweet and endearing, recounting first the days of the Soviet occupation in the late 1970s to early 80s, through peace time to the rise and rule of the Taliban. Her world is full of the complexities of the prevailing cultural norms and expectations: she must marry according to her father's wishes, education is subservient to the needs of the family - she is compelled to finish school early to work in her father's business - and her own ambitions and desires are of little consequence.

When she rebels and runs away with the young man from next door the consequences are near-fatal. Upon returning she is beaten by her father to within an inch of her life because of the harsh code of honour and shame that the culture propagates among family patriarchs. She survives against the odds and somehow manages to find both love and meaning despite the stigma and labels. It's quite beautiful really. Nevertheless, when her old flame, a nasty piece of work who is now a member of the Taliban, discovers her whereabouts, everything is turned on its head.

The writer does not shy away from the harsh realities of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban but fortunately Nazgol is surrounded by people with agency. Things do not work out as expected but they do work out one way or another. I enjoyed this book and am disappointed I couldn't discover more about the author either here or elsewhere. Don't be put off by a short Preface which is written in very simple language - it fits into the story much later on.]]> 5.00 Men of My Land

author: P.S. Nevis
name: Leo
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
An engrossing book, I would love to know whether it was inspired by real world events. For anyone who may have read Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns this book reads equally poignantly.

The focus of the book is Nazgol, a young Afghan woman, and is narrated from her perspective. She is sweet and endearing, recounting first the days of the Soviet occupation in the late 1970s to early 80s, through peace time to the rise and rule of the Taliban. Her world is full of the complexities of the prevailing cultural norms and expectations: she must marry according to her father's wishes, education is subservient to the needs of the family - she is compelled to finish school early to work in her father's business - and her own ambitions and desires are of little consequence.

When she rebels and runs away with the young man from next door the consequences are near-fatal. Upon returning she is beaten by her father to within an inch of her life because of the harsh code of honour and shame that the culture propagates among family patriarchs. She survives against the odds and somehow manages to find both love and meaning despite the stigma and labels. It's quite beautiful really. Nevertheless, when her old flame, a nasty piece of work who is now a member of the Taliban, discovers her whereabouts, everything is turned on its head.

The writer does not shy away from the harsh realities of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban but fortunately Nazgol is surrounded by people with agency. Things do not work out as expected but they do work out one way or another. I enjoyed this book and am disappointed I couldn't discover more about the author either here or elsewhere. Don't be put off by a short Preface which is written in very simple language - it fits into the story much later on.
]]> The emerald run 41716736 213 Paul Tingay 0869250906 Leo 4
If you're a fan of Wilbur Smith and his African epics, you're bound to enjoy this book (minus the overtly sexual scenes and references). The action is unrelenting, the character casting satisfying: good guys and bad guys in equal measure. Emeralds, drugs, cartels and mafia; Rhodesia, South Africa, Italy, England, Brazil and Uraguay... I'm sure you get the picture.

It does make you wonder how much was true and how much was fiction...]]> 4.00 The emerald run

author: Paul Tingay
name: Leo
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:
This book was published in 1979 right at the end of the Rhodesian Bush War by a Rhodesian author. The characterisation of people and place is quite evocative for anyone from that part of the world such as myself. I am also fortunate enough to have recently met the author who is now well into the twilight of his writing career, bless him.

If you're a fan of Wilbur Smith and his African epics, you're bound to enjoy this book (minus the overtly sexual scenes and references). The action is unrelenting, the character casting satisfying: good guys and bad guys in equal measure. Emeralds, drugs, cartels and mafia; Rhodesia, South Africa, Italy, England, Brazil and Uraguay... I'm sure you get the picture.

It does make you wonder how much was true and how much was fiction...
]]> Futureproof, A Novel 222762575 Trust the migrants will adapt.
Trust your ex-brain will serve you.

In the 2050s, our predicted future is reality. The climate has changed. People flee the coasts and the heat zones to survive, and refugees reshape the world. And yet, through technology we adapt. Some of us even thrive. Our external brains, or ex-brains, show us how to solve our problems, help us predict and overcome. We trust, and we move forward. Joe Watson, a pioneering lawyer, and his wife Evie, a predictive psychologist, helped build this new world. When it turns against them, can they reclaim their future?]]> 353 Stephen Albrecht Leo 5
Against this backdrop Joe and Evie live as successful professionals who embrace the technology, Joe as a lawyer and Evie as a health worker. But are the ex-brains as objective and impartial as they are supposed to be, and are Joe and Evie (and everyone else for that matter) controlling the ex-brains, or have the ex-brains thrown off the shackles imposed by arbitrary human laws?

Just when you think you've figured it all out, the author throws in a twist that'll leave you with that "I should have seen that coming" feeling. Very enjoyable.]]> 3.86 Futureproof, A Novel

author: Stephen Albrecht
name: Leo
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: fiction, science-fiction-terrestrial
review:
A riveting, well-crafted thriller in a not-so-distant future where AIs, otherwise known as ex-brains, augment everything that society does and plans to do. They dictate city building needs, climate change is biting hard and tens of millions are relocating inland, create budgets, recruit workers and forecast the future in statistical terms.

Against this backdrop Joe and Evie live as successful professionals who embrace the technology, Joe as a lawyer and Evie as a health worker. But are the ex-brains as objective and impartial as they are supposed to be, and are Joe and Evie (and everyone else for that matter) controlling the ex-brains, or have the ex-brains thrown off the shackles imposed by arbitrary human laws?

Just when you think you've figured it all out, the author throws in a twist that'll leave you with that "I should have seen that coming" feeling. Very enjoyable.
]]> <![CDATA[Between the Woods and the Water (Trilogy, #2)]]> 293207
The journey that Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on in 1933—to cross Europe on foot with an emergency allowance of one pound a day—proved so rich in experiences that when much later he sat down to describe them, they overflowed into more than one volume. Undertaken as the storms of war gathered, and providing a background for the events that were beginning to unfold in Central Europe, Leigh Fermor’s still-unfinished account of his journey has established itself as a modern classic. Between the Woods and the Water , the second volume of a projected three, has garnered as many prizes as its celebrated predecessor, A Time of Gifts .

The opening of the book finds Leigh Fermor crossing the Danube—at the very moment where his first volume left off. A detour to the luminous splendors of Prague is followed by a trip downriver to Budapest, passage on horseback across the Great Hungarian Plain, and a crossing of the Romanian border into Transylvania. Remote castles, mountain villages, monasteries and towering ranges that are the haunt of bears, wolves, eagles, gypsies, and a variety of sects are all savored in the approach to the Iron Gates, the division between the Carpathian mountains and the Balkans, where, for now, the story ends.]]> 280 Patrick Leigh Fermor 1590171667 Leo 0 to-read 4.30 1986 Between the Woods and the Water (Trilogy, #2)

Between the Woods and the Water (Trilogy, #2)

author: Patrick Leigh Fermor
name: Leo
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Road to Oxiana 860183
In addition to its entertainment value, The Road to Oxiana also serves as a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travellers. When Paul Fussell "rediscovered" The Road to Oxiana in his recent book Abroad, he whetted the appetite of a whole new generation of readers. In his new introduction, written especially for this volume, Fussell writes: "Reading the book is like stumbling into a modern museum of literary kinds presided over by a benign if eccentric curator. Here armchair travellers will find newspaper clippings, public signs and notices, official forms, letters, diary entries, essays on current politics, lyric passages, historical and archaeological dissertations, brief travel narratives (usually of comic-awful delays and disasters), and--the triumph of the book--at least twenty superb comic dialogues, some of them virtually playlets, complete with stage directions and musical scoring."]]> 292 Robert Byron 0195030672 Leo 0 to-read 3.91 1937 The Road to Oxiana

author: Robert Byron
name: Leo
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventurous Nun: Stories My Family Told Me]]> 61995345 As a FMM, Sister Mildred worked and met people in many different countries including South Africa, Congo, Kenya, Mauritius, France, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Italy, Switzerland, England and Madagascar. She was a teacher by profession, and an interpreter as she was fluent in English, French and Swahili, and could converse in Italian, with isiZulu being her mother tongue. This biography is thus available in French, Swahili, and, importantly, in isiZulu, because she believed in communicating to people in their mother tongue.
Sister Mildred attended school at St Francis College Mariannhill with the late liberation struggle icon Steve Biko. In later life she wholeheartedly followed her calling as a nun which she first felt when she was just eight years old. Over the years she met and engaged with Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Otunga, and slept in the home of Mary of the Passion. Her adventurous journey with Jesus was not without danger, though; she was followed by a lion in Kenya, and survived the civil war in Zaire before finally succumbing to Covid-19 in Madagascar.
Although she didn’t spend much time with them, Sister Mildred’s love for her blood relatives never diminished. Throughout the book tales are woven of family interactions, to preserve the history of this family which produced such an extraordinary woman.
Practically, the book explains what a nun is as well as the work that nuns are involved in. When Sister Mildred was in Rome, she wrote about her life in the form of poems which are published here. In the book, she also shares lessons that she learnt throughout her journey.
It’s a stirring story of a woman’s passion for Jesus, but most of all for her passion to serve His people to the very best of her ability. Sister Mildred did this with alacrity until the very end.]]> 240 Marcia Mandisi Mabaso Leo 0 to-read 0.0 The Adventurous Nun: Stories My Family Told Me

The Adventurous Nun: Stories My Family Told Me

author: Marcia Mandisi Mabaso
name: Leo
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Was My Africa: Living with Changes]]> 40181507 651 June Kashita 1987776798 Leo 0 to-read 5.00

author: June Kashita
name: Leo
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World]]> 62918237 The shocking and scandalous story of Messalina—the third wife of Emperor Claudius—one of the most controversial women to have inhabited the Roman world.

The lubricious image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless, predatory, and sexually insatiable schemer—derived from the work of male historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius—has taken deep root in the Western imagination.

Here, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin puts this traditional narrative of Messalina to the test. She looks first at Messalina's life as it is recounted in the primary sources, before using material and circumstantial evidence to reconstruct each aspect of Messalina's politician, wife, adulteress, and prostitute. Finally, she explores how posterity has memorialized Messalina, whether as artist's muse, epitome of depraved pagan womanhood, or as libertine icon portrayed in literature and film.

Cargill-Martin sets out not to entirely rewrite Messalina's history, or to salvage her reputation, but to look at her life in the context of her time and to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously defined by currents of high politics and patriarchy.]]> 415 Honor Cargill-Martin 1639363963 Leo 0 to-read 3.98 2023 Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World

Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World

author: Honor Cargill-Martin
name: Leo
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Elon Musk 122765395 From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,�� he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?]]> 688 Walter Isaacson 1982181281 Leo 4 biographies
If you want to understand where the most powerful, and richest, man in the world came from, you should start with this book. His drive and commitment to his vision, the complexities of family life and inter-personal relationships, his maverick style of running companies and his sheer ruthlessness in obtaining his goals are all laid bare here.

If there was one thing I thought missing from the account it was a bit more on his early years in South Africa. There is a reported story of a severe case of bullying at his first high school, Bryanston, in Johannesburg, which wasn't included. It meant that he had to change schools. A few of those early formative events warranted inclusion. Ditto his thoughts on growing up in Apartheid South Africa.

I can foresee a second edition, if Isaacson is still around to write it, in five or, at most, ten years time, because at the rate at which events are moving anything published today is already old news by the weekend...]]> 4.28 2023 Elon Musk

author: Walter Isaacson
name: Leo
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: biographies
review:
A really, really important book. I'm sure I need not say why. Elon Musk as an entrepreneur, blue-sky thinker, technologist and disrupter is a fascinating figure and worthy of admiration. But there's a darker side to him too - his demon mode really is demonic to many of those who have to deal with it. And now, as the head of DOGE and its implications for American democracy, the need to understand who this man is and what moulded him have never been more crucial.

If you want to understand where the most powerful, and richest, man in the world came from, you should start with this book. His drive and commitment to his vision, the complexities of family life and inter-personal relationships, his maverick style of running companies and his sheer ruthlessness in obtaining his goals are all laid bare here.

If there was one thing I thought missing from the account it was a bit more on his early years in South Africa. There is a reported story of a severe case of bullying at his first high school, Bryanston, in Johannesburg, which wasn't included. It meant that he had to change schools. A few of those early formative events warranted inclusion. Ditto his thoughts on growing up in Apartheid South Africa.

I can foresee a second edition, if Isaacson is still around to write it, in five or, at most, ten years time, because at the rate at which events are moving anything published today is already old news by the weekend...
]]> <![CDATA[The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays]]> 11987 212 Albert Camus Leo 0 to-read 4.23 1942

author: Albert Camus
name: Leo
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Threads: A Daydream on the Birth of the Universe and the History of Human Thought]]> 217450266
FROM THE AUDIENCE

��...truly a stunning, beautiful story and
presentation. I could watch that every day of my
life and be moved to tears and laugh and get
tingles each time. ...it was such an honor to get
to witness such art.��

“That was one of the most amazing, beautiful,
deep shows I’ve ever seen.... It made such an
insane impact on me. I want to see it again
already. I want to show it to everyone.��

“I found the concept beautiful and wholly
reflective of the human experience.... Lovely,
beautiful, wonderful, excellently done.”]]> 137 Clay Smith Leo 0 to-read 4.60 Threads: A Daydream on the Birth of the Universe and the History of Human Thought

Threads: A Daydream on the Birth of the Universe and the History of Human Thought

author: Clay Smith
name: Leo
average rating: 4.60
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Orbital 218505320
A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction.

The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?]]> 137 Samantha Harvey Leo 0 to-read 3.77 2023 Orbital

author: Samantha Harvey
name: Leo
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Circle With 3 Corners 204769526 and death, Emily’s eventful Safari holiday takes an
unexpected turn when she becomes an undercover agent
to infiltrate an international modern slavery network.
But searching for truth is deadly.]]> 414 AnB Love Leo 0 to-read 0.0 2024 Circle With 3 Corners

author: AnB Love
name: Leo
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning]]> 134115745 Read by Liz Cheney with 50+ audio source material clips included, Oath and Honor is a gripping first-hand account from inside the halls of Congress as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution—leading to the violent attack on our Capitol on January 6th, 2021—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.

Liz Cheney, one of the few Republican officials to take a stand against these efforts, witnessed the attack first-hand, and then helped lead the Congressional Select Committee investigation into how it happened. In Oath and Honor, she tells the story of this perilous moment in our history, those who helped Trump spread the stolen election lie, those whose actions preserved our constitutional framework, and the risks we still face.]]> 372 Liz Cheney 0316572063 Leo 0 to-read 4.55 2023 Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning

author: Liz Cheney
name: Leo
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder]]> 199344846
On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey toward physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

Knife is Rushdie at the peak of his powers, writing with urgency, with gravity, with unflinching honesty. It is also a deeply moving reminder of literature’s capacity to make sense of the unthinkable, an intimate and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.]]> 209 Salman Rushdie 0593730240 Leo 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder

author: Salman Rushdie
name: Leo
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering]]> 216857785
Why is Miami…Miami? What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do Ivy League schools care so much about sports? What is the Magic Third, and what does it mean for racial harmony? In this provocative new work, Malcolm Gladwell returns for the first time in twenty-five years to the subject of social epidemics and tipping points, this time with the aim of explaining the dark side of contagious phenomena.

Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.]]> 352 Malcolm Gladwell 0316575801 Leo 0 to-read 4.03 2024 Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Leo
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fury's War: An Epic Tale of Two Lives on Opposing Sides of a Bitter Conflict]]> 216621557
Fourie, or Fury as he is known by the British, is among the most wanted of men. Rose, an English beauty pursued by an officer intent on capturing Fury, finds herself in a precarious position. Bound by a love that cannot be denied and separated by a war intent on destroying them, Rose and Fury find ways to meet and the line between patriotism and treachery becomes blurred.

From the greed and horror of the Anglo-Boer War, to the misery and death of the concentration camps and the bravery on the battlefield, comes a story of indominable courage that will hold you captive to the very end.]]> 452 Buxton Gray 0796153752 Leo 0 to-read 4.67 Fury's War: An Epic Tale of Two Lives on Opposing Sides of a Bitter Conflict

Fury's War: An Epic Tale of Two Lives on Opposing Sides of a Bitter Conflict

author: Buxton Gray
name: Leo
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trance Formation: A Memoir of Trauma, Travel, and Transformation : A Spiritual Quest for Self-Discovery and Healing]]> 216835986 From Corporate Burnout to Soul A Transformative Journey of Self-Discovery

Are you feeling trapped in a soul-crushing routine, yearning for a life filled with purpose and passion? Do you long for personal growth, a spiritual awakening, or a deeper connection with your inner self? Are you ready to embark on your own hero's journey?

I was too. For years, I was a successful software engineer, living a life that seemed perfect on the outside but felt empty within. The golden handcuffs of a comfortable salary couldn’t silence the whispers of my soul, urging me to break free and find my true calling. This is my true story, a Filipino memoir for those seeking genuine inspiration.

🌟 "Trance A Memoir of Trauma, Travel, and Transformation - A Spiritual Quest for Self-Discovery and Healing" 🌟

A raw, unfiltered account of my journey to reclaim a life of meaning. This story of resilience, self-discovery, and spiritual awakening is for anyone who’s ever felt lost, unfulfilled, or ready for a change. Discover how life’s greatest challenges can become profound gifts.

Inside these pages, you’ll

🧭 Raw Vulnerability and Healing
Witness my journey as I confront my deepest fears, overcome grief, and embrace the unknown, even when the world urged me to play it safe.

🌍 Thrilling Adventures Across Continents
Experience the thrill of travel as I journey through Manila’s bustling streets, Taiwan’s serene temples, and Japan’s snow-capped mountains. A journey of self-discovery across cultures, Trance Formation is one of the best memoirs of 2024.

💫 Transformation through Spiritual Awakening
Explore the power of travel, spirituality, and self-reflection as I dive into the worlds of psychedelics, ayahuasca, and intentional living. This is a practical guide to awakening and higher consciousness.

�� Wisdom in Unexpected Encounters
Learn from chance connections and discover the hidden lessons in every interaction—moving from isolation to freedom and emotional health.

🧘 Redefining Masculinity and Inner Peace
Drawing on the work of renowned thinkers like Robert Moore and James Hollis, I challenge traditional norms of masculinity and explore a more integrated, holistic approach to self-discovery. Discover the power of healing your inner child through Vipassana, mindfulness, and modern understandings of mature masculinity.

If you’re ready to leave behind a life that doesn’t feel like your own, Trance Formation is your invitation to embark on a journey of transformation. This is more than a memoir; it’s a guide to rewriting your narrative and embracing an extraordinary life. An inspiring biography for anyone seeking real-life examples of resilience and renewal.

👉 Order your copy today and unleash your own Trance Formation!]]> 333 TheReal Rayster 621061597X Leo 4 autobiography
Like all self-actualisation books, and I have written one myself, there is inevitably some trauma in the author's life history which he or she needs to express. In an age when the publishing process has become democratised and universally accessible there has been a flood of memoirs and books on self-validation. It is not a bad thing. To the contrary, I am also glad to have had the opportunity to write about chapters of my own life. Of course the flip side of the coin is that there is literally too much to choose from for prospective readers. Where does one start?

Fortunately, Raymond's book is one of the better ventures into the realm of self-discovery and healing. His recollections of his father in particular are painfully honest. I do wonder if these sorts of books find YOU rather than vice-versa?

There were parts where I struggled a little with the pace of the narrative and an occasional tendency for repetition, but as an author of a memoir or two I quite understand. In your mind you are there again and the desire to share every detail is compelling. I do suppose that's part of the challenge in writing this genre and also why it remains somewhat niche.

But the overarching message of living in the present, forgiving oneself and those who have hurt us, is timeless. He is candid in his final analysis that self-realisation is slow and beset by distractions, challenges and occasional set backs. Keep going he says. The rewards are a sense of deeper purpose and meaning. For anyone wanting to break through the veneer of material success and recognition, this message should spur you on.

]]> 4.21 Trance Formation: A Memoir of Trauma, Travel, and Transformation : A Spiritual Quest for Self-Discovery and Healing

Trance Formation: A Memoir of Trauma, Travel, and Transformation : A Spiritual Quest for Self-Discovery and Healing

author: TheReal Rayster
name: Leo
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: autobiography
review:
Upon completion of this book - and it took some time to get through - I have felt a definite sense of affinity with Raymond for the road less travelled.

Like all self-actualisation books, and I have written one myself, there is inevitably some trauma in the author's life history which he or she needs to express. In an age when the publishing process has become democratised and universally accessible there has been a flood of memoirs and books on self-validation. It is not a bad thing. To the contrary, I am also glad to have had the opportunity to write about chapters of my own life. Of course the flip side of the coin is that there is literally too much to choose from for prospective readers. Where does one start?

Fortunately, Raymond's book is one of the better ventures into the realm of self-discovery and healing. His recollections of his father in particular are painfully honest. I do wonder if these sorts of books find YOU rather than vice-versa?

There were parts where I struggled a little with the pace of the narrative and an occasional tendency for repetition, but as an author of a memoir or two I quite understand. In your mind you are there again and the desire to share every detail is compelling. I do suppose that's part of the challenge in writing this genre and also why it remains somewhat niche.

But the overarching message of living in the present, forgiving oneself and those who have hurt us, is timeless. He is candid in his final analysis that self-realisation is slow and beset by distractions, challenges and occasional set backs. Keep going he says. The rewards are a sense of deeper purpose and meaning. For anyone wanting to break through the veneer of material success and recognition, this message should spur you on.

]]> <![CDATA[The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance]]> 56988244 A cutting-edge look at how accelerating financial change, from the end of cash to the rise of cryptocurrencies, will transform economies for better and worse.

We think we’ve seen financial innovation. We bank from laptops and buy coffee with the wave of a phone. But these are minor miracles compared with the dizzying experiments now underway around the globe, as businesses and governments alike embrace the possibilities of new financial technologies. As Eswar S. Prasad explains, the world of finance is at the threshold of major disruption that will affect corporations, bankers, states, and indeed all of us. The transformation of money will fundamentally rewrite how ordinary people live.

Above all, Prasad foresees the end of physical cash. The driving force won’t be phones or credit cards but rather central banks, spurred by the emergence of cryptocurrencies to develop their own, more stable digital currencies. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies themselves will evolve unpredictably as global corporations like Facebook and Amazon join the game. The changes will be accompanied by snowballing innovations that are reshaping finance and have already begun to revolutionize how we invest, trade, insure, and manage risk.

Prasad shows how these and other changes will redefine the very concept of money, unbundling its traditional functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value. The promise lies in greater efficiency and flexibility, increased sensitivity to the needs of diverse consumers, and improved market access for the unbanked. The risk is instability, lack of accountability, and erosion of privacy. A lucid, visionary work, The Future of Money shows how to maximize the best and guard against the worst of what is to come.]]> 496 Eswar S. Prasad 0674258444 Leo 0 to-read 3.79 2021 The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance

The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance

author: Eswar S. Prasad
name: Leo
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Black Hole Radio - Furilani 212051362 Black Hole Radio—Furilani!

Winner of the 2025 Children's Book International Competition in Science Fiction Category & Story Monsters Approved Book!
Did one of the coolest girls in the school just talk to them? Hawk, Matt and Celeste are having a blast using their special powers to build their confidence and their popularity. They made the basketball championships and they’re winning over the kids at school. Hawk has been reading his grandpas journals and learning how to control the black hole radio in his garage. Unfortunately, Matt’s crystal from planet Labyrinthia reacts with the radio to send them on another wild adventure. This time to planet Furilani; a bustling spaceport planet, where intergalactic jetsetters and futuristic fashionistas use furry little creatures as living fashion accessories. Fuzzy belts, furry capes and fluffy scarves are a hit with the cosmic customers who line up to buy caged sploots in the alien marketplace. Hawk befriends one of these little ‘sploots�� and realizes how intelligent and sweet they are. Can he and his friends teach this ‘selfish society�� a lesson in kindness and empathy towards other species? And will rapping Busta-Masta-Matt, be the newest sensation on planet Furilani?

“Young readers will be attracted by the action and extraordinary environment, but underlying the adventure is a sense of passion about seeing things differently and helping others do the same.��
—Midwest Book Review

"If you have young readers (ages 8-12) who like stories with wild and crazy adventures, check out the Black Hole Radio series."
—Feathered Quill Book Review]]> 104 Ann Birdgenaw Leo 4 kids-young-adult
This adventure sees them on the planet of Furilani, a prime galactic trading post, where all and sundry is exchanged. A cute kind of furry animal called a sploot, somewhat reminiscent of an iridescent, colour-shifting meerkat, is widely traded, popular as pelts and belts. The animals are worn alive, like fashion accessories.

The long and the short of it is that the three friends convince the resident aliens to stop persecuting the sploots by advertising and organising a parade in which they showcase the little furry critters. Folks come from across the galaxy, including the local mayor. The sploots are a big hit and their oppressors are put on the spot. Realising that the tide has turned against them the alien traders (V'alvax, Omega Grog and his Flinstone-esque compatriots) embrace the new status quo and the sploots are emancipated.

I like the underlying messages - a) co-exist rather than exploit b) be sure to shun cruel practices c) don't be afraid to use publicity to name and shame if the cause is just. The book concludes with a list of practical ways of making a difference ITO animal rights and welfare.]]> 4.37 Black Hole Radio - Furilani

author: Ann Birdgenaw
name: Leo
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: kids-young-adult
review:
A fun adventure focusing on three friends who have uncanny powers and who have discovered how to travel through space with the eponymous radio of the book title.

This adventure sees them on the planet of Furilani, a prime galactic trading post, where all and sundry is exchanged. A cute kind of furry animal called a sploot, somewhat reminiscent of an iridescent, colour-shifting meerkat, is widely traded, popular as pelts and belts. The animals are worn alive, like fashion accessories.

The long and the short of it is that the three friends convince the resident aliens to stop persecuting the sploots by advertising and organising a parade in which they showcase the little furry critters. Folks come from across the galaxy, including the local mayor. The sploots are a big hit and their oppressors are put on the spot. Realising that the tide has turned against them the alien traders (V'alvax, Omega Grog and his Flinstone-esque compatriots) embrace the new status quo and the sploots are emancipated.

I like the underlying messages - a) co-exist rather than exploit b) be sure to shun cruel practices c) don't be afraid to use publicity to name and shame if the cause is just. The book concludes with a list of practical ways of making a difference ITO animal rights and welfare.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fugitive's Sword (Lord's Learning Book 1)]]> 219511942 'A compelling blend of historical detail and inspired storytelling.' Tony Riches, author of The Brandon Trilogy.

Autumn 1624

Europe is deeply embroiled in what will become the Thirty Years' War.

A young Philip Lord, once favoured at King James' court, has vanished without a trace, under the shadow of treason.

Outside the besieged city of Breda, Captain Matthew Rider faces the brutal reality of wintering his cavalry in the siege lines, until he crosses paths with Filippo Schiavono, a young man whose courage and skill could change everything.

Kate, Lady Catherine de Bouqulement, arrives in London prepared to navigate the dangerous politics of King James' court to ensure troops are sent to her mistress, the exiled Queen of Bohemia.

Within Breda’s walls, a foundling named Jorrit unwittingly stumbles into a lethal conspiracy when Schiavono hires him, supposedly to help sell smuggled tobacco. But Schiavono’s plans go awry and they are compelled to flee the city, only to be captured at sea.

If Schiavono is unable to prove his loyalty and ruthlessness to a savage Dunkirker privateer captain, both he and Jorrit will face certain death.

Meanwhile, in London, Kate is forced to fight her own battle against those seeking to coerce her into their schemes and finds herself trapped in a terrifying and deadly power struggle.

Driven by violence, treachery, and the sea's merciless tides, their fates collide.

Eleanor Swift-Hook fell in love with the early Stuart era at university. She is also the author of the Lord's Legacy series. She lives in County Durham.

Praise for Eleanor
'Brutal, dark, and brilliant; it kept me gripped from the gruesome opening to the thrilling conclusion.' Jemahl Evans, author of The Last Roundhead.

'Thrilling and powerful battle scenes, an intriguing conspiracy that runs through the books and a dash of romance �� the Lord’s Legacy series has it all�� Fiona Forsyth, author of the Publius Ovidius mysteries.]]> 386 Eleanor Swift-Hook Leo 5 historical-fiction
The author has also withheld the anticipated romantic finale, no doubt to encourage one to read the next instalment. The characters of Phillip Lord and Lady Catherine are neatly interwoven with intriguing descriptions of life at Whitehall amongst the various earls, dukes, barons and so forth. A palpable sense of intrigue and menace permeates the air, offset by charming descriptions of preparations for a Masque Ball, life aboard a Dutch frigate and King Charles' musings.

I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anyone keen on this strand of historical fiction.]]> 4.61 The Fugitive's Sword (Lord's Learning Book 1)

The Fugitive's Sword (Lord's Learning Book 1)

author: Eleanor Swift-Hook
name: Leo
average rating: 4.61
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: historical-fiction
review:
A very compelling adventure and historical narrative, albeit fictionalised. I was much impressed by the depth of descriptive and historical detail accompanying the characters and the unfolding plots and subplots. It all meshes together in a pleasing way, keeps the reader in a state of anticipation and keen to turn the pages until the very last.

The author has also withheld the anticipated romantic finale, no doubt to encourage one to read the next instalment. The characters of Phillip Lord and Lady Catherine are neatly interwoven with intriguing descriptions of life at Whitehall amongst the various earls, dukes, barons and so forth. A palpable sense of intrigue and menace permeates the air, offset by charming descriptions of preparations for a Masque Ball, life aboard a Dutch frigate and King Charles' musings.

I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anyone keen on this strand of historical fiction.
]]> <![CDATA[Gloam: A Gritty Dystopian Revenge Thriller]]> 214622243 Frank has kept his past hidden for years.
A daughter turned mercenary...
Harlow is hunting her father’s killer.
A series of brutal murders...
Their bodies gruesomely marked �� the calling card of a feared gang.
A city of shadows...
Behind which stalks a man with a dangerous obsession.

Welcome to Gloam, where no one is safe.]]> 313 Jennifer Withers 0796162751 Leo 3 fiction Gloam, a high-rise metropolis of indeterminate location in which crime, poverty and drug-abuse are rampant. It’s hard to get a real sense of detail, however, because the author chooses to highlight only a few locations: The Dive, a strip-bar which takes centre stage in the various sub-plots and story development; PI Carter’s office; and one or two bedrooms, apartments and back-alleys.

The police are portrayed as lazy and inept, the private investigator as competent but overworked. A criminal gang called The Natives appear to walk the streets with relative impunity while mercenaries or mercs are free to operate a parallel justice system. It is obvious that despite the frequent allusions to inner-city decay, poverty and various social ills, that the city is vibrant and bustling. The streets heave with people, the buildings tower upwards. Thus, one gets the sense of contradictory realities existing at various levels of the narrative. Given the dystopian nature of the city, it need not be a problem, but the details do not always ring quite true.

Okay, given the background, let me highlight the best aspects of the book. The central female character, Harlow (Low) is well fleshed-out. I really felt I got to know her in all aspects of her character, especially since the author writes in the first person. We see the world through her eyes and how she analyses and experiences it in an emotional sense. She’s vulnerable but strong, taking on an important role as family caretaker in the wake of her father’s sudden death. The picture of Low’s close-knit family living in a small community, The Sands, outside the city limits, conveys warmth and mutual affection. A good staging point for the heroine’s brave foray into the murky Gloam.

The character of Markham, the central criminal figure, is also well-portrayed. Likewise vulnerable, he is hollowed out and emotionally scarred. The author’s profile of a serial killer is convincing.

A word on two of the other supporting characters, a merc named Jesse, and Private Investigator Carter. The latter comes across as a tough, no-nonsense broker, something of an archetypal New York PI. He is worked into the story well. I can’t say the same of Jesse, who I find contradictory on several levels. He hangs out at the Dive, and his first encounter with Harlow is brash and unapologetic. Once he gets to know her a little better, he suddenly becomes a gentleman, displaying a sunny humour, empathy and compassion, a little at odds with his professional persona. More the friendly barman than the ruthless mercenary everyone tiptoes around.

Also worthy of mention are his amazing powers of regeneration. He gets punched in the face by a hulking gangster. There is a suggestion that his nose is broken, yet a scene later he’s happily knocking back a beer at the Dive, no mention of the nose. Towards the end of the book, he’s also stabbed in the chest from which a fountain of blood emerges. A short-while later he’s back combing the streets for Low. I’m not sure it stacks up.

Anyway, I liked the book, critique aside. There’s probably scope for a sequel or two if the author were to focus on Harlow, PI Carter, and perhaps even Jesse, but in a diminished role. Harlow and Carter: sounds the makings of something to me��

PS The author’s given place of residence, Pretoria, is very interesting. Having lived and studied there I can see how it could inspire aspects of her dystopian vision of Gloam. The last time I was there, eight years ago, the city proper was in a state of obvious decline: rubbish on the streets; broken down tenements, cracked pavements; beggars, both white and black. And yet the suburbs were, and probably are still, plush, green and affluent. The townships supplying much of the labour are out of sight beyond the flanking hills.
]]> 3.95 Gloam: A Gritty Dystopian Revenge Thriller

Gloam: A Gritty Dystopian Revenge Thriller

author: Jennifer Withers
name: Leo
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
shelves: fiction
review:
A decent crime thriller which keeps the pages turning. Most of the action happens in the Gotham-like city of Gloam, a high-rise metropolis of indeterminate location in which crime, poverty and drug-abuse are rampant. It’s hard to get a real sense of detail, however, because the author chooses to highlight only a few locations: The Dive, a strip-bar which takes centre stage in the various sub-plots and story development; PI Carter’s office; and one or two bedrooms, apartments and back-alleys.

The police are portrayed as lazy and inept, the private investigator as competent but overworked. A criminal gang called The Natives appear to walk the streets with relative impunity while mercenaries or mercs are free to operate a parallel justice system. It is obvious that despite the frequent allusions to inner-city decay, poverty and various social ills, that the city is vibrant and bustling. The streets heave with people, the buildings tower upwards. Thus, one gets the sense of contradictory realities existing at various levels of the narrative. Given the dystopian nature of the city, it need not be a problem, but the details do not always ring quite true.

Okay, given the background, let me highlight the best aspects of the book. The central female character, Harlow (Low) is well fleshed-out. I really felt I got to know her in all aspects of her character, especially since the author writes in the first person. We see the world through her eyes and how she analyses and experiences it in an emotional sense. She’s vulnerable but strong, taking on an important role as family caretaker in the wake of her father’s sudden death. The picture of Low’s close-knit family living in a small community, The Sands, outside the city limits, conveys warmth and mutual affection. A good staging point for the heroine’s brave foray into the murky Gloam.

The character of Markham, the central criminal figure, is also well-portrayed. Likewise vulnerable, he is hollowed out and emotionally scarred. The author’s profile of a serial killer is convincing.

A word on two of the other supporting characters, a merc named Jesse, and Private Investigator Carter. The latter comes across as a tough, no-nonsense broker, something of an archetypal New York PI. He is worked into the story well. I can’t say the same of Jesse, who I find contradictory on several levels. He hangs out at the Dive, and his first encounter with Harlow is brash and unapologetic. Once he gets to know her a little better, he suddenly becomes a gentleman, displaying a sunny humour, empathy and compassion, a little at odds with his professional persona. More the friendly barman than the ruthless mercenary everyone tiptoes around.

Also worthy of mention are his amazing powers of regeneration. He gets punched in the face by a hulking gangster. There is a suggestion that his nose is broken, yet a scene later he’s happily knocking back a beer at the Dive, no mention of the nose. Towards the end of the book, he’s also stabbed in the chest from which a fountain of blood emerges. A short-while later he’s back combing the streets for Low. I’m not sure it stacks up.

Anyway, I liked the book, critique aside. There’s probably scope for a sequel or two if the author were to focus on Harlow, PI Carter, and perhaps even Jesse, but in a diminished role. Harlow and Carter: sounds the makings of something to me��

PS The author’s given place of residence, Pretoria, is very interesting. Having lived and studied there I can see how it could inspire aspects of her dystopian vision of Gloam. The last time I was there, eight years ago, the city proper was in a state of obvious decline: rubbish on the streets; broken down tenements, cracked pavements; beggars, both white and black. And yet the suburbs were, and probably are still, plush, green and affluent. The townships supplying much of the labour are out of sight beyond the flanking hills.

]]> <![CDATA[Wake Me Up For The Elephants: Comic tales of a restless traveller]]> 133533239 “Keenly observed, fun-filled tales, yet with a beautifully understated appreciation of life’s poignant moments, too.�� Peter Kerr, best-selling author of Snowball Oranges

From the author of the Amazon best-selling Greek travel memoir, Things Can Only Get Feta, comes a new collection of funny and candid tales. Wake Me Up For The Elephants has the humour and flavour of Marjory’s Greek memoirs but with a broader Africa, Fiji, Australia, Greece, Scotland and Ireland. They are exotic, romantic locations and the stories are based on real journeys, some of which were taken as journalistic assignments. They introduce the reader to wild locations, eccentric fellow travellers and hilarious, often scary, dodging wild animals on safari and a male stalker in Mombasa; dance torment in tropical Fiji; a supernatural mystery in the Australian bush; a beach gallop in Ireland led by a lobster fisherman; a boating mash-up on the exquisite Greek island of Paxos.

But this collection is not all fun and frolics. Some of the stories, particularly from Scotland, are undercut by nostalgia as the author grapples with the notion of a homeland and where a restless traveller belongs when the wandering, and the laughter, stops.

This book is also in part a prequel to the Greek travel series, revealing the author’s unforgettable adventures just before embarking on her four-year Big Fat Greek Odyssey.

Praise for Marjory McGinn’s Greek travel

“Gerald Durrell meets Bill Bryson.�� ŷ�� reviewer
“Marjory tells a good story with a journalist’s eye for mood and detail.�� Alex Martin, Anglo Hellenic review.
“I loved the characters and the enthusiasm that drives the narrative.�� Mark Douglas-Home, best-selling author
“Part travel, part history, this very personal memoir (Things Can Only Get Feta) is a love letter to the characters that inhabit their little bit of paradise.�� Jill’s Book Café.
“I have read a lot of travel books and Marjory McGinn is one of the best writers in this genre.�� Amazon reviewer
“I could read this series forever. The author’s books have brought humour, knowledge and good people.�� Amazon reviewer
]]> 236 Marjory McGinn Leo 4
My only and real criticism is not regarding the writing per se, but the feeling that one is slightly misled by the cover. Indeed, the opening chapter is set in Africa (Kenya), and the subsequent two are also in other locales, but Chapters 4 to 8 are all in Europe, and three of those in Scotland! Considering that she grew up and spent a good deal of her professional life in Australia, one or two more chapters from that time period would be welcomed. I felt it slipped slightly into sentimental territory later on, regarding her return to Scotland, although, as I said above, she writes well and informatively.

Looking at her catalogue of books I see a whole series coming out of Greece, so I wonder if perhaps she might consider a similar project with the Scottish chapters?

Retrospectively, I do understand why she may have chosen the African chapter to begin with, and to illustrate the cover. As a young journo with a bevy of fellow female Aussie journos abroad, there is plenty of scope for drama, humorous takes on chauvinistic males (Aussie, not African), and the like. It's definitely the funniest chapter of the book and if she has more in that vein it would make for another good read.

]]> 4.30 Wake Me Up For The Elephants: Comic tales of a restless traveller

Wake Me Up For The Elephants: Comic tales of a restless traveller

author: Marjory McGinn
name: Leo
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves:
review:
An enjoyable read from beginning to end, with a few caveats. Firstly, I must congratulate the author in her efforts to write a humorous and informative book detailing various chapters of her life, both as a professional journalist and in her personal capacity. The narrative is interspersed with plenty of dialogue to keep it fresh, and her eye for quirky details and observations keeps the pages turning. I particularly enjoyed her characterisation of Ninian Brody, the 25th Laird of Brody Castle. She creates an endearing and personal portrait of the man.

My only and real criticism is not regarding the writing per se, but the feeling that one is slightly misled by the cover. Indeed, the opening chapter is set in Africa (Kenya), and the subsequent two are also in other locales, but Chapters 4 to 8 are all in Europe, and three of those in Scotland! Considering that she grew up and spent a good deal of her professional life in Australia, one or two more chapters from that time period would be welcomed. I felt it slipped slightly into sentimental territory later on, regarding her return to Scotland, although, as I said above, she writes well and informatively.

Looking at her catalogue of books I see a whole series coming out of Greece, so I wonder if perhaps she might consider a similar project with the Scottish chapters?

Retrospectively, I do understand why she may have chosen the African chapter to begin with, and to illustrate the cover. As a young journo with a bevy of fellow female Aussie journos abroad, there is plenty of scope for drama, humorous takes on chauvinistic males (Aussie, not African), and the like. It's definitely the funniest chapter of the book and if she has more in that vein it would make for another good read.

]]> <![CDATA[Life in Transition: Essays and Diversions]]> 52592985 166 Karen Gilden 1886922055 Leo 4 Some are standout in their insight, like Lunch Hour Interlude.]]> 3.75

Life in Transition: Essays and Diversions

author: Karen Gilden
name: Leo
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:
A mixed memoir of a life well-traveled, always thoughtful in one way or another.
Some are standout in their insight, like Lunch Hour Interlude.
]]> <![CDATA[Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm]]> 102450 Rainbow's End captures the overwhelming beauty and extraordinary danger of life in the African bush. Lauren's childhood reads like a girl's own adventure story. At the height of the war, Lauren rides through the wilderness on her horse, Morning Star, encountering lions, crocodiles, snakes, vicious ostriches, and mad cows. Many of the animals are pets, including Miss Piggy and Bacon and an elegant giraffe named Jenny. The constant threat of ruthless guerrillas prowling the land underscores everything, making each day more dangerous, vivid, and prized than the last.
After Independence, Lauren comes to the bitter realization that she'd been on the wrong side of the civil war. While she and her family believed that they were fighting for democracy over Communism, others saw the war as black against white. And when Robert Mugabe comes into power, he oversees the torture and persecution of thousands of members of an opposing tribe and goes on to become one of Africa's legendary dictators. The ending of this memoir is a fist to the stomach as Lauren realizes that she can be British or American, but she cannot be African. She can love it - be willing to die for it - but she cannot claim Africa because she is white.]]> 269 Lauren St. John 0743286790 Leo 5 3.87 2007 Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm

Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm

author: Lauren St. John
name: Leo
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: war, rhodesia-zimbabwe, memoir
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win]]> 36549880 354 Luke Harding Leo 0 to-read 4.18 2017

Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win

author: Luke Harding
name: Leo
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man]]> 20661548
From the day he left his glamorous girlfriend in Hawaii, carrying a hard drive full of secrets, to the weeks of secret-spilling in Hong Kong and his battle for asylum, Snowden's story reads like a globe-trotting thriller.]]> 333 Luke Harding 0804173524 Leo 0 to-read 3.82 2014 The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man

The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man

author: Luke Harding
name: Leo
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Around Africa on My Bicycle 3896085 705 Riaan Manser 186842247X Leo 5 travel-memoir 3.96 2007

author: Riaan Manser
name: Leo
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: travel-memoir
review:

]]> Ten Myths About Israel 31171856
In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappe examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel.

The “ten myths�� that Pappe explores—repeated endlessly in the media, enforced by the military, accepted without question by the world’s governments—reinforce the regional status quo. He explores the claim that Palestine was an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration, as well as the formation of Zionism and its role in the early decades of nation building. He asks whether the Palestinians voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, and whether June 1967 was a war of “no choice.�� Turning to the myths surrounding the failures of the Camp David Accords and the official reasons for the attacks on Gaza, Pappe explains why the two-state solution is no longer viable.]]> 192 Ilan Pappé 1786630192 Leo 0 to-read 4.39 2017 Ten Myths About Israel

author: Ilan Pappé
name: Leo
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hundred Years�� War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917��2017]]> 41812831
In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.�� Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective.

Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process.

Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.]]> 336 Rashid Khalidi 1627798552 Leo 0 to-read 4.50 2020 The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017

author: Rashid Khalidi
name: Leo
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Forgotten Soldier 102305
Sajer's German footsoldier’s perspective makes The Forgotten Soldier a unique war memoir, the book that the Christian Science Monitor said "may well be the book about World War II which has been so long awaited." Now it has been handsomely republished containing fifty rare German combat photos of life and death at the eastern front. The photos of troops battling through snow, mud, burned villages, and rubble-strewn cities depict the hardships and destructiveness of war. Many are originally from the private collections of German soldiers and have never been published before. This volume is a deluxe edition of a true classic.]]> 465 Guy Sajer 1574882864 Leo 5 autobiography, war copied from my non-author review

Some strange parallels with the present: much of the action in the first 2/3 of the book is in the Ukraine. While I was reading about the defence of Kharkiv for instance, the Eastern Front, Autumn 1942, the city is once again under seige. This time it's Putin's Russian army and not Stalin's, and the opponents are Ukrainians not Germans. Nonetheless the results are probably not so different i.e. decimation of life and infrastructure.
In a nutshell the violence is appalling. One is left with the fervent hope that this will surely be the low water mark for humanity when we look back from a more egalitarian, enlightened and peaceful future. I very much hope so...]]> 4.37 1967 The Forgotten Soldier

author: Guy Sajer
name: Leo
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1967
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: autobiography, war
review:
copied from my non-author review

Some strange parallels with the present: much of the action in the first 2/3 of the book is in the Ukraine. While I was reading about the defence of Kharkiv for instance, the Eastern Front, Autumn 1942, the city is once again under seige. This time it's Putin's Russian army and not Stalin's, and the opponents are Ukrainians not Germans. Nonetheless the results are probably not so different i.e. decimation of life and infrastructure.
In a nutshell the violence is appalling. One is left with the fervent hope that this will surely be the low water mark for humanity when we look back from a more egalitarian, enlightened and peaceful future. I very much hope so...
]]> <![CDATA[Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival]]> 18600 Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1985. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead.

What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.]]> 218 Joe Simpson 0060730552 Leo 5 4.22 1988 Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival

Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival

author: Joe Simpson
name: Leo
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Danziger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers]]> 381176 448 Nick Danziger 0586087060 Leo 5 travel-memoir Copied from my non-author profile

Amazing tale set within a distinct geopolitical context. The author escapes the confines of Conservative Britain to seek adventure overland between home and distant Beijing. For the exact details read a synopsis. The main takeaways for me were:

His travels in Iran: the hospitality of the ordinary people and the power of the clerical leadership
Afghanistan: hair-raising encounters with the Soviet occupiers and the camaraderie of the mujahedeen.

Xinjiang, China - after his very dogged and admirable entry via the Khyber Pass from Tibet, his descriptive experience of an almost medieval province and its people. He becomes very fond of the Uighurs and his insight into their 2nd rate status in China is quite prescient.

Throughout, the author's photographs are superb. He also adds little sketches of landmarks and things he sees, but the photographs are superior. No wonder he went on to become a very successful photojournalist!]]> 4.19 Danziger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers

Danziger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers

author: Nick Danziger
name: Leo
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: travel-memoir
review:
Copied from my non-author profile

Amazing tale set within a distinct geopolitical context. The author escapes the confines of Conservative Britain to seek adventure overland between home and distant Beijing. For the exact details read a synopsis. The main takeaways for me were:

His travels in Iran: the hospitality of the ordinary people and the power of the clerical leadership
Afghanistan: hair-raising encounters with the Soviet occupiers and the camaraderie of the mujahedeen.

Xinjiang, China - after his very dogged and admirable entry via the Khyber Pass from Tibet, his descriptive experience of an almost medieval province and its people. He becomes very fond of the Uighurs and his insight into their 2nd rate status in China is quite prescient.

Throughout, the author's photographs are superb. He also adds little sketches of landmarks and things he sees, but the photographs are superior. No wonder he went on to become a very successful photojournalist!
]]> Shattered 1: The Impact 51374888 309 Thompson Charlie 1946849669 Leo 5 5.00

author: Thompson Charlie
name: Leo
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Our Man in Mbabane: A Novel Based on a True Story]]> 75289144 The Mission Impossible assignment from Nelson Mandela's organization was Frank George was to go to Swaziland, get a job, and smuggle weapons into South Africa for the fight against apartheid. Based on a true story, Our Man in Mbabane follows Frank's gunrunning exploits supporting the African National Congress in the late 1970s. In between harrowing escapades, he banters with friends and has two turbulent romances, all while learning of the daily indignities and horrors of apartheid. This historical espionage thriller will have you on the edge of your seat one moment and laughing the next as Frank shifts between ANC missions, romantic affairs, and boisterous social outings.]]> 350 K. E. Karl Leo 3 4.29 Our Man in Mbabane: A Novel Based on a True Story

Our Man in Mbabane: A Novel Based on a True Story

author: K. E. Karl
name: Leo
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Putin and the Rise of Russia: The Country That Came in from the Cold War]]> 6218302 253 Michael Stürmer 0297855093 Leo 4 3.51 2008

Putin and the Rise of Russia: The Country That Came in from the Cold War

author: Michael Stürmer
name: Leo
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> In a Strange Room 7199961 180 Damon Galgut 1848873220 Leo 4 autobiography, travel-memoir Copy of my other, non-author review:

A candid retrospective by the author, recollecting three journeys made by his younger self. He cleverly and deftly changes voice between third and first person, a device which etches emotive scenes into the reader's consciousness.

I can relate, as many introverts probably can too, to the dual nature of aloneness, both the pleasure and the feelings of separation. A recurrent theme in these stories, but without sentimentality. I have made my way in a similarly seemingly aimless, futile way, trying to escape my own reality but running headlong into the unknown. I found reading this book both melancholy and quietly fulfilling.]]> 3.63 2010 In a Strange Room

author: Damon Galgut
name: Leo
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: autobiography, travel-memoir
review:
Copy of my other, non-author review:

A candid retrospective by the author, recollecting three journeys made by his younger self. He cleverly and deftly changes voice between third and first person, a device which etches emotive scenes into the reader's consciousness.

I can relate, as many introverts probably can too, to the dual nature of aloneness, both the pleasure and the feelings of separation. A recurrent theme in these stories, but without sentimentality. I have made my way in a similarly seemingly aimless, futile way, trying to escape my own reality but running headlong into the unknown. I found reading this book both melancholy and quietly fulfilling.
]]> <![CDATA[Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Adrian Mole #8)]]> 6619022 405 Sue Townsend 0718153707 Leo 4 fiction, comedic
Such a fabulous book, and so prescient. Set in England 16 years ago, Sue Townsend's best known comic mishap, Adrian Mole, lives in a nation that's not so much different to the one of today. A world condensed into NHS Dentist waiting lists, credit difficulties, inter-generational co-occupancy and mumblings and grumblings about Europe. The wit is incisive and unsparing, but love and hope shine through even at the worst of times, which is, after all, a message we need now, more than ever before...]]> 4.04 2009 Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Adrian Mole #8)

Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (Adrian Mole #8)

author: Sue Townsend
name: Leo
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: fiction, comedic
review:
From my other, non-author profile

Such a fabulous book, and so prescient. Set in England 16 years ago, Sue Townsend's best known comic mishap, Adrian Mole, lives in a nation that's not so much different to the one of today. A world condensed into NHS Dentist waiting lists, credit difficulties, inter-generational co-occupancy and mumblings and grumblings about Europe. The wit is incisive and unsparing, but love and hope shine through even at the worst of times, which is, after all, a message we need now, more than ever before...
]]> The Promise 54633172 The Promise , winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for -- not least the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled.

The narrator's eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation. And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title.

In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest.]]> 293 Damon Galgut 1784744069 Leo 4 3.81 2021

author: Damon Galgut
name: Leo
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Cloud Atlas 49628
Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . .

Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter. . . . From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life. . . . And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history.

But the story doesn't end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.]]> 509 David Mitchell 0375507256 Leo 5 science-fiction-terrestrial
It's hard to see how a writer like Mitchell can surpass this effort. ]]> 4.02 2004 Cloud Atlas

author: David Mitchell
name: Leo
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: science-fiction-terrestrial
review:
I really loved this book and glad I read it before attempting the film. In fact I only watched the film for a few minutes but switched it off because the book is so much better. For instance, the opening chapter of the book is set mainly in Bruges, Belgium, yet the film version opts for Edinburgh. You already lose a load of detail and nuanced observation and dialogue.

It's hard to see how a writer like Mitchell can surpass this effort.
]]> Travels with Herodotus 59664
Just out of university in 1955, Kapuscinski told his editor that he’d like to go abroad. Dreaming no farther than Czechoslovakia, the young reporter found himself sent to India. Wide-eyed and captivated, he would discover in those days his life’s work—to understand and describe the world in its remotest reaches, in all its multiplicity. From the rituals of sunrise at Persepolis to the incongruity of Louis Armstrong performing before a stone-faced crowd in Khartoum, Kapuscinski gives us the non-Western world as he first saw it, through still-virginal Western eyes.

The companion on his a volume of Herodotus, a gift from his first boss. Whether in China, Poland, Iran, or the Congo, it was the “father of history”—and, as Kapuscinski would realize, of globalism—who helped the young correspondent to make sense of events, to find the story where it did not obviously exist. It is this great forerunner’s spirit—both supremely worldly and innately Occidental—that would continue to whet Kapuscinski’s ravenous appetite for discovering the broader world and that has made him our own indispensable companion on any leg of that perpetual journey.]]> 288 Ryszard Kapuściński 1400043387 Leo 5 autobiography, travel-memoir
Wonderful book. I think I may have heard of Herodotus before, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you who he was or his contribution to literature, science or mathematics. Now I will never forget him thanks to Mr Kapuscinski. He brings ancient history alive and the remarkable tales and real life events gathered by the peripatetic Greek two and a half millennia ago. All the while he ever-so-slowly and succinctly intertwines past and present so that in the end it is as if Herodotus and Kapuscinski are one in the same persona.]]> 4.07 2004 Travels with Herodotus

author: Ryszard Kapuściński
name: Leo
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: autobiography, travel-memoir
review:
From my other non-author profile:

Wonderful book. I think I may have heard of Herodotus before, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you who he was or his contribution to literature, science or mathematics. Now I will never forget him thanks to Mr Kapuscinski. He brings ancient history alive and the remarkable tales and real life events gathered by the peripatetic Greek two and a half millennia ago. All the while he ever-so-slowly and succinctly intertwines past and present so that in the end it is as if Herodotus and Kapuscinski are one in the same persona.
]]> Arctic Summer 18807424
At once a fictional exploration of the life and times of one of Britain's finest novelists, his struggle to find a way of living and being, and a stunningly vivid evocation of the mysterious alchemy of the creative process, Arctic Summer is a literary masterpiece, by one of the finest writers of his generation.]]> 368 Damon Galgut 0857897187 Leo 3 3.71 2014

author: Damon Galgut
name: Leo
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The Shadow of the Sun 9541 325 Ryszard Kapuściński 0679779078 Leo 5 autobiography, travel-memoir
Thoroughly enjoyable. Kapuscinski's Africa was a local, personal, lived experience. The backdrop is sometimes calm but often not. Unrest and conflict have reared their ugly heads in recent years - South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia - and only the actors have changed since his reportage 30 + years ago.

Still, he is best when writing about the little things - village life, nomads and their camels, the significance of a broken road somewhere on the outskirts of Lagos. That is where his observations are keenest and paradoxically most helpful to the outsider. I grew up in Africa, yet I realise how little I still know about its native inhabitants. What a wonderful continent, despite everything.

Merci, Monsieur Kapuscinski. Your spirit lives on.]]> 4.40 1998 The Shadow of the Sun

author: Ryszard Kapuściński
name: Leo
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: autobiography, travel-memoir
review:
From my other non-author profile:

Thoroughly enjoyable. Kapuscinski's Africa was a local, personal, lived experience. The backdrop is sometimes calm but often not. Unrest and conflict have reared their ugly heads in recent years - South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia - and only the actors have changed since his reportage 30 + years ago.

Still, he is best when writing about the little things - village life, nomads and their camels, the significance of a broken road somewhere on the outskirts of Lagos. That is where his observations are keenest and paradoxically most helpful to the outsider. I grew up in Africa, yet I realise how little I still know about its native inhabitants. What a wonderful continent, despite everything.

Merci, Monsieur Kapuscinski. Your spirit lives on.
]]> The Salt of Ancient Tears 206100052
Julia takes on a risky high society lawsuit involving a powerful hotel magnate, while Magnus receives a commission to paint his portrait to commemorate the opening of his new flagship hotel. Julia and Magnus repeatedly cross each other's paths, and despite their different lifestyles, an awkward and seemingly uncomfortable relationship unfolds.

Chance encounters with an ancient Norse symbol, the Jörmungandr, lead them to Leonard, an alternative doctor with a fascination for Norse history. Using an esoteric method to evoke buried memories, Leonard helps them confront a distant and brutal past, convinced this is the key to achieving catharsis in the present.

The Salt of Ancient Tears is a sweeping, high-concept time-slip story that seamlessly blends elements of Nordic noir, suspense, and romance, weaving together modern times with the enigmatic fate of Eystribygð, the last Viking settlement in Greenland.

Rooted in historical fact, the storyline delves into one of Europe's greatest mysteries—the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the entire Norse Greenland population in the early 15th century. As a captivating subplot, the authors present a thought-provoking yet plausible theory explaining the tragic fate of this long-lost Viking settlement.]]> 344 Brian M. Talgo Leo 5 fiction
The beauty of the book is in the authenticity of the characters and the idea itself. Although it has been done before, the dual world setting, contemporary Oslo and medieval Greenland, are aptly chosen. The authors' intimate knowledge of the former is evident. Likewise it is not too much of a stretch to conjure up strong emotional and behavioural affinities between the leading characters in both time epochs.

Julia is portrayed as a strong, successful, independent woman, but somewhat detached and unhappy. Seeing her explore her own weakness and insecurity made me come to like her, to root for her, despite my innate dislike of the legal profession (my dad was a litigation lawyer).

As for Magnus, parts of him remain greyed out, but what we see is a similarly mixed bag of qualities. The dynamic between Julia and him is a slow-burner but well timed. It certainly adds to the suspense, even if it only becomes a question of when not if.

The commitment to detailing place and period is most commendable and believable, whether it be Norse Greenland, Madeira or a road leading off into the wilderness. The characters are well fleshed out, within and without. Overall, this is an outstanding book and I look forward to digesting any other writings by these two authors.]]> 4.00 2017 The Salt of Ancient Tears

author: Brian M. Talgo
name: Leo
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: fiction
review:
From my other non-author profile:

The beauty of the book is in the authenticity of the characters and the idea itself. Although it has been done before, the dual world setting, contemporary Oslo and medieval Greenland, are aptly chosen. The authors' intimate knowledge of the former is evident. Likewise it is not too much of a stretch to conjure up strong emotional and behavioural affinities between the leading characters in both time epochs.

Julia is portrayed as a strong, successful, independent woman, but somewhat detached and unhappy. Seeing her explore her own weakness and insecurity made me come to like her, to root for her, despite my innate dislike of the legal profession (my dad was a litigation lawyer).

As for Magnus, parts of him remain greyed out, but what we see is a similarly mixed bag of qualities. The dynamic between Julia and him is a slow-burner but well timed. It certainly adds to the suspense, even if it only becomes a question of when not if.

The commitment to detailing place and period is most commendable and believable, whether it be Norse Greenland, Madeira or a road leading off into the wilderness. The characters are well fleshed out, within and without. Overall, this is an outstanding book and I look forward to digesting any other writings by these two authors.
]]> <![CDATA[Opting Out and Other Departures: Stories]]> 26075074 296 John Walters 1310336814 Leo 5
A wonderful, thought provoking short story collection probing the complexities of human relationships at the interface between future worldscapes and human existence. The author thinks deeply on such issues as homelessness, individual autonomy, state control, organ harvesting and utopian enclaves, in some version of the future, using individuals the reader can relate to, contemplating issues familiar to anyone living in a contemporary Western society.]]> 5.00 2014 Opting Out and Other Departures: Stories

Opting Out and Other Departures: Stories

author: John Walters
name: Leo
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/27
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:
From my other non-author profile:

A wonderful, thought provoking short story collection probing the complexities of human relationships at the interface between future worldscapes and human existence. The author thinks deeply on such issues as homelessness, individual autonomy, state control, organ harvesting and utopian enclaves, in some version of the future, using individuals the reader can relate to, contemplating issues familiar to anyone living in a contemporary Western society.
]]> <![CDATA[The Solitary Elephant and Other Stories]]> 218098881 Jay Wood 1393327400 Leo 4
I really enjoyed this somewhat quirky collection of stories, inspired, I assume, by the colourful life of the author.

Quite thoughtfully, the first story is the most poignant. Writing in the first person, he tells of the difficulty of getting on with life after the recent death of his wife. He holidays in Kerala, India, at the invitation of a colleague. He tells the tale in a quiet and personal way with a touch of humour and pathos. The title of the book is derived from this episode in his life.

Each story is quite different, yet equally engaging. He flits between San Francisco, the less salubrious neighbourhoods of North London and Yosemite National Park and takes in an equally diverse range of characters and situations. I particularly loved the story of a devious raccoon called "Crash Slam Bang" who learned how to bang screen doors in the middle of the night in order to leverage food from the hapless inhabitants of holiday cabins.

All in all, an engaging set of short-stories. Perhaps Mr Jay Wood will draw further on his life experiences to turn out another book some time? He is musing whether to take a position in Kerala at the end of the first story. Does he take it? I'm sure I'm not the only one curious to know...]]> 4.00 The Solitary Elephant and Other Stories

author: Jay Wood
name: Leo
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/26
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:
This review refers to "The Solitary Elephant and Other Tales"

I really enjoyed this somewhat quirky collection of stories, inspired, I assume, by the colourful life of the author.

Quite thoughtfully, the first story is the most poignant. Writing in the first person, he tells of the difficulty of getting on with life after the recent death of his wife. He holidays in Kerala, India, at the invitation of a colleague. He tells the tale in a quiet and personal way with a touch of humour and pathos. The title of the book is derived from this episode in his life.

Each story is quite different, yet equally engaging. He flits between San Francisco, the less salubrious neighbourhoods of North London and Yosemite National Park and takes in an equally diverse range of characters and situations. I particularly loved the story of a devious raccoon called "Crash Slam Bang" who learned how to bang screen doors in the middle of the night in order to leverage food from the hapless inhabitants of holiday cabins.

All in all, an engaging set of short-stories. Perhaps Mr Jay Wood will draw further on his life experiences to turn out another book some time? He is musing whether to take a position in Kerala at the end of the first story. Does he take it? I'm sure I'm not the only one curious to know...
]]> <![CDATA[Trees of Britian and Europe (Michelin Green Guide)]]> 272714 104 Bob Press 1859749275 Leo 3 information-education 3.83 2001

Trees of Britian and Europe (Michelin Green Guide)

author: Bob Press
name: Leo
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: information-education
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Birds of Britain and Europe (Green Guides)]]> 1323749 Jim Flegg 1859749232 Leo 3 information-education 3.67 1997

Birds of Britain and Europe (Green Guides)

author: Jim Flegg
name: Leo
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: information-education
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tales From the Woods: (with audio CD)]]> 10400663 112 Felix Dennis 0091937671 Leo 4 poetry 4.03 2010

author: Felix Dennis
name: Leo
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: poetry
review:

]]> The Great Gatsby 11295480 194 F. Scott Fitzgerald 162240002X Leo 3 3.97 1925

author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Leo
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1925
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Life of Pi 11123032 482 Yann Martel Leo 4 4.04 2001

author: Yann Martel
name: Leo
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Rain That Clears The Chaff]]> 25957010 346 A.C. O'Neill 0957362900 Leo 4 2.50 2012

author: A.C. O'Neill
name: Leo
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared]]> 16001863 480 Jonas Jonasson Leo 5 fiction 3.93 2009

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

author: Jonas Jonasson
name: Leo
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It Rains in February: A Wife's Memoir of Love and Loss]]> 13007527 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

On the 24th of February 2007 my husband, Stuart, drowned himself at sea, leaving me widowed with two young daughters aged six and four. I knew it wasn't an accident, even though the medics and police never suspected suicide. Stuart had been talking about ending his life for a year. His most recent suicide attempt had been only three weeks earlier. Afterwards, he explained that day as the most peaceful day of his life. Sitting next to the dam, he smoked his last cigarette. He drank a hundred sleeping pills and did a final check to make sure everything would look like an accident. The last thing he remembered was swimming out into the crystal clear water. He said that he was no longer scared of dying, that there was nothing scary about it. Living was the scary thing.

It Rains In February: A Wife's Memoir of Love and Loss is the true story of a husband's depression and obsession, not only with another woman, but also with ending his life. In this honest and heartfelt narrative, Leila Summers weaves a compelling tale of the year that led up to Stuart's suicide and the grief, profound loss and self discovery that followed. Although each suicide is unique, this book gives the reader an insider's view from one perspective by way letters and e-mail messages.]]> 246 Leila Summers Leo 4 memoir 3.66 2011 It Rains in February: A Wife's Memoir of Love and Loss

It Rains in February: A Wife's Memoir of Love and Loss

author: Leila Summers
name: Leo
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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]]> Bike Repair Manual 11238412 160 Chris Sidwells 1405365498 Leo 4 information-education 3.83 2004

author: Chris Sidwells
name: Leo
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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]]> Complete Tales and Poems 17926612 Collected here is the ultimate Kindle edition of the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe—all of his tales and poems in one convenient, easy-to-use volume at a fantastic price.

Included in Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Tales and Poems are:

The complete text of all of the tales and poems written by Edgar Allan Poe (over 125 works), each elegantly formatted for ease of use and enjoyment on your Kindle reader.
Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the poems and tales in this collection.
An individual, active Table of Contents for each section accessible from the Kindle “go to�� feature.
Perfect formatting in rich text compatible with Kindle’s Text-to-Speech features.
A low, can't-say-no price!
The Complete Tales and Poems
All of Poe's tales, poems, and essays are included—over 125 works. Some of the most notable are:

Tales:
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
"The Masque of the Red Death"
"The Pit and the Pendulum"
"The Premature Burial"
"The Purloined Letter"
"The Tell-Tale Heart"
Poems:
"Annabel Lee"
"The Bells"
"The City in the Sea"
"A Dream Within a Dream"
"To Helen"
"Lenore"
"The Raven"
"Ulalume"
Other Works:
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket—Poe's only complete novel
Collected Essays
Additional Fan Resources
Also included are special features for any Poe enthusiast, including:

A list of films and television series, both directly and indirectly inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
A Reading Guide to fictional works that feature the historical Edgar Allan Poe as a character.
Links to free, full-length audio recordings of the major poems and short stories in this collection.]]> 534 Edgar Allan Poe Leo 5 fiction-horror 4.46 1849 Complete Tales and Poems

author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Leo
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1849
rating: 5
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]]> 12 Years a Slave 19432532 First published in 1853, Twelve Years a Slave is the narrative of Solomon Northup’s experience as a free man sold into slavery. Northup’s memoir reveals unimaginable details about the slave markets, the horrors of life on a plantation, and the dreadful day-to-day treatment of the slaves from the perspective of a man who lived more than thirty years as a free man before being forcibly enslaved.

Written in the year after Northup was freed and published in the wake of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Northup’s story was quickly taken up by abolitionist groups and news organizations as part of the fight against slavery. The book fell into obscurity in later decades, only to be rediscovered in the early 1960’s. In 2013 it was adapted into a feature film entitled 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen and produced by Brad Pitt. Pitt also played a supporting role in the film, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti and Sarah Paulson.

HarperTorch brings great works of non-fiction and the dramatic arts to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperTorch collection to build your digital library.

]]> 295 Solomon Northup Leo 4 autobiography 4.18 1853 12 Years a Slave

author: Solomon Northup
name: Leo
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1853
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Mafia State: How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia]]> 19448378
The break-in was the beginning of an extraordinary psychological war against the journalist and his family. Vladimir Putin's spies used tactics developed by the KGB and perfected in the 1970s by the Stasi, East Germany's sinister secret police. This clandestine campaign burst into the open in 2011 when the Kremlin expelled Harding from Moscow - the first western reporter to be deported from Russia since the days of the Cold War.

Mafia How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia is a brilliant and haunting account of the insidious methods used by a resurgent Kremlin against its so-called "enemies" - human rights workers, western diplomats, journalists and opposition activists. It includes unpublished material from confidential US diplomatic cables, released last year by WikiLeaks, which describe Russia as a "virtual mafia state".

Harding gives a unique, personal and compelling portrait of today's Russia, two decades after the end of communism, that reads like a spy thriller.]]> 322 Luke Harding Leo 5 russia-non-fiction 3.99 2011 Mafia State: How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia

Mafia State: How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia

author: Luke Harding
name: Leo
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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]]> Poems of St John of the Cross 242815 119 John of the Cross 1860465897 Leo 0 to-read 4.00 1591

author: John of the Cross
name: Leo
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1591
rating: 0
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]]> Against All Odds 17593590 Excellent Book 0 Louis Sideras 1780884907 Leo 0 to-read 0.0 2013

author: Louis Sideras
name: Leo
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> Around Madagascar On My Kayak 21281210
Riaan rose to prominence when he became the first person to cycle around the entire perimeter of Africa. For over two years, he padalled a mammoth 37,000kms through 34 countries; some of which rank as the most dangerous places on Earth. It was a feat that earned him the title Adventurer of the Year 2006 and made his resulting book, Around Africa on my Bicycle, a best-seller.

In July 2009 Riaan again set another world first when he became the first person to circumnavigate the world's fourth largest island of Madagascar by kayak; another expedition achieved alone and unaided.

This incredible journey, 5000km in eleven months, was considerably more demanding, both physically and mentally. Daily, Riaan had to conquer extreme loneliness while ploughing through treacherous conditions such as cyclones, pounding surf and an unrelenting sun that, combined with up to ten hours in salt water, was literally pickling his body. The perseverance, of course, brought memorable close encounters with Madagascar's marine life - humpback whales breaching metres away from his kayak, giant leatherback turtles gliding alongside him and even having his boat rammed by sharks.

Riaan travelled around Madagascar during a period of the country's political turmoil, which gave him unrivalled insight into the exotic island's psyche and even earned him two nights in prison on suspicion of carrying out mercenary activities.

Around Madagascar in my Kayak is packed with engaging stories and beautiful photographs and is set to become another best-seller.]]> 368 Riaan Manser Leo 4 travel-memoir 4.50 2010 Around Madagascar On My Kayak

author: Riaan Manser
name: Leo
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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shelves: travel-memoir
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Inside the Giant machine: An Amazon Story]]> 18652451 
 Acclaim for the book
 
 ......
 I love his leaps of imagination, and the words which hook us in, make us think this is our story.
 
 For example, here is what it means to yearn for acceptance: "I looked at Seattle's glistening skyline on one side and its beautiful waterfront on the other and asked it the same questions I had asked San Francisco sixteen years ago: will it accept me? Or will its people treat me as someone different, not one of them?��
 
 Overall, a hip, funny and yet very poignant story!
 
 .....John Lehman, author of Everything is Changing
 
 Confessions of a Foreign-born Technologist/ Author
 
 I must confess that English is my third language, and even though this book has been edited by several professional native English editors, it is obvious—even to me�� that this book is written by a Foreign-born author.
 
 Foreign-born or not, I believe I have a talent for storytelling, and I have converted a dull topic—the transformation of Amazon from a retail website to a marketplace—into an interesting and lively story.
 
 This book developed from a blog I wrote before, during and after working at Amazon, so I didn't know how the story is going to end while I was writing (most of) it. That does make the book appear somewhat purposely purposeless. Or, purposelessly purposeful - it all depends upon your point of view.
 
 A book about Amazon can be pretty dry, so I have tried to add some humor. In my attempt to make this book funny, a few facts may have been stretched. I quote this passage from 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, written by Daisey, a fellow Amazon alumnus–turned author:
 
 “Some facts were injured in the telling of this story. The truth, however, remains unharmed.��
 
 That applies to this book as well.
 
 To respect the privacy of the people involved in this story, their names have been changed �� with one exception. Trust me, there really is a guy named Jeff Bezos who works at Amazon.
 
 So ... if you are looking for a 1,000-page treatise on Amazon that can be used to illustrate perfect grammar in a High school class, this ain't it. There are several other books on Amazon which are written in perfect English but are perfectly boring.
 
 And, this is not THE Amazon Story, just an Amazon story. Only one Amazon employee can write THE Amazon story, and Bezos hasn't announced any plans to write a book.
 
 All in all, I am proud of my work, Enjoy!
 
 Kalpanik S.
 
 Notes: Portions of this book have been previously published under titles "Seattle Adventures", "Artificial Imagination" & "Welcome to the USA"
 Important Safety Instructions 
 <ol>
 <li>People who don't have a sense of humor and women]]> 299 Kalpanik S. Leo 0 to-read 3.09 2011 Inside the Giant machine: An Amazon Story

Inside the Giant machine: An Amazon Story

author: Kalpanik S.
name: Leo
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Putin's Russia: The definitive account of Putin’s rise to power]]> 19052878 Internationally admired for her reporting, especially on the Chechen wars, award-winning journalist Anna Politkovskaya has turned her steely gaze on the man who, until very recently, was a darling of the Western media.

A former KGB spy, Vladimir Putin was named President of Russia in 2000. From the moment he entered the public arena he marketed himself as an open, enlightened leader eager to engage with the West. Unlike many European and American journalists and politicians, Politkovskaya never trusted Putin's press image. From her privileged vantage point at the heart of Russian current affairs, she set about to dismantle both Putin the man and Putin the brand name, arguing that he is a power-hungry product of his own history and so unable to prevent himself from stifling civil liberties at every turn. This is not, Polikovskaya argues, the kind of leader most contemporary Russians want.

To prove her theory, she tells the story of Putin's iron grip on Russian life from the point of view of individual citizens whose situations have been shaped by his unique brand of tyranny. Mafia dealings, scandals in the provinces, military and judiciary corruption, the decline of the intelligentsia, the tragic mishandling of the Moscow theatre siege - all are subject to Polikovskaya's pitiless but invariably humane scrutiny. This intimate portrait of nascent civil institutions being subverted under the unquestioning eyes of the West could not be more timely.

]]> 322 Anna Politkovskaya Leo 5 russia-non-fiction 4.28 2004 Putin's Russia: The definitive account of Putin’s rise to power

author: Anna Politkovskaya
name: Leo
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2004
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption & Death in Putin's Russia]]> 12174887 338 Anna Politkovskaya Leo 5 russia-non-fiction 4.44 2006

A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption & Death in Putin's Russia

author: Anna Politkovskaya
name: Leo
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> My Fellow Prisoners 22818633 87 Mikhail Khodorkovsky Leo 5 russia-non-fiction 4.21 2014

author: Mikhail Khodorkovsky
name: Leo
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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]]> Stardust 11061296 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here and here.

A breathtaking and magical novel from master storyteller Neil Gaiman.

Life moves at a leisurely pace in the tiny town of Wall - named after the imposing stone barrier which separates the town from a grassy meadow. Here, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and for the coveted prize of her hand, Tristran vows to retrieve a fallen star and deliver it to his beloved. It is an oath that sends him over the ancient wall and into a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining...]]> 274 Neil Gaiman Leo 5 fiction 4.17 1999 Stardust

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Leo
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1999
rating: 5
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]]> Ataturk 20448684 966 Andrew Mango 1848546181 Leo 0 to-read, biographies 4.10 1999 Ataturk

author: Andrew Mango
name: Leo
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, biographies
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ocean at the End of the Lane]]> 61318037 NEIL GAIMAN

---

This is what he remembers, as he sits by the ocean at the end of the lane:

A dead man on the back seat of the car, and warm milk at the farmhouse.
An ancient little girl, and an old woman who saw the moon being made.
A beautiful housekeeper with a monstrous smile.
And dark forces woken that were best left undisturbed.

They are memories hard to believe, waiting at the edges of things. The recollections of a man who thought he was lost but is now, perhaps, remembering a time when he was saved . . .

NEIL GAIMAN.
WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES.]]> 258 Neil Gaiman Leo 4 fiction 4.21 2013 The Ocean at the End of the Lane

author: Neil Gaiman
name: Leo
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2013
rating: 4
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shelves: fiction
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]]> <![CDATA[Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires (Law of Attraction Book 7)]]> 18779249 355 Esther Hicks 1401919278 Leo 0 to-read, self-help-religious 4.51 2004

Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires (Law of Attraction Book 7)

author: Esther Hicks
name: Leo
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, self-help-religious
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]]> The Movement 28958431 405 Jody Sabral Leo 4 fiction 4.00

author: Jody Sabral
name: Leo
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
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shelves: fiction
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]]> <![CDATA[Blowing up Russia: The Book that Got Litvinenko Murdered]]> 22327779 In the book he and historian Yuri Felshtinsky detail how since 1999 the Russian secret service has been hatching a plot to return to the terror that was the hallmark of the KGB. Vividly written and based on Litvinenko's 20 years of insider knowledge of Russian spy campaigns, Blowing Up Russia describes how the successor of the KGB fabricated terrorist attacks and launched a war.
Writing about Litvinenko, the surviving co-author recounts how the banning of the book in Russia led to three earlier deaths.]]> 312 Alexander Litvinenko 1908096241 Leo 0 to-read, russia-non-fiction 3.93 2002 Blowing up Russia: The Book that Got Litvinenko Murdered

Blowing up Russia: The Book that Got Litvinenko Murdered

author: Alexander Litvinenko
name: Leo
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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]]> Next 11247948
Is a loved one missing body parts?Are blondes becoming extinct?Has a human already cross-bred with a monkey?

We live in a GENETIC WORLD. Fast, frightening �� and potentially VERY lucrative. There are designer pets; a genetic cure for drug addiction; a booming market in eggs and sperm. But is there also a talking ape in Borneo? Has a 'master' gene for controlling others been found? Could an innocent man and his family be hunted cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes ��

Are you ready for what comes NEXT in Michael Crichton's stunning new thriller?]]> 450 Michael Crichton Leo 4 science-fiction-terrestrial 3.86 2006 Next

author: Michael Crichton
name: Leo
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> Infidel 12186350 386 Ayaan Hirsi Ali Leo 0 biographies, to-read 4.54 2006 Infidel

author: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
name: Leo
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact from Fiction]]> 8279878
Offit and Moser address parental fears that children may receive too many vaccines too early, that the HPV vaccine may cause chronic fatigue or other dangerous side effects, that additives and preservatives in vaccines cause autism, and that vaccines might do more harm than good. There couldn't be a better moment or more pressing need for this book, which offers honesty—instead of hype—in the quest to protect children's health.]]> 264 Paul A. Offit 0231153074 Leo 5 information-education 3.86 2011 Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact from Fiction

Vaccines and Your Child: Separating Fact from Fiction

author: Paul A. Offit
name: Leo
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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]]> The Plague 11989
It tells the story from the point of view of a narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. The narrator remains unknown until the start of the last chapter, chapter 5 of part 5. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view.

The book tells a gripping tale of human unrelieved horror, of survival and resilience, and of the ways in which humankind confronts death, The Plague is at once a masterfully crafted novel, eloquently understated and epic in scope, and a parable of ageless moral resonance, profoundly relevant to our times. In Oran, a coastal town in North Africa, the plague begins as a series of portents, unheeded by the people. It gradually becomes an omnipresent reality, obliterating all traces of the past and driving its victims to almost unearthly extremes of suffering, madness, and compassion.

The Plague is considered an existentialist classic despite Camus' objection to the label. The novel stresses the powerlessness of the individual characters to affect their destinies. The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, whose individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings; the material often pointedly resonating as stark allegory of phenomenal consciousness and the human condition.]]> 308 Albert Camus Leo 4 4.05 1947 The Plague

author: Albert Camus
name: Leo
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1947
rating: 4
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]]> A Bookshop In Algiers 49094710
In 1936, a young dreamer named Edmond Charlot opened a modest bookshop in Algiers. Once the heart of Algerian cultural life, where Camus launched his first book and the Free French printed propaganda during the war, Charlot's beloved bookshop has been closed for decades, living on as a government lending library. Now it is to be shuttered forever. But as a young man named Ryad empties it of its books, he begins to understand that a bookshop can be much more than just a shop that sells books. A Bookshop in Algiers charts the changing fortunes of Charlot's bookshop through the political drama of Algeria's turbulent twentieth century of war, revolution and independence. It is a moving celebration of books, bookshops and of those who dare to dream.]]> 208 Kaouther Adimi 1788164695 Leo 0 to-read 3.59 2017 A Bookshop In Algiers

author: Kaouther Adimi
name: Leo
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Between Black and White: GROWING UP BROWN IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA]]> 199458523 A society divided by law. A young man determined to do what was right. A profound search for meaning in a bizarre maze of legalized racism.

Born in the tumultuous dawn ofApartheid in South Africa. Ganesan Abbu was marked as different. Indoctrinated into a life which placed White citizens at the top of the social ladder and where Africans people were regarded as omens of dread and distrust, the sensitive boy slowly awoke to the horrible system of injustice. His conscience demanded he side with demonized Black people. However, his Indian heritage, that denied him a tribal status in Africa, would ensure that he would always be regarded as an not white enough during apartheid and not black enough after it ended.

Unhappy that his parent’s generation were content to blindly follow the rules, Ganesan threw himself into the growing political unrest to protest the government’s constant crimes. And despite his convictions and active participation in the resistance, he was never sure if he would ever feel like he belonged in the land of his birth.

In an already marginalized world, could he hold onto his ideals and still find a place which he can truly call home?

Pondering the nuances of identity, language, and racism, Ganesan Abbu offers up a thoughtful and conversational memoir full of raw confessions of his own struggle during Apartheid. And as he fights to understand the underlying truths of loyalty and prejudice, readers will come to comprehend the sharp sting of otherness and the peace of having a place in the universe.

Between Black and White is an immersive memoir. If you like gritty honesty, fascinating self-reflection, and inspiring journeys, then you’ll love Ganesan Abbu’s rocky path to fulfillment.

Buy Between Black and White to celebrate diversity today!]]> 231 Ganesan Abbu 1738953114 Leo 0 to-read 4.46 Between Black and White: GROWING UP BROWN IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

Between Black and White: GROWING UP BROWN IN APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

author: Ganesan Abbu
name: Leo
average rating: 4.46
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rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Zanzibar Uhuru: revolution, two women and the challenge of survival]]> 24024087 In the countryside, Ahmed al-Ibrahim, a Zanzibari Arab father, faces annihilation and a terrible decision. Fatima is his twelve-year-old daughter, and her life is changed forever by the violence that now sweeps across the islands. Fatima’s survival through this chaos and the thirty years of rule by despotic Presidents takes all her courage and the kindness of other families.
Elizabeth, Mark Hamilton’s young daughter, also remembers the day of the Revolution and their escape across the seas. Her story too is touched by tragedy.
Fatima and Elizabeth are connected in a way that takes almost fifty years to be revealed. Elizabeth will return to Zanzibar to fulfil her father’s final request. The life journeys of the two women are different. The common link is the day of the Revolution and the act of a desperate man.]]> 327 Anne M. Chappel Leo 0 to-read 4.38 2014 Zanzibar Uhuru: revolution, two women and the challenge of survival

Zanzibar Uhuru: revolution, two women and the challenge of survival

author: Anne M. Chappel
name: Leo
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> The Silence of Scheherazade 56339601
On an orange-tinted evening in September 1905, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother in the ancient city of Smyrna. At the very same moment, a dashing Indian spy arrives in the harbour with a secret mission from the British Empire. He sails in to golden-hued spires and minarets, scents of fig and sycamore, and the cries of street hawkers selling their wares. When he leaves, seventeen years later, it will be to the heavy smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames.

But let us not rush, for much will happen between then and now. Birth, death, romance and grief are all to come as these peaceful, cosmopolitan streets are used as bargaining chips in the wake of the First World War.

Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time.]]> 480 Defne Suman Leo 0 to-read 3.78 2016 The Silence of Scheherazade

author: Defne Suman
name: Leo
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> Suriye Notları 25047767 144 Sevra Baklacı Leo 0 to-read 4.60 2015

author: Sevra Baklacı
name: Leo
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Leo 5 4.01 2005 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Leo
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> Man’s Search for Meaning 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Leo 0 to-read 4.39 1946 Man’s Search for Meaning

author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Leo
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 0
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]]> Thinking, Fast and Slow 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Leo 0 to-read 4.17 2011

author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Leo
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/21
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]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Leo 4 4.33 2011

author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Leo
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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