Alex's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 21 Apr 2025 06:34:01 -0700 60 Alex's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Italian Gentleman 53096936 may have Savile Row, Paris its luxury industries, and New York Madison
Avenue, but none possesses the true essence of Italian elegance. Beyond
its global fashion brands, the soul of Italian style is found in the
workshops and boutiques of the established masters and artisans who for
generations have created the finest menswear on the planet.

Industry insider and respected sartorialist Hugo Jacomet is one of
Europe's most knowledgeable commentators on men's fashion. This lavish
guide is the result of over two years spent traveling the length and
breadth of Italy, from the foothills of the Alps to the islands of Sicily,
documenting the craftsmanship behind Italy's most elegant gentlemen. From
Renaissance fabric mills to the world-famous sartorias, from international
brands to family-run businesses, over fifty houses from across the country
are celebrated for their unique style and commitment to upholding timeless
Italian traditions. Exquisite photographs by Lyle Roblin, commissioned
specially for this book, reveal the passion and zeal of the country's finest fabric
merchants, tailors, producers and boutique-owners.

This richly illustrated journey uncovers the rarely seen producers of true
Italian style, essential reading for the modern gentleman and all those
who appreciate the beauty of a bespoke suit, the quality of a hand-welted
shoe, the luxury of hand-made gloves, or the flamboyant panache of a
seven-fold silk tie.]]>
304 Hugo Jacomet 0500022860 Alex 0 currently-reading 4.57 The Italian Gentleman
author: Hugo Jacomet
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Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme 257213 Le Bourgeois gentilhomme est une comédie-ballet, en cinq actes en prose.

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme nous raconte l'histoire comique d'un riche bourgeois qui essaye d'imiter la façon de vivre et le comportement des nobles.]]>
240 ˛Ń´Ç±ôľ±Ă¨°ů±đ 2038716617 Alex 4 3.72 1670 Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
author: ˛Ń´Ç±ôľ±Ă¨°ů±đ
name: Alex
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1670
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe]]> 9507278 236 Edgar Allan Poe 1453744517 Alex 0 to-read 4.54 1849 The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Alex
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1849
rating: 0
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Paris 15786792 809 Edward Rutherfurd 0385535309 Alex 0 to-read 3.98 2013 Paris
author: Edward Rutherfurd
name: Alex
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The Emotionally Absent Mother, Second Edition: How to Recognize and Cope with the Invisible Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect (Second): How to Recognize ... Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect]]> 34875447 The groundbreaking guide to self-healing and getting the love you missed.

Was your mother preoccupied, distant, or even demeaning? Have you struggled with relationships—or with your own self-worth? Often, the grown children of emotionally absent mothers can’t quite put a finger on what’s missing from their lives. The children of abusive mothers, by contrast, may recognize the abuse—but overlook its lasting, harmful effects.

Psychotherapist Jasmin Lee Cori has helped thousands of men and women heal the hidden wounds left by every kind of undermothering. In this second edition of her pioneering book, with compassion for mother and child alike, she explains: Possible reasons your mother was distracted or hurtful—and what she was unable to give The lasting impact of childhood emotional neglect and abuse How to find the child inside you and fill the “mother gap� through reflections and exercises How to secure a happier future for yourself (and perhaps for your children) ]]>
375 MS Cori Alex 0 to-read 4.23 2010 The Emotionally Absent Mother, Second Edition: How to Recognize and Cope with the Invisible Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect (Second): How to Recognize ... Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect
author: MS Cori
name: Alex
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/04/25
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Caging Skies 25641300 443 Christine Leunens 186941957X Alex 0 currently-reading 3.04 2004 Caging Skies
author: Christine Leunens
name: Alex
average rating: 3.04
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/03/19
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<![CDATA[Selected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson]]> 3034303 343 Emily Dickinson Alex 0 to-read 4.23 1959 Selected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson
author: Emily Dickinson
name: Alex
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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How Not To Be a Boy 34661984 Don't Cry; Love Sport; Play Rough; Drink Beer; Don't Talk About Feelings

But Robert Webb has been wondering for some time are those rules actually any use? To anyone?

Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life.

Hilarious and heartbreaking, How Not To Be a Boy explores the relationships that made Robert who he is as a man, the lessons we learn as sons and daughters, and the understanding that sometimes you aren't the Luke Skywalker of your life - you're actually Darth Vader.]]>
337 Robert Webb Alex 0 to-read 4.19 2017 How Not To Be a Boy
author: Robert Webb
name: Alex
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Find Me (Call Me By Your Name, #2)]]> 44581535 In this spellbinding exploration of the varieties of love, the author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name revisits its complex and beguiling characters decades after their first meeting.

No novel in recent memory has spoken more movingly to contemporary readers about the nature of love than André Aciman’s haunting Call Me by Your Name. First published in 2007, it was hailed as “a love letter, an invocation . . . an exceptionally beautiful book� (Stacey D’Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review). Nearly three quarters of a million copies have been sold, and the book became a much-loved, Academy Award–winning film starring Timothée Chalamet as the young Elio and Armie Hammer as Oliver, the graduate student with whom he falls in love.

In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami’s plans and changes his life forever.

Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic.

Aciman is a master of sensibility, of the intimate details and the emotional nuances that are the substance of passion. Find Me brings us back inside the magic circle of one of our greatest contemporary romances to ask if, in fact, true love ever dies.]]>
260 André Aciman 0374155011 Alex 0 to-read 3.26 2019 Find Me (Call Me By Your Name, #2)
author: André Aciman
name: Alex
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[FASHIONPEDIA - The Ultimate Fashion Bible]]> 29639657
What fashion professionals really need is a simple yet practical handbook that contains all the technical information in a straightforward, user-friendly manner.]]>
Fashionary International Ltd Alex 0 to-read 4.53 FASHIONPEDIA - The Ultimate Fashion Bible
author: Fashionary International Ltd
name: Alex
average rating: 4.53
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<![CDATA[All That Glisters . . .: And Other Quotations You Should Know]]> 41219664 192 Caroline Taggart 1782439978 Alex 0 to-read 3.62 All That Glisters . . .: And Other Quotations You Should Know
author: Caroline Taggart
name: Alex
average rating: 3.62
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A voix basse 7059111

À VOIX BASSE se présente comme une galerie de tableaux dans lesquels l'immense artiste que l'on connaît peint avec délices les thèmes qui lui sont chers et dévoile les subtiles facettes de sa personnalité.

Il y a le chanteur, qui témoigne avec recul de son parcours et de ses galères sans jamais bouder son intérêt et sa tendresse pour la jeune génération d'artistes.

Il y a l'auteur, qui raconte avec verve son amour des mots et son plaisir d'écrire.

Il y aussi l'homme, qui s'exprime avec une sincérité émouvante sur son enfance, si heureuse, ses bonheurs, ses regrets, et les sourdes inquiétudes nées en lui au soir de l'existence.

Il y a l'Arménien de cœur, dont la voix s'élève, dans de magnifiques textes emplis de douleur, pour la reconnaissance du génocide arménien.

Il y a le citoyen, qui accepte de se livrer sur le monde qui l'entoure, et s'interroge, sans fausse pudeur et toujours avec humour, sur les maux de notre société.

Il y a enfin le parolier, qui s'invite dans l'ouvrage à travers les maximes savoureuses dont il émaille la plupart des textes.

Tour Ă  tour, ces personnages viennent chuchoter Ă  notre oreille sur le ton de la confidence et dessinent du grand Charles un autoportrait magnifique.]]>
252 Charles Aznavour 235949001X Alex 0 currently-reading 3.89 2009 A voix basse
author: Charles Aznavour
name: Alex
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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Red Sorghum 894154 Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new and unforgettable.]]> 359 Mo Yan 0140168540 Alex 0 currently-reading 3.81 1987 Red Sorghum
author: Mo Yan
name: Alex
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1987
rating: 0
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The Parisian Gentleman 25620751
The Parisian Gentleman is like a dream shopping excursion to the leading men’s style-makers, from hidden ateliers and little-known studios to internationally renowned labels such as shirtmakers Charvet, shoemakers Berluti, and the recently revived trunk makers Moynat. The stories behind each house, and the creative minds and artisans who give each brand its unique identity, bring the clothes alive, capturing an unceasing dedication to quality in an era overrun with new, mass-produced trends.

Author Hugo Jacomet’s portraits of these often-inaccessible marques (or brands) are intimate and illuminating, thanks to his personal connections to many of the leading figures associated with each. His text is accompanied by beautifully shot photographs of the designers, studios, garments, and locations, the majority of which were taken exclusively for this book. 350+ illustrations]]>
256 Hugo Jacomet 0500518017 Alex 5 4.61 2015 The Parisian Gentleman
author: Hugo Jacomet
name: Alex
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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<![CDATA[Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa]]> 28092838
Haruki Murakami's passion for music runs deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and from The Beatles' Norwegian Wood to Franz Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage, the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates every one of his much-loved books. Now, in Absolutely on Music, Murakami fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend, acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk, over a period of two years, about their shared interest. Transcribed from lengthy conversations about the nature of music and writing, here they discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up orchestras, and much more. Ultimately this book gives readers an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of the two maestros. It is essential reading for book and music lovers everywhere.]]>
272 Haruki Murakami 1846559197 Alex 0 to-read 3.93 2011 Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Alex
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[I Used to Be a Miserable F*ck: An Everyman's Guide to a Meaningful Life]]> 39855081
Deep in post-divorce soul searching, John Kim came to an astonishing realization: he was a miserable f*ck who might just be to blame for the problems in his life. Armed with this new insight, he began The Angry Therapist blog—an admission that, while he was a licensed therapist and life coach, he was no better than the people who sought his advice. In his first post, “My Fucking Feelings,� he wrote about the struggles and shortcomings that had led him to this point. As his work caught on, catapulting him into the role of unlikely and unconventional guide for thousands of people all over the world, Kim evolved from behaving like a boy to living like a man—and showed his clients how to do so as well.

In I Used to Be a Miserable F*ck, Kim delivers the dos and don’ts for stepping up and into manhood, which he defines by transparency and strength of character, not six-pack abs or a corner office. With his signature no-nonsense approach that will make you laugh and think, Kim takes you on a rugged, rough and tumble road trip of self-exploration and discovery, sharing his wisdom and insights, such as why:

Being nice is for boys, and being kind is for men
Scheduling man dates could make you a better friend, lover, and human being
Peeing in the shower is a sign of a larger problem
Arguing, judging, and answering, “I dunno� are keeping you from a healthy relationship, a great career, and a happy life

We are not born men. We are born boys. The transition from misery to meaning is an internal process that requires work: reflection, pain, courage, and sometimes, a rebirth. Kim knows because he’s been there. The truth is, men weren’t meant to just pay bills and die. With this book as your guide, you will love hard, walk tall, and find a life filled with purpose and passion.]]>
240 John Kim 0062856340 Alex 4 3.88 2019 I Used to Be a Miserable F*ck: An Everyman's Guide to a Meaningful Life
author: John Kim
name: Alex
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[Ikigai: Discover Your Reason For Being]]> 43235909 Find your purpose and meaning in life with the Japanese philosophy of ikigai!
Ěý
What is ikigai? It’s your reason to get up in the morning, and the thing that gives you enjoyment every single day. It’s a combination of what you love, what the world needs, what you do best, and—yes—what you can be paid for. That’s ikigai: your true purpose. With the help of this beautiful little book, you can find your ikigai . . . and discover the secret to a long, happy, mindful, and meaningful life.]]>
160 Justyn Barnes 1781318298 Alex 3 3.60 Ikigai: Discover Your Reason For Being
author: Justyn Barnes
name: Alex
average rating: 3.60
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rating: 3
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<![CDATA[Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)]]> 36336078 Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks' duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

The psychological maneuvers that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman's frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.]]>
248 André Aciman 1786495252 Alex 4 4.08 2007 Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)
author: André Aciman
name: Alex
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative]]> 13099738 160 Austin Kleon 0761169253 Alex 4 3.95 2012 Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
author: Austin Kleon
name: Alex
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know]]> 43848929 Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers -- and why they often go wrong.

How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn't true?

While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout."

Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.]]>
388 Malcolm Gladwell 0316478520 Alex 3 4.00 2019 Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Alex
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2019
rating: 3
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<![CDATA[How to Tie a Tie: A Gentleman's Guide to Getting Dressed (How To Series)]]> 22716457
For the rest of us, there'sĚý How to Tie a Tie . Whether you have always wanted to master a classic Windsor knot or simply need to rustle up an acceptable bow tie, this is your personal guide to dressing seriously well.

Inside you'll find:
* Step-by-step instructions to knot neckties for casual, office, and evening wear
* Tailoring basics for sartorial excellence
* Guidlines for matching cufflinks to shirts, foldng pocket squares, and other essential finishing touches]]>
128 Potter Gift 0804186383 Alex 4 4.12 2015 How to Tie a Tie: A Gentleman's Guide to Getting Dressed (How To Series)
author: Potter Gift
name: Alex
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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The Prince's Boy 20613642
An innocent in a new city, still grieving the sudden loss of his beloved mother Elena seven years earlier, Dinu is encouraged to enjoy la vie de Bohème by his distant cousin, Eduard. But tentatively, secretly, Dinu is drawn to the Bains du Ballon d’Alsace, a notorious establishment rumoured to offer the men of Paris, married or otherwise, who enjoy something different, everything they crave. It is here that he meets Razvan, a fellow Romanian, the adopted child of a man of refinement � a prince’s boy � whose stories of Proust and other artists entrance Dinu, and who will become the young man’s teacher in the ways of the world.

At a distance of forty years, and written in London, his refuge from the horrors of Europe’s early twentieth-century history, Dinu’s memoir of his brief spell in Paris is one of exploration and rediscovery. The love that blossomed that sunlit day in such inauspicious and unromantic surroundings would transcend lust, separation, despair and even death to endure a lifetime.]]>
151 Paul Bailey 1620407191 Alex 4 3.35 2014 The Prince's Boy
author: Paul Bailey
name: Alex
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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<![CDATA[Monkey: The Journey to the West]]> 100237 306 Wu Cheng'en 0802130860 Alex 4 27 4.06 1592 Monkey: The Journey to the West
author: Wu Cheng'en
name: Alex
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1592
rating: 4
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date added: 2020/09/02
shelves: 27
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<![CDATA[Outliers: The Story of Success]]> 3228917 Learn what sets high achievers apart � from Bill Gates to the Beatles � in this #1 bestseller from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review).

In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.]]>
309 Malcolm Gladwell 0316017922 Alex 0 to-read 4.19 2008 Outliers: The Story of Success
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Alex
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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The Little Prince 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]>
96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 Alex 0 to-read 4.32 1943 The Little Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Alex
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Nazism and War (Modern Library Chronicles)]]> 886628 Ěý
World War II was the defining event of the twentieth century, redrawing the political map in ways that continue to affect nearly the entire human race. What was unprecedented, however, was not simply the war’s scale, but its causes. Unlike previous territorial or political clashes, the war launched by Nazi Germany was an ideological one, waged to wipe entire peoples and cultures from the face of the earth.

InĚý Nazism and War, ĚýRichard Bessel, one of the preeminent authorities on the social and political history of modern Germany, demonstrates that “Nazi war was racial struggle; Nazi racial struggle was war.â€�
Ěý
War was the anvil on which Hitler’s worldview was German National Socialism emergedĚýtriumphant over a country deeply scarred by defeat and eager to reclaim its greatness. As a political philosophy, Nazism glorified struggle and conflict, viewing them as the purpose of a nation and a measure of its overall condition. As a political movement and state system, Nazism made its ideology real, plunging the European continent into a war of annihilation and a sea of blood. Nazism destroyed the old Europe, and thus helped to create the world in which we live.
Ěý
Praise forĚý Nazism and War
Ěý
“[A] stimulating and thoughtful volume.â€� —Richard Overy,Ěý Literary Review
Ěý
“[A] rich, well-rounded portrait . . . offers both the serious scholar and the lay reader a concise yet comprehensive perspective on the events and horrors of that period.� � Publishers Weekly
Ěý
“[An] impressive study . . . highly recommended.� � Library Journal
Ěý
“Clear, engaging, and quietly profound.� � Booklist]]>
320 Richard Bessel 081297557X Alex 0 20, to-read 3.78 2004 Nazism and War (Modern Library Chronicles)
author: Richard Bessel
name: Alex
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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shelves: 20, to-read
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<![CDATA[Paris Letters: A Travel Memoir about Art, Writing, and Finding Love in Paris]]> 17586508
Unfulfilled at her job and unsuccessful in the dating department, Janice MacLeod doodled this question at her desk. Then she decided to make it a challenge.

Over the next few months, with a little math and a lot of determination, she saved up enough to buy two years of freedom in Europe.

But she had only been in Paris for a few days when she met a handsome butcher (with a striking resemblance to Daniel Craig)—and never went home again.

A love story in the vein of Almost French and Lunch in Paris, Paris Letters (February 4) is a joyful romp through the City of Light, and an inspiring look at what can happen when we dare to create the life we want.

Realizing that her Parisian love affair would be forever, MacLeod began her own business on Etsy, creating beautifully-illustrated letters from Paris inspired by artists like Percy Kelly and Beatrix Potter. She now paints and writes full-time, bringing beautiful things to subscribers around the world and reviving the lost art of letter-writing.]]>
272 Janice MacLeod 1402288794 Alex 0 dropped, to-read 3.80 2014 Paris Letters: A Travel Memoir about Art, Writing, and Finding Love in Paris
author: Janice MacLeod
name: Alex
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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Maurice 3103
Forster understood that his homage to same-sex love, if published when he completed it in 1914, would probably end his career. Thus, Maurice languished in a drawer for fifty-seven years, the author requesting it be published only after his death (along with his stories about homosexuality later collected in The Life to Come).

Since its release in 1971, Maurice has been widely read and praised. It has been, and continues to be, adapted for major stage productions, including the 1987 Oscar-nominated film adaptation starring Hugh Grant and James Wilby.]]>
256 E.M. Forster 0393310329 Alex 0 to-read 4.07 1971 Maurice
author: E.M. Forster
name: Alex
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Paris: An Inspiring Tour of the City's Creative Heart]]> 14553921 arrondissement, Paris takes readers through the city's most charming streets, revealing best-kept secrets and little gems at every turn: ateliers overflowing with notions, cafés with their neat rows of macarons, markets abundant with fresh flowers, shaded parks, and creative hotspots. Packed with vibrant color photographs that capture the spirit of Paris and packaged as a hefty flexi-bound paperback with a ribbon page marker, the book is a beautiful object in its own right. The accessible writing invites readers to dip in and out and provides history and context for each spot on the journey. Visually rich and totally inspiring, Paris is a treasure for lovers of art, style, design, food, and, of course, Paris!]]> 256 Janelle McCulloch 1452113858 Alex 5 21 4.22 2011 Paris: An Inspiring Tour of the City's Creative Heart
author: Janelle McCulloch
name: Alex
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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date added: 2019/02/27
shelves: 21
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<![CDATA[Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man]]> 36373421
Through interviews with experts in neuroscience, sociology, and critical race theory, he constructs a deft and thoughtful examination of the role of men in contemporary society. Amateur is a graceful and uncompromising look at gender by a fearless, fiercely honest writer.

Runtime: 3 hours and 38 minutes]]>
205 Thomas Page McBee 1501168746 Alex 3 4.24 2018 Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man
author: Thomas Page McBee
name: Alex
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2019/01/26
date added: 2019/01/26
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The Descent of Man 30118099
What would happen if we rethought the old, macho, outdated version of manhood, and embraced a different idea of what makes a man? Apart from giving up the coronary-inducing stress of always being 'right' and the vast new wardrobe options, the real benefit might be that a newly fitted masculinity will allow men to have better relationships - and that's happiness, right?

Grayson Perry admits he's not immune from the stereotypes himself - as the psychoanalysts say, 'if you spot it, you've got it' - and his thoughts on everything from power to physical appearance, from emotions to a brand new Manifesto for Men, are shot through with honesty, tenderness and the belief that, for everyone to benefit, upgrading masculinity has to be something men decide to do themselves. They have nothing to lose but their hang-ups.]]>
151 Grayson Perry 0241236274 Alex 3 26 4.01 2016 The Descent of Man
author: Grayson Perry
name: Alex
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/01/21
shelves: 26
review:

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Fahrenheit 451 17470674
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

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

Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

--back cover]]>
227 Ray Bradbury 0007491565 Alex 0 to-read 4.01 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Alex
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1953
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/05/02
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<![CDATA[Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration]]> 18077903 “What does it mean to manage well?�
From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath. Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust� sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.� For nearly twenty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner thirty Academy Awards. The joyousness of the storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, in this book, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable.
Ěý
As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where many computer science pioneers got their start, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the thirteen movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as:
Ěý
� Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.
� If you don’t strive to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.
� It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them.
� The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
� A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody.
� Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change—it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board.]]>
368 Ed Catmull 0812993012 Alex 0 23 4.19 2014 Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
author: Ed Catmull
name: Alex
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2016/10/15
date added: 2016/10/15
shelves: 23
review:

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<![CDATA[Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology]]> 79678
"A provocative book ... A tool for fighting back against the tools that run our lives."Ěýâ€� Dallas Morning News

The story of our society's transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it—with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth.]]>
222 Neil Postman 0679745408 Alex 0 to-read 3.95 1992 Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
author: Neil Postman
name: Alex
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/09/14
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable]]> 242472
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.

Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.�

For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. In this revelatory book, Taleb will change the way you look at the world, and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay, “On Robustness and Fragility,� which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.

Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications, The Black Swan is a landmark book—itself a black swan.]]>
480 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 1400063515 Alex 0 to-read 3.96 2007 The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
name: Alex
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/09/14
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Lady Chatterly's Lover According to Spike Milligan]]> 328727 176 Spike Milligan 0140242996 Alex 0 to-read 3.33 Lady Chatterly's Lover According to Spike Milligan
author: Spike Milligan
name: Alex
average rating: 3.33
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/06/03
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear]]> 24612271
In True Style, acclaimed fashion expert G. Bruce Boyer provides a crisp, indispensable primer for this daily ritual, cataloguing the essential elements of the male wardrobe and showing how best to employ them. In witty, stylish prose, Boyer breezes through classic items and traditions in menswear, detailing the evolution and best uses of fabrics like denim and linen, accoutrements like neckties and eyeglasses, and principles for combining patterns, colors, and textures. He enlightens readers about acceptable circumstances for donning a turtleneck, declaims the evils of wearing dress shoes without socks, and trumpets the virtues of sprezzatura, the artistry of concealing effort beneath a cloak of nonchalance.

With a gentle yet firm approach to the rules of dressing and an incredible working knowledge of the different items, styles, and principles of menswear, Boyer provides essential wardrobe guidance for the discriminating gentleman, explaining what true style looks like—and why.
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272 G. Bruce Boyer 0465053998 Alex 0 to-read 3.84 2015 True Style: The History and Principles of Classic Menswear
author: G. Bruce Boyer
name: Alex
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2015/12/11
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Esquire The Handbook of Style: A Man's Guide to Looking Good]]> 5312219 224 Esquire Magazine 1588167461 Alex 0 to-read 4.10 2009 Esquire The Handbook of Style: A Man's Guide to Looking Good
author: Esquire Magazine
name: Alex
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2015/12/11
shelves: to-read
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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 Alex 4 22 4.02 2004 Cloud Atlas
author: David Mitchell
name: Alex
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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date added: 2015/11/26
shelves: 22
review:

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<![CDATA[Gentlemen and Players (Malbry, #1)]]> 15102
As the new term gets under way, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances -- a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug -- they are initially overlooked. But as the incidents escalate in both number and consequence, it soon becomes apparent that a darker undercurrent is stirring within the school. With St. Oswald's unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of its ruin. The veteran teacher faces a formidable opponent, however -- a master player with a bitter grudge and a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move, a secret game with very real, very deadly consequences.

A harrowing tale of cat and mouse, this riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel showcases New York Times bestselling author Joanne Harris's astonishing storytelling talent as never before.]]>
422 Joanne Harris 0060559144 Alex 4 22 3.92 2005 Gentlemen and Players (Malbry, #1)
author: Joanne Harris
name: Alex
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/06
date added: 2015/08/07
shelves: 22
review:

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<![CDATA[Forever Paris: 25 Walks in the Footsteps of Chanel, Hemingway, Picasso, and More]]> 12599277 108 Christina Henry De Tessan 1452104883 Alex 3 21 4.00 2012 Forever Paris: 25 Walks in the Footsteps of Chanel, Hemingway, Picasso, and More
author: Christina Henry De Tessan
name: Alex
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2014/11/04
date added: 2014/11/04
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris]]> 10780005 Immoveable Feast and We’ll Always Have Paris comes a guided tour of the most beautiful walks through the City of Light, including the favorite walking routes of the many of the acclaimed artists and writers who have called Paris their home. Baxter highlights hidden treasures along theSeine, treasured markets at Place d’Aligre, the favorite ambles of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and Sylvia Beach, and more, in a series of intimate vignettes that evoke the best parts of Paris’s many charms. Baxter’s unforgettable chronicle reveals how walking is the best way to experience romance, history, and pleasures off the beaten pathĚý.Ěý.Ěý.Ěýnot only of La Ville-Lumière but also, perhaps, of life itself.]]> 298 John Baxter 0061998540 Alex 4 21 3.58 2011 The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris
author: John Baxter
name: Alex
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/02
date added: 2014/09/02
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[No One Belongs Here More Than You]]> 113429 205 Miranda July 0743299396 Alex 0 dropped 3.83 2007 No One Belongs Here More Than You
author: Miranda July
name: Alex
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at: 2014/08/29
date added: 2014/08/29
shelves: dropped
review:

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The Suicide Shop 2796617 169 Jean Teulé 1906040095 Alex 4 21 3.54 2007 The Suicide Shop
author: Jean Teulé
name: Alex
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/08/17
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[Paris: The Biography of a City]]> 168468 566 Colin Jones 0143036718 Alex 0 to-read 3.85 2004 Paris: The Biography of a City
author: Colin Jones
name: Alex
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/06/24
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us]]> 12696940 256 Larry D. Rosen 0230117570 Alex 0 to-read 3.29 2012 iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us
author: Larry D. Rosen
name: Alex
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/06/13
shelves: to-read
review:

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Gourmet Rhapsody 6366085 The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Pierre Athens, the greatest food critic in the world, is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Arthens has been lording it over the world’s most esteemed chefs for years, passing judgment on their creations, deciding their fates with a stroke of his pen, destroying and building reputations on a whim. But now, during these his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the Flavor par excellence. Indeed, this flamboyant and self-absorbed man desires only one thing before he dies: one last taste.

Thus begins a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars—relatives, lovers, a would-be protege, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about M. Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people. Here, as in The Elegance of Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery’s story celebrates life’s simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power.]]>
156 Muriel Barbery 1933372958 Alex 3 21 3.26 2000 Gourmet Rhapsody
author: Muriel Barbery
name: Alex
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2014/06/09
date added: 2014/06/09
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[The Golden Moments of Paris: A Guide to the Paris of the 1920s]]> 18774551 304 John Baxter 0984633472 Alex 0 to-read 3.90 2014 The Golden Moments of Paris: A Guide to the Paris of the 1920s
author: John Baxter
name: Alex
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2014/06/09
shelves: to-read
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Paris France 58363 Stein's incomparable, impressionistic memoir of Paris.
Ěý
Published in 1940, on the day that Paris fell to the Germans, Paris France blends Stein's childhood memories of Paris with trenchant observations about everything French. It is a witty fricassee of food and fashion, pets and painters, musicians, friends, and artists, served up with a healthy garnish of "Steinien" humor and self-indulgence. For readers who have previously considered Gertrude Stein to be a difficult or even unreadable author, Paris France provides a delightful window on her personal and unique world.]]>
166 Gertrude Stein 0720611970 Alex 3 20 3.41 1940 Paris France
author: Gertrude Stein
name: Alex
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1940
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/06/09
shelves: 20
review:

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The Elegance of the Hedgehog 2967752
We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence.

Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.]]>
325 Muriel Barbery 1933372605 Alex 5 21 3.76 2006 The Elegance of the Hedgehog
author: Muriel Barbery
name: Alex
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2014/06/09
date added: 2014/06/09
shelves: 21
review:

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The Picture of Dorian Grey 12346651
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]>
254 Oscar Wilde 1463703538 Alex 5 4.09 1890 The Picture of Dorian Grey
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Alex
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1890
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/06/07
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)]]> 1 652 J.K. Rowling Alex 3 4.57 2005 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Alex
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/04/30
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Great Gatsby and Other Stories]]> 16165773 319 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0987822845 Alex 0 21 4.04 1925 The Great Gatsby and Other Stories
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Alex
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1925
rating: 0
read at: 2014/04/20
date added: 2014/04/20
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[Down and Out in Paris and London]]> 393199 213 George Orwell 015626224X Alex 4 21 4.10 1933 Down and Out in Paris and London
author: George Orwell
name: Alex
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1933
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/03/11
shelves: 21
review:

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<![CDATA[A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition]]> 5966829 A Moveable Feast captures what it meant to be young and poor and writing in Paris during the 1920s. A correspondent for the Toronto Star, Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1921, three years after the trauma of the Great War and at the beginning of the transformation of Europe's cultural landscape: Braque and Picasso were experimenting with cubist form; James Joyce, long living in self-imposed exile from his native Dublin, had just completed Ulysses; Gertrude Stein held court at 27 Rue de Fleurus, and deemed young Ernest a member of une gneration perdue; and T.S. Eliot was a bank clerk in London. It was during these years that the as-of-yet unpublished young writer gathered the material for his first novel The Sun Also Rises, and the subsequent masterpieces that followed.

Among these small, reflective sketches are unforgettable encounters with the members of Hemingway's slightly rag-tag circle of artists and writers, some also fated to achieve fame and glory, others to fall into obscurity. Here, too, is an evocation of the Paris that Hemingway knew as a young man - a map drawn in his distinct prose of the streets and cafes and bookshops that comprised the city in which he, as a young writer, sometimes struggling against the cold and hunger of near poverty, honed the skills of his craft.

A Moveable Feast is at once an elegy to the remarkable group for expatriates that gathered in Paris during the twenties and a testament to the risks and rewards of the writerly life.

]]>
236 Ernest Hemingway 1416591311 Alex 4 20 4.03 1964 A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Alex
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1964
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/03/11
shelves: 20
review:

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<![CDATA[Swann’s Way (In Search of Lost Time, #1)]]> 12749 In Search of Lost Time is one of the most entertaining reading experiences in any language and arguably the finest novel of the twentieth century. But since its original prewar translation there has been no completely new version in English. Now, Penguin Classics brings Proust’s masterpiece to new audiences throughout the world, beginning with Lydia Davis’s internationally acclaimed translation of the first volume, Swann’s Way.]]> 468 Marcel Proust 0142437964 Alex 0 to-read 4.12 1913 Swann’s Way (In Search of Lost Time, #1)
author: Marcel Proust
name: Alex
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1913
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

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Paris Was Ours 9191012
In thirty-two personal essays—more than half of which are here published for the first time—the writers describe how they were seduced by Paris and then began to see things differently. They came to write, to cook, to find love, to study, to raise children, to escape, or to live the way it’s done in French movies; they came from the United States, Canada, and England; from Iran, Iraq, and Cuba; and—a few—from other parts of France. And they stayed, not as tourists, but for a long time; some are still living there. They were outsiders who became insiders, who here share their observations and revelations. Some are well-known Diane Johnson, David Sedaris, Judith Thurman, Joe Queenan, and Edmund White. Others may be lesser known but are no less passionate on the subject.

Together, their reflections add up to an unusually perceptive and multifaceted portrait of a city that is entrancing, at times exasperating, but always fascinating. They remind us that Paris belongs to everyone it has touched, and to each in a different way.]]>
288 Penelope Rowlands 1565129539 Alex 4 21 3.76 2011 Paris Was Ours
author: Penelope Rowlands
name: Alex
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/03/07
shelves: 21
review:

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The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Alex 3 3.81 1926 The Sun Also Rises
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Alex
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
rating: 3
read at: 2013/11/26
date added: 2013/11/26
shelves:
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Hunting and Gathering 47780
As she recovers Camille learns more about Philibert; about Franck and his guilt for his beloved but fragile grandmother Paulette, who is all he has left in the world; and about herself. And slowly, this curious quartet of misfits all discover the importance of food, friendship and love.]]>
488 Anna Gavalda 159448144X Alex 0 to-read 4.15 2004 Hunting and Gathering
author: Anna Gavalda
name: Alex
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co.]]> 55008 Time Was Soft There is the story of a journey down a literary rabbit hole in the shadow of Notre Dame, to a place where a hidden bohemia still thrives.]]> 260 Jeremy Mercer 0312347405 Alex 3 20 3.84 2005 Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co.
author: Jeremy Mercer
name: Alex
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2013/11/06
date added: 2013/11/06
shelves: 20
review:

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The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]>
272 Oscar Wilde Alex 4 20 4.13 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Alex
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/10/18
shelves: 20
review:

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Ulysses 338798
According to Declan Kiberd, "Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking". Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Ulysses is the Latinised name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between the poem and the novel, with structural correspondences between the characters and experiences of Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus, in addition to events and themes of the early 20th-century context of modernism, Dublin, and Ireland's relationship to Britain.

The novel is highly allusive and also imitates the styles of different periods of English literature. Since its publication, the book has attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from an obscenity trial in the United States in 1921 to protracted textual "Joyce Wars." The novel's stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—replete with puns, parodies, and allusions—as well as its rich characterisation and broad humour have led it to be regarded as one of the greatest literary works in history; Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.']]>
783 James Joyce Alex 0 20, dropped 3.72 1922 Ulysses
author: James Joyce
name: Alex
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at: 2013/10/18
date added: 2013/10/18
shelves: 20, dropped
review:

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<![CDATA[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]> 4465 A case of identity --
The Boscombe Valley mystery --
The five orange pips --
The adventure of the blue carbuncle --
The adventure of the speckled band --
The adventure of the engineer's thumb --
The adventure of the noble bachelor --
The adventure of the beryl coronet --
The adventure of the copper beeches.]]>
189 Arthur Conan Doyle 1842055062 Alex 0 to-read 4.45 1891 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Alex
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1891
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

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The Jump Artist 5784001 The Jump Artist follows his life story from the murder and trial in Austria, into the depths of Halsman's despair in prison, to his rise in Paris and New York as one of the world's most renowned photographers.]]> 252 Austin Ratner 1934137154 Alex 3 20 3.51 2009 The Jump Artist
author: Austin Ratner
name: Alex
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2013/04/17
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
review:

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V for Vendetta 5805 "Remember, remember the fifth of November..."

A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.]]>
296 Alan Moore 1401207928 Alex 5 20 4.26 1990 V for Vendetta
author: Alan Moore
name: Alex
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 5
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shelves: 20
review:

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A Streetcar Named Desire 12220 Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams� essay “The World I Live In.�

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared�57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams� A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the �40s and �50s.]]>
107 Tennessee Williams 0822210894 Alex 4 20 3.98 1947 A Streetcar Named Desire
author: Tennessee Williams
name: Alex
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1947
rating: 4
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shelves: 20
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<![CDATA[The Importance of Being Earnest]]> 92303
Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack's ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack's country home on the same weekend the "rivals" to fight for Ernest's undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader's notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists.]]>
89 Oscar Wilde 158049580X Alex 5 20 4.17 1895 The Importance of Being Earnest
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Alex
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1895
rating: 5
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shelves: 20
review:

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Death of a Salesman 12898 'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.'

Willy Loman has been a salesman for 34 years. At 60, he is cast aside, his usefulness now exhausted. With no future to dream about he must face the crushing disappointments of his past. He takes one final brave action, but is he heroic at last?, or a self-deluding fool?]]>
144 Arthur Miller 0435233076 Alex 4 20 3.57 1949 Death of a Salesman
author: Arthur Miller
name: Alex
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
review:

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<![CDATA[Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art]]> 102920 222 Scott McCloud Alex 5 20 4.00 1993 Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
author: Scott McCloud
name: Alex
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2013/08/15
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
review:

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Catch-22 168668
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.]]>
453 Joseph Heller 0684833395 Alex 0 dropped, 20 3.99 1961 Catch-22
author: Joseph Heller
name: Alex
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at: 2013/08/06
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: dropped, 20
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Planet Word 12724795 Unravel the mysteries of language with J.P. Davidson's remarkable Planet Word.

'The way you speak is who you are and the tones of your voice and the tricks of your emailing and tweeting and letter-writing, can be recognised unmistakably in the minds of those who know and love you.'
Stephen Fry

From feral children to fairy-tale princesses, secrets codes, invented languages - even a language that was eaten! - Planet Word uncovers everything you didn't know you needed to know about how language evolves. Learn the tricks to political propaganda, why we can talk but animals can't, discover 3,000-year-old clay tablets that discussed beer and impotence and test yourself at textese - do you know your RMEs from your LOLs? Meet the 105-year-old man who invented modern-day Chinese and all but eradicated illiteracy, and find out why language caused the go-light in Japan to be blue. From the dusty scrolls of the past to the unknown digital future, and with (heart) the first graphic to enter the OED, are we already well on our way to a language without words?

In a round-the-world trip of a lifetime, discover all this and more as J. P. Davidson travels across our gloriously, endlessly intriguing multilingual Planet Word.


John Paul Davidson is a film and television director and producer. After studying at Bristol University and completing his doctoral field work in The University of Malysia, he joined the BBC's Travel and Exploration Unit as their resident anthropologist.

Stephen Fry's film, stage, radio and television credits are numerous and wide-ranging. He has written, produced, directed, acted in or presented productions as varied as Wilde, Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Fry's English Delight and QI. After writing many successful books, his recent memoir The Fry Chronicles was a number one bestseller.]]>
425 J.P. Davidson 0141968931 Alex 5 20 4.05 2011 Planet Word
author: J.P. Davidson
name: Alex
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/05/20
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
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You 15790854
As the company's revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a software glitch, Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears -- and soon, Russell comes to realize there's much more is at stake than just one software company's bottom line.]]>
383 Austin Grossman 0316198536 Alex 3 20 3.19 2013 You
author: Austin Grossman
name: Alex
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2013/07/25
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
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<![CDATA[The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life]]> 85697 210 Rosamund Stone Zander 0142001104 Alex 3 20 3.90 2000 The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
author: Rosamund Stone Zander
name: Alex
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2013/05/05
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
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The Man Who Killed 10785666 Nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award by the Crime Writers of Canada

Montreal, 1926. Mick is down on his luck until an old pal offers him a loaded revolver and a job: riding shotgun in a truck running booze across the border. Stateside Prohibition has opened up a market for certain amusements, vicious or otherwise. Mick takes the job—and his problems begin.

Through his old friend Jack, Mick falls deeper into the life of the small-time tough. From whorehouse to gentlemen’s club, through back alleys and deluxe hotels, jazz joints, opium dens, baseball diamonds, cheap diners and anywhere trouble is to be found, Mick burns his way through the City of Two Solitudes. Other people are in town for their own reasons. Babe Ruth’s here; Harry Houdini, too.

The Man Who Killed is a tale of political corruption and crime, of sexual jealousy and heartbreak, a portrait of a city after last call, of smoke-filled saloons and gunfire in the night. Shot through with dark humour and strange pathos, this is a novel of two friends who do bad things mostly for money, sometimes for fun, and the women they love.
]]>
263 Fraser Nixon 1553655699 Alex 1 dropped, 20 2.76 2011 The Man Who Killed
author: Fraser Nixon
name: Alex
average rating: 2.76
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at: 2013/05/07
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: dropped, 20
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<![CDATA[What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be]]> 10794269
What Language Is argues that any language, left untouched, becomes more ingrown over time. Only adults attempting to learn a language (and constructively butchering it) can strip it down. Diving into the astounding complexities of Navajo, McWhorter outlines how a language can become downright disheveled, with more exceptions than rules. Looking at an African language called Twi, McWhorter elucidates how even tongues that sound primitive to the untrained ear enfold immense intricacies, and how what sounds like "improper" language actually constitute new and exciting grammar. McWhorter then examines the difference between written and oral language, and explains that, to a linguist, the notion that the written word is somehow elevated over the spoken in downright bizarre, especially because only two hundred of the world's six thousand languages are written. McWhorter also looks at the way languages cross-pollinate each other and occasionally become entirely new creatures via the example of Saramaccan, a wonderful languages that combines African languages with English, Dutch, and Portuguese.]]>
228 John McWhorter 1592406254 Alex 3 20 3.87 2011 What Language Is: And What It Isn't and What It Could Be
author: John McWhorter
name: Alex
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2013/06/02
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
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The Fault in Our Stars 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]>
313 John Green Alex 3 20 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: Alex
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
review:

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Mrs Queen Takes the Train 13571784 374 William Kuhn 0062208284 Alex 0 dropped, 20 3.55 2012 Mrs Queen Takes the Train
author: William Kuhn
name: Alex
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2013/07/25
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: dropped, 20
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<![CDATA[Razzia: 25 Years of Poster Art]]> 7750827
A promotional maverick who retains creative control over every image he produces, Razzia has had direct influence on the worlds of fashion, music, sports, and charity, as well as a myriad of other areas. This is the first collection of the artist’s brilliant contributions to the world of poster art.]]>
204 Mickey Ross 0757000703 Alex 4 20 3.00 2007 Razzia: 25 Years of Poster Art
author: Mickey Ross
name: Alex
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2007
rating: 4
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shelves: 20
review:

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<![CDATA[Joseph II, Volume I: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741-1780]]> 4208714 519 Derek Beales 0521242401 Alex 3 dropped, 20 4.10 1987 Joseph II, Volume I: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741-1780
author: Derek Beales
name: Alex
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at: 2013/07/11
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: dropped, 20
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Suite Française 5497778 Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.

When Irène Némirovsky began working on Suite Française, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.]]>
448 Irène Némirovsky 0307264750 Alex 3 20 3.92 2004 Suite Française
author: Irène Némirovsky
name: Alex
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2013/08/04
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
review:

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Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]>
275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Alex 4 20 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Alex
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/29
date added: 2013/09/30
shelves: 20
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<![CDATA[Charmed Life (Chrestomanci, #1)]]> 244572 252 Diana Wynne Jones 000710653X Alex 0 to-read 3.96 1977 Charmed Life (Chrestomanci, #1)
author: Diana Wynne Jones
name: Alex
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/09/28
shelves: to-read
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret 9673436 534 Brian Selznick Alex 0 to-read 4.22 2007 The Invention of Hugo Cabret
author: Brian Selznick
name: Alex
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) 6050678
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.]]>
440 Scott Westerfeld 1416971734 Alex 0 to-read 3.92 2009 Leviathan (Leviathan, #1)
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: Alex
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read
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Paper Towns 2914097 Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...]]>
305 John Green 0525478183 Alex 0 to-read 4.00 2008 Paper Towns
author: John Green
name: Alex
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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Looking for Alaska 99561 Before. Miles “Pudge� Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps� even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.]]>
221 John Green 1435249151 Alex 0 to-read 3.97 2005 Looking for Alaska
author: John Green
name: Alex
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Naked Lunch: The Restored Text]]> 7437 Naked Lunch is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, a book that redefined not just literature but American culture. An unnerving tale of a narcotics addict unmoored in New York, Tangier, and ultimately a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone, its formal innovation, taboo subject matter, and tour de force execution have exerted a significant influence on authors like Thomas Pynchon, J. G. Ballard, and William Gibson; on the relationship of art and obscenity; and on the shape of music, film, and media generally. Naked Lunch: The Restored Text includes many editorial corrections to errors present in previous editions, and incorporates Burroughs’s notes on the text, several essays he wrote over the years about the book, and an appendix of 20 percent new material and alternate drafts from the original manuscript, which predates the first published version. For the Burroughs enthusiast and the neophyte, this volume is a valuable and fresh experience of this classic of our culture.]]> 289 William S. Burroughs 0802140181 Alex 0 to-read 3.48 1959 Naked Lunch: The Restored Text
author: William S. Burroughs
name: Alex
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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Battle Royale 57891 624 Koushun Takami 156931778X Alex 0 to-read 4.26 1999 Battle Royale
author: Koushun Takami
name: Alex
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[The City of Ember (Book of Ember, #1)]]> 307791
But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen to them?]]>
270 Jeanne DuPrau 0375822747 Alex 0 to-read 3.89 2003 The City of Ember (Book of Ember, #1)
author: Jeanne DuPrau
name: Alex
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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Fatherland 56842
The naked body of an old man floats in a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. In one week it will be Adolf Hitler’s 75th birthday. A terrible conspiracy is starting to unravel�

What if Hitler had won?

Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb.

As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth -- a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.]]>
380 Robert Harris 0061006629 Alex 0 to-read 4.01 1992 Fatherland
author: Robert Harris
name: Alex
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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Atlas Shrugged 662 This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor � and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.

Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life � from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy � to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction � to the philosopher who becomes a pirate � to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph � to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad � to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

You must be prepared, when you read this novel, to check every premise at the root of your convictions.

This is a mystery story, not about the murder � and rebirth � of man’s spirit. It is a philosophical revolution, told in the form of an action thriller of violent events, a ruthlessly brilliant plot structure and an irresistible suspense. Do you say this is impossible? Well, that is the first of your premises to check.]]>
1168 Ayn Rand 0452011876 Alex 0 to-read 3.67 1957 Atlas Shrugged
author: Ayn Rand
name: Alex
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1957
rating: 0
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Gulliver’s Travels 7733 A wickedly clever satire uses comic inversions to offer telling insights into the nature of man and society. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Gulliver's Travels describes the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon. In Lilliput he discovers a world in miniature; towering over the people and their city, he is able to view their society from the viewpoint of a god. However, in Brobdingnag, a land of giants, tiny Gulliver himself comes under observation, exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. In Laputa, a flying island, he encounters a society of speculators and projectors who have lost all grip on everyday reality; while they plan and calculate, their country lies in ruins. Gulliver's final voyage takes him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses whom he quickly comes to admire - in contrast to the Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who bear a disturbing resemblance to humans. This text, based on the first edition of 1726, reproduces all the original illustrations and includes an introduction by Robert Demaria, Jr, which discusses the ways Gulliver's Travels has been interpreted since its first publication. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born in Dublin.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]>
306 Jonathan Swift 0141439491 Alex 0 to-read 3.59 1726 Gulliver’s Travels
author: Jonathan Swift
name: Alex
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1726
rating: 0
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin 46787 438 Harriet Beecher Stowe Alex 0 to-read 3.88 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin
author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
name: Alex
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1852
rating: 0
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Richard III 42058 Richard III with a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings; it uses the First Quarto, the text closest to the play as it would have been staged. It includes passages from Sir Thomas More's 'History of Richard III'; on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, allusions, and much else; and a detailed introduction that considers composition, sources, performances, and changing critical attitudes to the play. This edition also comes illustrated with production photographs and related art, a full index to the introduction and commentary, and has a durable sewn binding for lasting use.]]> 419 William Shakespeare 0192839934 Alex 0 to-read 3.90 1593 Richard III
author: William Shakespeare
name: Alex
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1593
rating: 0
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My Sister’s Keeper 10917 New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13 she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged ... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.]]>
423 Jodi Picoult 0743454537 Alex 0 to-read 4.10 2004 My Sister’s Keeper
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Alex
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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Madame Bovary 2175 329 Gustave Flaubert 0192840398 Alex 0 to-read 3.70 1856 Madame Bovary
author: Gustave Flaubert
name: Alex
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1856
rating: 0
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Life of Pi 4214 460 Yann Martel 0770430074 Alex 0 to-read 3.94 2001 Life of Pi
author: Yann Martel
name: Alex
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 30597
The novel has been described as a key text in French literature[1] and has been adapted for film over a dozen times, in addition to numerous television and stage adaptations, such as a 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, a 1939 sound film with Charles Laughton, and a 1996 Disney animated film with Tom Hulce (both as Quasimodo).

The novel sought to preserve values of French culture in a time period of great change, which resulted in the destruction of many French Gothic structures. The novel made Notre-Dame de Paris a national icon and served as a catalyst for renewed interest in the restoration of Gothic form.]]>
510 Victor Hugo 0451527887 Alex 0 to-read 4.01 1831 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
author: Victor Hugo
name: Alex
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1831
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The Iliad 1371
Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.”]]>
614 Homer 0140275363 Alex 0 to-read 3.88 -800 The Iliad
author: Homer
name: Alex
average rating: 3.88
book published: -800
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/09/28
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The Poetry of Robert Frost 95819 The only comprehensive gathering of Frost's published poetry, this affordable volume offers the entire contents of his eleven books of verse, from A Boy's Will (1913) to In the Clearing (1962). Frost scholar Lathem, who was also a close friend of the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, scrupulously annotated the 350-plus poems in this collection, which has been the standard edition of Frost's work since it first appeared in 1969.
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607 Robert Frost 0805005013 Alex 0 to-read 4.24 1969 The Poetry of Robert Frost
author: Robert Frost
name: Alex
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/09/28
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