James's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 12 Jun 2025 21:28:03 -0700 60 James's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2)]]> 23164983
But in this war-torn city, hideous surprises lurk around every corner. And before Jacob can deliver the peculiar children to safety, he must make an important decision about his love for Emma Bloom.]]> 412 Ransom Riggs 1594747350 James 5 4.07 2014 Hollow City (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #2)
author: Ransom Riggs
name: James
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/12
date added: 2025/06/12
shelves:
review:

]]> It 830502
It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real ...

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them can withstand the force that has drawn them back to Derry to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name.]]> 1184 Stephen King 0450411435 James 5 currently-reading
It is always regarded as one of the best horror books ever written but I disagree. It’s one of the best coming of age books ever written. ]]> 4.28 1986 It
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/29
date added: 2025/06/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:
There is so much I want to say about this book but I’m going to try and keep it short. It’s a wonderful story about childhood and growing older. It’s about remembering your childhood and also about how those memories start to fade. It’s about first love and how it never leaves you. It’s about how strong a child’s imagination can be and how that alone can be one of the most powerful things in the world. It’s about guilt and letting go. I could go on and on.

It is always regarded as one of the best horror books ever written but I disagree. It’s one of the best coming of age books ever written.
]]> <![CDATA[Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)]]> 9460487 9781594744761

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow-impossible though it seems-they may still be alive. A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.]]> 352 Ransom Riggs 1594744769 James 5 3.92 2011 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1)
author: Ransom Riggs
name: James
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/10
date added: 2025/06/10
shelves:
review:
Have you ever felt like a book was written just for you? This is how this one felt to me. I love the mix of history, horror, and fantasy. The real photos were so cool!
]]> <![CDATA[Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest (Rowan Hood, #1)]]> 327945 170 Nancy Springer 069811972X James 3 3.78 2001 Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest (Rowan Hood, #1)
author: Nancy Springer
name: James
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2025/06/08
date added: 2025/06/08
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)]]> 867387 Alternate cover edition can be found here.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high lonely place, a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer. There is palpable evil in the air, and Leaphorn's pursuit of a Wolf-Witch is leading him where even the bravest men fear, on a chilling trail that winds perilously between mysticism and murder.]]> 306 Tony Hillerman 0061000019 James 3 3.99 1970 The Blessing Way (Leaphorn & Chee, #1)
author: Tony Hillerman
name: James
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1970
rating: 3
read at: 2025/06/06
date added: 2025/06/06
shelves:
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A decent mystery. I decided to start these after watching Dark Winds. I had already read Skinwalkers before I realized it was related. They aren’t mind blowing, but they are good enough and the Native American lore is fascinating.
]]> Night Film 18770398
For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova's dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.

Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova's eerie, hypnotic world. The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time he might lose even more.]]> 640 Marisha Pessl 0812979788 James 0 to-read 3.78 2013 Night Film
author: Marisha Pessl
name: James
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pet Sematary: A Novel 210317909
Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago.

Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive note of threat.

But behind the house and away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully clear path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial.

A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding...]]> 416 Stephen King 1668075768 James 0 currently-reading 4.31 1983 Pet Sematary: A Novel
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)]]> 43615
He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.]]> 231 Stephen King 1501143514 James 3 3.95 1982 The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1982
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/30
date added: 2025/05/30
shelves:
review:
I had to push to get through this one. I really loved some parts of it and a lot of the ideas, but it was a slog for the most part. I’m excited to go on to the next book though. From what I’ve heard they get much better. This one however is a shaky ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. Not many King books rate that low with me.
]]> <![CDATA[Never Flinch (Holly Gibney, #4)]]> 221633230 From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.

When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty� in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,� Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.

Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.]]> 439 Stephen King 1668089335 James 4 3.86 2025 Never Flinch (Holly Gibney, #4)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/29
date added: 2025/05/29
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This is another fun Holly and friends mystery thriller. I don’t think it’s the best of the bunch, but it’s entertaining. I’ve grown very attached to Holly, Jerome, and Barbara. I think that alone means something. It’s not easy to make characters feel real, but King always manages to do so.
]]> The Dark Half 11597 #1, #2, #3

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?]]> 460 Stephen King 045052468X James 4 3.81 1989 The Dark Half
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/26
date added: 2025/05/26
shelves:
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This was way more gruesome than I expected! The scenes with the straight razor made my skin crawl. Great read!
]]> Cell 10567 Where were you on October 1st at 3:03 pm?

Graphic artist Clay Riddell was in the heart of Boston on that brilliant autumn afternoon when hell was unleashed before his eyes. Without warning, carnage and chaos reigned. Ordinary people fell victim to the basest, most animalistic destruction.

And the apocalypse began with the ring of a cell phone...]]> 449 Stephen King 1416524517 James 4 3.67 2006 Cell
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/24
date added: 2025/05/24
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]]> Video Nasties 35849729 16 horror tales in the tradition of Stephen King, Richard Matheson and The Twilight Zone!

Video Nasties - After discovering a box of old video tapes outside an abandoned warehouse, a young film enthusiast inadvertently releases horror director Nicolo Funelli and his "video nasties" from VHS imprisonment.
How to Kill a Celebrity - New hire Annie Watkins's pre-emptive obituaries at Live @ 5 New Orleans News seem to be killing off famous people.
Cuttings - A used delivery van causes Katie and Gavin's lives to take an unimaginable wrong turn into very dark territory.
Mental - A teen orphan with a unique ability is held captive in a secret government lab, forced to submit to their whims.
He Is Risen - Vacationers become a grotesque part of the Easter festivities in a small English town.

These are just a handful of the 16 dark tales that await you in Video Nasties. Tune in, sit back, and turn up the terror. But don't touch that dial� it just might kill you.]]> 361 Duncan Ralston James 3 3.78 2017 Video Nasties
author: Duncan Ralston
name: James
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/22
date added: 2025/05/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Extinction (Cash & Colcord #1)]]> 65213662 370 Douglas Preston 0765317702 James 0 currently-reading 3.87 2024 Extinction (Cash & Colcord #1)
author: Douglas Preston
name: James
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants, #1)]]> 207266 125 Dav Pilkey 0439014573 James 5 4.01 1997 The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Captain Underpants, #1)
author: Dav Pilkey
name: James
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/15
date added: 2025/05/15
shelves:
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This was such a treat for me. It reminded me a lot of my elementary school days. My friend Tommy and I used to draw land write little comics that we would share with classmates. Our teacher intercepted one of them and we could have gotten in trouble for a couple bits of foul language. The teacher encouraged us and also said that we could make them funny without resorting to that. We kept drawing them through fourth and fifth grade. ANYWAYS, back on point, this was fun little book. It really captures the spirit of elementary school kids in the 90s. Even the little flip animations were just like we all did!
]]> <![CDATA[Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon]]> 35414997 The inside, lesser-known story of NASA's boldest and riskiest mission: Apollo 8, mankind's first journey to the Moon on Christmas in 1968. A riveting account of three heroic astronauts who took one of the most dangerous space flights ever, from the New York Times bestselling author of Shadow Divers.

In early 1968, the Apollo program was on shaky footing. President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline to put a man on the Moon was in jeopardy, and the Soviets were threatening to pull ahead in the space race. By August 1968, with its back against the wall, NASA decided to scrap its usual methodical approach and shoot for the heavens. With just four months to prepare--a fraction of the normal time--the agency would send the first men in history to the Moon. In a year of historic violence and discord--the Tet offensive, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the Chicago DNC riots--the Apollo 8 mission was the boldest test of what America could do. With a focus on astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, and their wives and children, this is a vivid, gripping, you-are-there narrative that shows anew the epic danger involved, and the singular bravery it took, for man to leave Earth for the first time--and to arrive at a new world.]]> 384 Robert Kurson 0812988701 James 5 4.51 2018 Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
author: Robert Kurson
name: James
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/14
date added: 2025/05/14
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]]> The Body 38926465 Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s timeless novella “The Body”—originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the 1986 film classic Stand by Me—is now available as a stand-alone publication.

It’s 1960 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Ray Brower, a boy from a nearby town, has disappeared, and twelve-year-old Gordie Lachance and his three friends set out on a quest to find his body along the railroad tracks. During the course of their journey, Gordie, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio come to terms with death and the harsh truths of growing up in a small factory town that doesn’t offer much in the way of a future.

A timeless exploration of the loneliness and isolation of young adulthood, Stephen King’s The Body is an iconic, unforgettable, coming-of-age story.]]> 192 Stephen King 1982103531 James 5 4.03 1982 The Body
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/07
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves:
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]]> Firestarter 233667 This a previously-published edition of ISBN 0451167805.

The Department of Scientific Intelligence (aka "The Shop") never anticipated that two participants in their research program would marry and have a child. Charlie McGee inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents, who had been given a low-grade hallucinogen called "Lot Six" while at college. Now the government is trying to capture young Charlie and harness her powerful firestarting skills as a weapon.
--stephenking.com]]> 564 Stephen King James 0 currently-reading 3.92 1980 Firestarter
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> If It Bleeds 46015758 If it Bleeds is a collection of four new novellas �Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds� each pulling readers into intriguing and frightening places.

A collection of four uniquely wonderful long stories, including a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider.

News people have a saying: 'If it bleeds, it leads'. And a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School is guaranteed to lead any bulletin.

Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog - and on her own need to be more assertive - when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realizes there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins 'If It Bleeds' , a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case.

Dancing alongside are three more long stories - 'Mr Harrigan's Phone', 'The Life of Chuck' and 'Rat' .

The novella is a form King has returned to over and over again in the course of his amazing career, and many have been made into iconic films, If It Bleeds is a uniquely satisfying collection of longer short fiction by an incomparably gifted writer.]]> 438 Stephen King James 5 3.99 2020 If It Bleeds
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves:
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I was completely absorbed in every one of the novellas in this collection. Usually at least one doesn’t hit as hard as others, but not this time.
]]> <![CDATA[Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2)]]> 23492589 Wake up, genius.

The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.

Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.

Not since Misery has King played with the notion of a reader whose obsession with a writer gets dangerous. Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also King writing about how literature shapes a life—for good, for bad, forever.]]> 434 Stephen King 1501100076 James 5 4.07 2015 Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/03
date added: 2025/05/03
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]]> <![CDATA[We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)]]> 32109569 Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.]]> 383 Dennis E. Taylor James 0 currently-reading 4.29 2016 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)
author: Dennis E. Taylor
name: James
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Artemis 34928122
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.]]> 305 Andy Weir 0553448129 James 4 3.65 2017 Artemis
author: Andy Weir
name: James
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/01
date added: 2025/05/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Price of the Phoenix (Star Trek Adventures, #4)]]> 77322 182 Sondra Marshak 0553246356 James 2 3.29 1977 The Price of the Phoenix (Star Trek Adventures, #4)
author: Sondra Marshak
name: James
average rating: 3.29
book published: 1977
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/04/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Planet of Judgment (Star Trek Adventures, #5)]]> 216624 151 Joe Haldeman 1852865318 James 3 3.31 1977 Planet of Judgment (Star Trek Adventures, #5)
author: Joe Haldeman
name: James
average rating: 3.31
book published: 1977
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Ghosts and Other Scary Stories (Under the Cover Books)]]> 722554
Make any sleepover or campout more fun with Ghosts and Other Scary Stories. Once you get started, you won't be able to resist these nine eerie tales.]]> 128 Allan Gould 0590471627 James 3 3.38 1993 Ghosts and Other Scary Stories (Under the Cover Books)
author: Allan Gould
name: James
average rating: 3.38
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> The Great Gatsby 41733839 here and here.

James L.W. West III to include the author’s final revisions and features a note on the composition and text, a personal foreword by Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan—and a new introduction by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,� it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald James 5 3.95 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: James
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Yard (Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, #1)]]> 13056152
Filled with fascinating period detail, and real historical figures, this spectacular debut in a new series showcases the depravity of late Victorian London, the advent of criminology, andintroduces a stunning new cast of characters sure to appeal tofans of The Sherlockian and The Alienist.]]> 422 Alex Grecian 0399149546 James 4 3.81 2012 The Yard (Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, #1)
author: Alex Grecian
name: James
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
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]]> Mid-Air 176442928 A tender-souled boy reeling from the death of his best friend struggles to fit into a world that wants him to grow up tough and unfeeling in this stunning middle grade novel in verse from the Newbery Honor–winning author of Genesis Begins Again.

It’s the summer before high school and Isaiah feels lost. He thought this summer was going to be just him and his homies Drew and Darius, hangin� out, doing wheelies, and watching martial arts movies—a lot of chillin� before high school and the Future. But more and more, Drew will barely talk to him—barely even look at him—and though he won’t admit it, Isaiah knows it’s because of Darius, because Darius is…gone.

And Isaiah wasn’t even there when it happened, with his best friend in his final moments. But he’s going to be there now. Him and Drew both, they’re gonna spend the summer breaking every single record they can think of, for Darius, for his dream of breaking world records. But Drew’s not the same Drew, and Isaiah being Isaiah isn’t enough for Drew anymore. Not his taste in music, his love for D&D, his interest in taking photos, or his aversion to jumping off rooftops. The real Isaiah is sensitive; he’s uncool.

And one day something unspeakable happens to Isaiah that makes him think Drew’s right. If only he could be less sensitive, more tough, less weird, more cool, more contained, less him, things would be easier. But how much can Isaiah keep inside until he shatters wide open?]]> 320 Alicia D. Williams 148146583X James 0 to-read 4.26 2024 Mid-Air
author: Alicia D. Williams
name: James
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)]]> 40914165 An alternate cover edition for ISBN 978-1492671527 can be found here.

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry.

The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.]]> 309 Kim Michele Richardson James 0 to-read 4.17 2019 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, #1)
author: Kim Michele Richardson
name: James
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> Imaginary Friend 43522576 Christopher is the new kid in town.
Christopher has an imaginary friend.

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.

Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six long days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

Twenty years ago, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made readers everywhere feel infinite. Now, Chbosky has returned with an epic work of literary horror, years in the making, whose grand scale and rich emotion redefine the genre. Read it with the lights on.]]> 705 Stephen Chbosky 1538731339 James 5 3.52 2019 Imaginary Friend
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: James
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/24
date added: 2025/04/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Treasure Island ( Educator Classic Library Complete and Unabridged)]]> 27986881 Sir, with no intention to take offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth� : Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
Your �Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson eBook Report: Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated. Working Table of Contents, Font adjustments & Navigation.

About �Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson


Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". First published as a book on 14 November 1883 by Cassell & Co., it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881 and 1882 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym Captain George North. An old sailor, calling himself "the captain" - real name "Billy" Bones - comes to lodge at the Admiral Benbow Inn on the west English coast during the mid-1700s, paying the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins, a few pennies to keep a lookout for a one-legged "seafaring man."


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]]> 248 Robert Louis Stevenson James 4 4.00 1882 Treasure Island ( Educator Classic Library Complete and Unabridged)
author: Robert Louis Stevenson
name: James
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1882
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
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]]> A Simple Plan 21727 417 Scott Smith 0307279952 James 5 3.91 1993 A Simple Plan
author: Scott Smith
name: James
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Treasure Island (Illustrated Classics)]]> 418003 70 1562549480 James 0 to-read 3.68 2010 Treasure Island (Illustrated Classics)
author: Saddleback Educational Publishing
name: James
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Foxglove (Belladonna, #2) 58651856
The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart.

A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He's hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago...and now he's determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost.

Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate's past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate's unexpected games—all with their destinies hanging in the balance.

Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to Signa and Death's story is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.]]> 465 Adalyn Grace 0316565253 James 5 4.12 2023 Foxglove (Belladonna, #2)
author: Adalyn Grace
name: James
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
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review:

]]> The River 6363214 260 Steven Bauer 0722114850 James 0 currently-reading 3.00 1985 The River
author: Steven Bauer
name: James
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Firm (The Firm, #1) 452235
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It’s a dream job for an up-and-comer—if he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue.With no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets—if he hopes to stay alive…]]> 501 John Grisham 044021145X James 5
I will definitely be reading more of his work. ]]> 4.26 1991 The Firm (The Firm, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: James
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
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review:
This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I had a great time! The story sucks you in and doesn’t let you go!

I will definitely be reading more of his work.
]]> The Tunnels of Cu Chi 156160 302 Tom Mangold 0425089517 James 5 4.04 1985 The Tunnels of Cu Chi
author: Tom Mangold
name: James
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1985
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Stand 228202 1141 Stephen King 0451169530 James 0 currently-reading 4.32 1978 The Stand
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The United States in World War One: The Story of General John J. Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces]]> 2085001 157 Don Lawson 0200719394 James 0 currently-reading 3.71 1963 The United States in World War One: The Story of General John J. Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces
author: Don Lawson
name: James
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Field Guide to Homicide (Cat Latimer Mystery #6)]]> 45360743 Cat Latimer and her writer’s retreat group go on a hiking trip—but a murderer has been lurking off the beaten path . . .

Cat’s sweetheart, Seth, is going all out on an outing into the local mountains—for the benefit of the writing group Cat’s hosting at her Colorado B&B. But when they try to identify some plant and animal life, they find death instead. The body belongs to a man with a gold claim a few miles away. Instead of striking it rich, he’s been struck down.

To his surprise, Seth recognizes the victim from his military days—and up to now believed he’d already died during his last tour of duty. Now Cat has to solve this mystery before the killer takes a hike . . .]]> 288 Lynn Cahoon 149671685X James 2 4.01 2020 A Field Guide to Homicide (Cat Latimer Mystery #6)
author: Lynn Cahoon
name: James
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
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review:
I was so sick of reading about food and coffee by the time I finished this book. The murder mystery seemed very contrived. It didn’t really get any steam until the last quarter of the book.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last American Vampire (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, #2)]]> 20454635 New York Times bestselling author Seth Grahame-Smith returns with the follow-up to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter--a sweeping, alternate history of 20th Century America as seen through the eyes of vampire Henry Sturges.

In Reconstruction-era America, vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. Henry's will be an expansive journey that first sends him to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the birth of a new American century, the dawn of the electric era of Tesla and Edison, and the blazing disaster of the 1937 Hindenburg crash.

Along the way, Henry goes on the road in a Kerouac-influenced trip as Seth Grahame-Smith ingeniously weaves vampire history through Russia's October Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, and the JFK assassination.]]> 399 Seth Grahame-Smith 145550212X James 0 currently-reading 3.95 2015 The Last American Vampire (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, #2)
author: Seth Grahame-Smith
name: James
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> And Then There Were None 16299
"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.]]> 264 Agatha Christie 0312330871 James 3 4.27 1939 And Then There Were None
author: Agatha Christie
name: James
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1939
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 435 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 James 4 4.15 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: James
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/25
date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> 11/22/63 10644930
In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane � and insanely possible � mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald...]]> 849 Stephen King 1451627289 James 5 Still my favorite book of all time. It's not often I read a book more than once and even rarer for a book of this size. Every time I read it I'm sucked right back in and enjoy every minute of it.

I’ve always been deeply fascinated with the JFK assassination and this book is something I’ve always wanted, without exactly knowing it. It’s such a wonderful mix of truth and fiction. The history buff in me loves all the details and the nerd in me loves the time travel. At the center of it all is a wonderful love story that transcends time. I love it for that and much more. It’s a book I’ll never forget and will read again and again.

]]> 4.33 2011 11/22/63
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
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2025 Re-read Review:
Still my favorite book of all time. It's not often I read a book more than once and even rarer for a book of this size. Every time I read it I'm sucked right back in and enjoy every minute of it.

I’ve always been deeply fascinated with the JFK assassination and this book is something I’ve always wanted, without exactly knowing it. It’s such a wonderful mix of truth and fiction. The history buff in me loves all the details and the nerd in me loves the time travel. At the center of it all is a wonderful love story that transcends time. I love it for that and much more. It’s a book I’ll never forget and will read again and again.


]]> Dragon Teeth 31287693
The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate America's western territories, even as lawless gold-rush towns begin to mark the landscape. Against this backdrop two palaeontologists pillage the Wild West for dinosaur fossils while deceiving and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars.

Into this treacherous territory plunges William Johnson, a Yale student with more privilege than sense. Determined to win a bet against his archrival, William has joined world-renowned palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his latest expedition. But Marsh becomes convinced that William is spying for his nemesis, Edwin Drinker Cope, and abandons him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a locus of crime and vice.

Soon William joins forces with Cope and stumbles upon a discovery of historic proportions. The struggle to protect this extraordinary treasure, however, will test William's newfound resilience and pit him against some of the West's most dangerous and notorious characters....

©2017 Michael Crichton (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited]]> 295 Michael Crichton 0008173060 James 5 3.79 2017 Dragon Teeth
author: Michael Crichton
name: James
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> Black Sails 1715 35017378 314 Allen Balogh James 0 to-read 3.70 Black Sails 1715
author: Allen Balogh
name: James
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Strawberry Summer (Pratt Twins, #3)]]> 1719991 0 Cynthia Blair 0449701832 James 3 3.13 1986 Strawberry Summer (Pratt Twins, #3)
author: Cynthia Blair
name: James
average rating: 3.13
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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review:
It's your basic pulp summer camp kind of book. It's not amazing, but it's not bad. Just a nice little mind retreat where you don't have to overthink anything. Stories like this hold a lot of nostalgia for me. I grew up with three sisters in the 90s and these books were everywhere.
]]> <![CDATA[Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1)]]> 18775247
Months later, an ex-cop named Bill Hodges, still haunted by the unsolved crime, contemplates suicide. When he gets a crazed letter from "the perk," claiming credit for the murders, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, fearing another even more diabolical attack and hell-bent on preventing it.

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of eccentric and mismatched allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady's next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.

Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.
--front flap]]> 437 Stephen King 1476754454 James 4 4.01 2014 Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
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]]> Blood on Her Tongue 213570812 "I'm in your blood, and you are in mine�"

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry� and hungry.

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.]]> 353 Johanna van Veen 1728281571 James 0 to-read 3.91 2025 Blood on Her Tongue
author: Johanna van Veen
name: James
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> Hungerstone 212342605 Hungerstoneis a thrillingly seductive sapphic romance for fans of S.T. Gibson’sA Dowry of Bloodand Emilia Hart’sWeyward.

For what do you hunger, Lenore?

Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage, the relationship has soured and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them out of London and to the imposing Nethershaw manor in the countryside, where Henry aims to host a hunt with society’s finest. Lenore keeps a terrible secret from the last time her husband hunted, and though they never speak of it, it haunts their marriage to this day.

The preparations for the event take a turn when a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night; Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a bloody hunger.

Torn between regaining her husband's affection and Carmilla's ever-growing presence, Lenore begins to unravel her past and in doing so, uncovers a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .

Set against the violent wilderness of the moors and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution,Hungerstoneis a compulsive feminist reworking ofCarmilla, the book that inspiredDracula: a captivating story of appetite and desire.]]> 336 Kat Dunn 1638932166 James 0 to-read 3.99 2025 Hungerstone
author: Kat Dunn
name: James
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Frankenstein (Bantam Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]]]> 140071120 0 Oscar Wilde James 4 4.00 1890 Frankenstein (Bantam Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]
author: Oscar Wilde
name: James
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1890
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
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]]> Razorblade Tears 54860585 A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250252708]]> 336 S.A. Cosby James 0 to-read 4.08 2021 Razorblade Tears
author: S.A. Cosby
name: James
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Crypt of the Moon Spider (Lunar Gothic Trilogy, #1)]]> 195790851 Crypt of the Moon Spider is a dark and dreamy tale of horror, corruption, and identity spun into the stickiest of webs.

Years ago, in a cave beneath the dense forests and streams on the surface of the moon, a gargantuan spider once lived. Its silk granted its first worshippers immense faculties of power and awe.

It’s now 1923 and Veronica Brinkley is touching down on the moon for her intake at the Barrowfield Home for Treatment of the Melancholy. A renowned facility, Dr. Barrington Cull’s invasive and highly successful treatments have been lauded by many. And they’re so simple! All it takes is a little spider silk in the amygdala, maybe a strand or two in the prefrontal cortex, and perhaps an inch in the hippocampus for near evisceration of those troublesome thoughts and ideas.

But trouble lurks in many a mind at this facility and although the spider’s been dead for years, its denizens are not. Someone or something is up to no good, and Veronica just might be the cause.]]> 88 Nathan Ballingrud 1250291739 James 0 to-read 3.93 2024 Crypt of the Moon Spider (Lunar Gothic Trilogy, #1)
author: Nathan Ballingrud
name: James
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)]]> 58724626
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.]]> 165 T. Kingfisher 1250830753 James 3 3.85 2022 What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: James
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> Field of Screams 63249817
Paranormal enthusiast Rebecca Graff isn’t happy about being dragged to Iowa to spend the summer with family she barely knows. But when she tracks a ghostly presence to an abandoned farmhouse, she starts to think the summer won’t be a total lost cause!

The trouble is no one believes her. Then Rebecca finds a note stashed in a comic belonging to her late father—a note that proves the same spirit haunted him when he was twelve. Suddenly she feels a connection to the dad she pretends not to miss, and she is determined to uncover the story behind the haunting.

But the more Rebecca discovers, the scarier the ghost becomes. Soon she is in a race to piece together the puzzle and recover a family legacy before it is lost forever and a horrible tragedy repeats itself.]]> 256 Wendy Parris 0593570006 James 4 3.69 2023 Field of Screams
author: Wendy Parris
name: James
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
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]]> They Bloom at Night 211003894
Now, Noon is stuck navigating the submerged town with her mom, who believes their dead family has reincarnated as sea creatures. Alone with the pain of what happened that night at the cove, Noon buries the truth: she is not the right shape.

When Mercy’s predatory leader demands Noon and her mom capture the creature drowning residents, she reluctantly finds an ally in his deadly hunter of a daughter and friends old and new. As the next storm approaches, Noon must confront the past and decide if it’s time to answer the monster itching at her skin.]]> 272 Trang Thanh Tran 1547611111 James 0 to-read 3.54 2025 They Bloom at Night
author: Trang Thanh Tran
name: James
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder]]> 217132 320 Tony Hawk 0060958316 James 4 3.95 2000 Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder
author: Tony Hawk
name: James
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> The Yellow Wall-Paper 286957
In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid� wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society.

First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine.

Excerpt:
Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.]]> 62 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1558611584 James 5 4.11 1892 The Yellow Wall-Paper
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: James
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1892
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
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]]> Eli the Good 6434638
Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former warprotester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war � a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.]]> 295 Silas House 0763643416 James 5 4.14 2009 Eli the Good
author: Silas House
name: James
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
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review:
I loved this book so much. In my top five easily.
]]> <![CDATA[Mekong Mud Dogs: Story of: Sgt. Ed Eaton]]> 22850395 280 Ed Eaton James 0 to-read 4.24 2014 Mekong Mud Dogs: Story of: Sgt. Ed Eaton
author: Ed Eaton
name: James
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Jumping from Helicopters: A Vietnam Memoir]]> 42851271 218 John Stillman 1732736111 James 4 4.43 2018 Jumping from Helicopters: A Vietnam Memoir
author: John Stillman
name: James
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/22
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]]> <![CDATA[The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires]]> 44074800 Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.]]> 410 Grady Hendrix James 0 currently-reading 3.78 2020 The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
author: Grady Hendrix
name: James
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Night Strangers 10209997 The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Secrets of Eden, comes a riveting and dramatic ghost story.

In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts.

The home's new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. Unlike the Miracle on the Hudson, however, most of the passengers aboard Flight 1611 die on impact or drown. The body count? Thirty-nine � a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself wondering about the women in this sparsely populated White Mountain village � self-proclaimed herbalists � and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has become desperately tenuous?

The result is a poignant and powerful ghost story with all the hallmarks readers have come to expect from bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian: a palpable sense of place, an unerring sense of the demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply.

The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead.]]> 378 Chris Bohjalian 0307394999 James 2 3.17 2011 The Night Strangers
author: Chris Bohjalian
name: James
average rating: 3.17
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:
It had potential, but it was such a slog. So boring and repetitive.
]]> youthjuice 198509203
A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE (hee-bee), a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood and named after the Greek goddess of youth, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.]]> 288 E.K. Sathue 1641295929 James 3 3.12 2024 youthjuice
author: E.K. Sathue
name: James
average rating: 3.12
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box, #1)]]> 34430839
There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside.

At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat like for a suit, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat...

Journey back to Castle Rock again in this chilling new novella by Stephen King, bestselling author of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, and Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December.]]> 171 Stephen King 1587676109 James 4 3.86 2017 Gwendy's Button Box (The Button Box, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Missing May 403722
Ever since May, Summer's aunt and good-as-a-mother for the past six years, died in the garden among her pole beans and carrots, life for Summer and her Uncle Ob has been as bleak as winter. Ob doesn't want to create his beautiful whirligigs anymore, and he and Summer have slipped into a sadness that they can't shake off. They need May in whatever form they can have her -- a message, a whisper, a sign that will tell them what to do next. When that sign comes, Summer will discover that she and Ob can keep missing May but still go on with their lives.]]> 89 Cynthia Rylant 0439613833 James 5 3.81 1992 Missing May
author: Cynthia Rylant
name: James
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves:
review:
A sweet story. I identified with a lot of things in it because it’s set in Appalachia. I highly recommend it if you enjoy a kids book every now and then.
]]> Carrie 10592
Make a date with terror and live the nightmare that is...Carrie
--back cover]]> 272 Stephen King 1416524304 James 5 4.00 1974 Carrie
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
There’s not much I can say about this book that’s not already been said over the last 50 years. On a personal level it was a hard read for me. I felt so bad for Carrie. She was so innocent and was beaten down her entire short life. I was really thrilled to see all those people get what they deserved. Carrie just wanted one happy memory and some people just can’t stand for a person to have that. In their own misery they want to hurt people and make them feel lower than they do.
]]> Whalefall 62919162 327 Daniel Kraus 1665918160 James 2 3.66 2023 Whalefall
author: Daniel Kraus
name: James
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Heart-Shaped Box 153025 376 Joe Hill 0061147931 James 0 currently-reading 3.85 2007 Heart-Shaped Box
author: Joe Hill
name: James
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Revival 20926278
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie's mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family's horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It's a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.]]> 405 Stephen King 1476770387 James 5 3.78 2014 Revival
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/31
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves:
review:
I couldn’t put this one down! In my top five King books
]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2)]]> 16130549 The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special 12-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless � mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky 12-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the "steam" that children with the "shining" produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant "shining" power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes "Doctor Sleep."

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.]]> 531 Stephen King 1476727651 James 5 4.11 2013 Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2)
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves:
review:

]]> Ushers 218362004 A young man who has improbably escaped death twice reveals his secret in a spine-tingling short story by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Martin Lorensen is a twenty-three-year-old counselor for disturbed teenagers. He’s bright, compassionate, attractive, and outgoing. He’s also—and this is the most interesting thing—not dead. Martin has improbably survived not one but two deadly disasters that claimed dozens of lives. The kid is riding one hell of a lucky streak. Two federal agents think there is something darker at play. Now that they’ve arranged to interview Martin, they want answers. Martin is ready to share everything he knows. One thing is for certain: when it comes to escaping death, luck doesn’t figure into it at all.]]> 29 Joe Hill 1662527942 James 4 4.23 2024 Ushers
author: Joe Hill
name: James
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadows on the Coast of Maine (Antique Print, #2)]]> 1208212 352 Lea Wait 0743456211 James 4 3.63 2003 Shadows on the Coast of Maine (Antique Print, #2)
author: Lea Wait
name: James
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
Not my usual kind of reading and I enjoyed it for what it was. It was an easy read and that what I was looking for. Maggie does some silly things at times and I feel the entire mystery could have been solved earlier if she has just said what she knew. It was fun though!
]]> 20th Century Ghosts 373915
Imogene is young and beautiful. She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945....

Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town....

Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing....

John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead....

The past isn't dead. It isn't even past...]]> 316 Joe Hill 0061147974 James 2
I really do have to wonder if this was written by anyone else if it would have been published. It’s honestly not any better than some of the self published stuff I’ve read. I’ve read a few that were quite a bit better.

I’m not going to give up on Joe Hill. I know this was an early work for him and that he gets better.

What Joe Hill should I read next? What’s your favorite by him?]]> 3.94 2005 20th Century Ghosts
author: Joe Hill
name: James
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves:
review:
I struggled to finish this relatively short collection. Only a couple of the stories really did anything for me at all. 20th Century Ghost was a nice modern ghost tale that I really enjoyed and probably the only reason I gave this two stars. Pop Art was decent, but it was kind of silly at the same time. There wasn’t much in the way of horror here to be honest. It was more just like a collection of odd tales. What bothered me the most is that quite a few of the stories just felt unfinished. They felt like writing exercises more than actual stories. The worst of them was The Widows Breakfast. The ending just kinda came out of nowhere. I felt like it was supposed to be shocking, and it was, but not for the reasons the author intended.

I really do have to wonder if this was written by anyone else if it would have been published. It’s honestly not any better than some of the self published stuff I’ve read. I’ve read a few that were quite a bit better.

I’m not going to give up on Joe Hill. I know this was an early work for him and that he gets better.

What Joe Hill should I read next? What’s your favorite by him?
]]> <![CDATA[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]]> 10569 (back cover)]]> 320 Stephen King 0743455967 James 5 4.33 2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:
I really loved this one. The stuff about Kings life were the most interesting. The section about his accident was so heart wrenching.
]]> The Tommyknockers 17660 The Tommyknockers is a 1987 horror novel by Stephen King. While maintaining a horror style, the novel is more of an excursion into the realm of science fiction, as the residents of the Maine town of Haven gradually fall under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods.

In his autobiography, On Writing, King attributes the basic premise to the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft. It also draws fairly obvious parallels with the classic 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers & the 1959 novelette The Big Front Yard by Clifford Simak. King wrote the book during a period of acknowledged substance abuse & has written that he realized later on that the novel was a metaphor for that addiction.

The writer & critic Kim Newman has cited another influence on the novel, saying that in it King had "more or less rewritten Quatermass & the Pit," a 1950s BBC television science-fiction serial. This influence was also picked up on in The Times newspaper's review of the book on its release.]]> 747 Stephen King James 4
This old crusty paperback has followed me through life for the last 15 or so years. My life was very different back then and in no way would I have imagined where I am now. I had started and stopped it numerous time for various reasons, but I finally finished it.

I had seen and heard for years how this is Kings worst novel. Even the man himself said it wasn’t a very good book. Despite all that, I truly loved it. It did start out a bit slow and weird, but once Gard was back with Bobbi it really took off for me.

The town slowly descending into madness and transforming into Tommyknockers really grabbed me. All of them building strange devices out of everyday things was a lot of fun. My favorite being the killer coke machine!

Gard sacrificing himself in the end was such an awesome ending. Just because he was a complete drunk, doesn’t mean he couldn’t do something worthwhile and noteworthy. Despite everyone seeing him as a worthless drunk, he did an amazing thing.

Also, I felt so bad for the beagle.

The negatives of the book have been discussed to death. It is a bit rambling and can get very weird at points. A lot of this has been attributed to Kings coke habit at the time. All I can say is that it shows very strongly at times. I enjoy rambling weird stories and this didn’t deter me much at all.

If you haven’t read this book because of all the negativity, do yourself a favor and try it for yourself. Sure, you might hate it, but you might love it! You’ll never know until you do!]]> 3.61 1987 The Tommyknockers
author: Stephen King
name: James
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves:
review:


This old crusty paperback has followed me through life for the last 15 or so years. My life was very different back then and in no way would I have imagined where I am now. I had started and stopped it numerous time for various reasons, but I finally finished it.

I had seen and heard for years how this is Kings worst novel. Even the man himself said it wasn’t a very good book. Despite all that, I truly loved it. It did start out a bit slow and weird, but once Gard was back with Bobbi it really took off for me.

The town slowly descending into madness and transforming into Tommyknockers really grabbed me. All of them building strange devices out of everyday things was a lot of fun. My favorite being the killer coke machine!

Gard sacrificing himself in the end was such an awesome ending. Just because he was a complete drunk, doesn’t mean he couldn’t do something worthwhile and noteworthy. Despite everyone seeing him as a worthless drunk, he did an amazing thing.

Also, I felt so bad for the beagle.

The negatives of the book have been discussed to death. It is a bit rambling and can get very weird at points. A lot of this has been attributed to Kings coke habit at the time. All I can say is that it shows very strongly at times. I enjoy rambling weird stories and this didn’t deter me much at all.

If you haven’t read this book because of all the negativity, do yourself a favor and try it for yourself. Sure, you might hate it, but you might love it! You’ll never know until you do!
]]> <![CDATA[Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)]]> 15839976 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 382 Pierce Brown 0345539788 James 4 4.26 2014 Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
author: Pierce Brown
name: James
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:
I could be harsh with this book and pick it apart with things I disliked, but in the end I enjoyed it. Sometimes that’s enough.
]]> #thighgap 61208066
A collection of novellas curated by Sadie “Mother Horror� Hartmann to represent her favorite themes, tropes, and subgenres in horror fiction today.

BOOK TWO: #thighgap by Chandler Morrison �

Los Angeles fashion model Helen Troy wasn’t always skinny. Drastic weight loss has given her everything–money, confidence, attention, respect. Being thin has legitimized her, and starvation has become an addiction.

Following an encounter with a seemingly “perfect� rival model who destabilizes Helen’s shaky self-confidence and shatters her fragile illusion of control, she’s sent into a tragic tailspin that will take her to the lowest depths of hell. Nightmarish versions of herself begin materializing in mirrors, and her tried-and-true coping mechanisms stop working. Reality comes apart at the seams as Helen’s disease manifests in increasingly self-destructive fashions, forcing her to ask herself�

What does perfection look like, and how much would you sacrifice to obtain it?]]> 119 Chandler Morrison James 3 3.89 2022 #thighgap
author: Chandler Morrison
name: James
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)]]> 58613424 752 J.K. Rowling James 0 currently-reading 4.56 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: James
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)]]> 59475717 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed; Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts . . . he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in this midst.]]> 435 J.K. Rowling 0439136369 James 4 4.70 1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: James
average rating: 4.70
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/16
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Satan's Burnouts Must Die! 59413452
Out of the desert they rode, 400lbs of hot steel throbbing between their legs.
Satan's Burnouts... twelve sex-crazed sadists with murder on their minds.

Sam West lives on the outskirts of Dennyville. His granddaughter Angel is coming to visit to celebrate his 70th birthday. But this year, the party will be a psychotic rampage of vengeance, as Sam and Angel face a wild gang of devil-worshipping degenerates who live for one thing... kicks.

Tonight, on Sam West's 70th birthday...

SATAN'S BURNOUTS MUST DIE!]]> 200 David Sodergren James 2 4.07 2021 Satan's Burnouts Must Die!
author: David Sodergren
name: James
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Summer of the Monsters 220710328
That’s what sixteen-year-old Lucy Brannigan has always believed, until, broke and desperate, she and her father move to an isolated farmhouse in the small Scottish town of Helsbridge. It’s their last chance, and they have to make it work.

For Lucy, life appears to be over. With no friends, and surrounded by miles of thick woodland, there’s nothing to do. But why did the previous occupants leave their belongings behind? And why is their new home surrounded by dozens of scarecrows? And worst of all� what is the cause of the horrifying screams that wake her in the night?

This summer, Lucy will be forced to learn the dark secret of Helsbridge. And as the bodies pile up, and the blood flows in rivers, she makes a shocking discovery that will change the course of her life forever.

Monsters are real� and no amount of flesh can sate their diabolical hunger.

Summer of the Monsters is a tender and brutal coming-of-age horror story from the savage mind of David Sodergren, author of Maggie’s Grave and The Haar.]]> 236 David Sodergren 1068546328 James 4 4.10 Summer of the Monsters
author: David Sodergren
name: James
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Earthlings 50269327
Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki's family are increasing, her friends wonder why she's still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki's childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself with a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?]]> 247 Sayaka Murata 1783785675 James 3 3.59 2018 Earthlings
author: Sayaka Murata
name: James
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
What in the world did I just read? I won’t forget this story for a very long time.
]]> <![CDATA[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Zelda, #9)]]> 6852350 192 Akira Himekawa 1421523353 James 5 4.20 2005 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Zelda, #9)
author: Akira Himekawa
name: James
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
review:
Beautiful art and the classic story with new stuff added in, including a new character.
]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)]]> 57453016
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls� bathroom. But then the real trouble begins � someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonus rival than ever? Could it possible be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects…Harry Potter himself!
--back cover]]> 341 J.K. Rowling 0439064872 James 5 4.51 1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: James
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/08
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves:
review:
Still on of my fave Potter books! Such a cozy mystery.
]]> Green Rider (Green Rider, #1) 147843
The Riders are an elite messenger corps using both horses and magic; the message is a terrible warning. Bad things from bad places are invading this fantasyland, their presence being only part of a devious, sorcery-aided human struggle for the throne. Karigan's wild ride is beset by a variety of enemies, but aided by her own developing talents plus certain strange allies.

These include the tormented ghost of the dead Green Rider himself--still pierced by and trying to resist the chief villain's black arrows that ensnare the soul. Delivering the message to a suspicious court is only half Karigan's job: can it be interpreted in time?]]> 471 Kristen Britain 0886778581 James 4 4.08 1998 Green Rider (Green Rider, #1)
author: Kristen Britain
name: James
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1998
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves:
review:

]]> The Cartographers 55004093 What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.]]> 392 Peng Shepherd 0062910698 James 0 to-read 3.62 2022 The Cartographers
author: Peng Shepherd
name: James
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)]]> 45286449 Librarian note: Two alternate covers for this edition can be found here and here.

Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter.
(back cover)]]> 309 J.K. Rowling 059035342X James 5 4.53 1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
author: J.K. Rowling
name: James
average rating: 4.53
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
Just as good every time I read it!
]]> <![CDATA[Me and Earl and the Dying Girl]]> 12700353
Until Greg's mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.]]> 295 Jesse Andrews 1419701762 James 3 3.53 2012 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
author: Jesse Andrews
name: James
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Running with the Demon (Word & Void, #1)]]> 187124
On the hottest Fourth of July weekend in decades, two men have come to Hopewell, Illinois, site of a lengthy, bitter steel strike. One is a demon, dark servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to attain a terrible secret goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word, a man who, while he sleeps, lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its course on waking. Ross has been given the ability to see the future. But does he have the power to change it?

At stake is the soul of a fourteen-year-old girl mysteriously linked to both men. And the lives of the people of Hopewell. And the future of the country. This Fourth of July, while friends and families picnic in Sinnissippi Park and fireworks explode in celebration of freedom and independence, the fate of Humanity will be decided . . .

A novel that weaves together family drama, fading innocence, cataclysm, and enlightenment, Running with the Demon will forever change the way you think about the fantasy novel. As believable as it is imaginative, as wondrous as it is frightening, it is a rich, exquisitely-written tale to be savored long after the last page is turned.]]> 420 Terry Brooks 0345379624 James 5 3.97 1997 Running with the Demon (Word & Void, #1)
author: Terry Brooks
name: James
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 52873094
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

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

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 304 Silvia Moreno-Garcia James 4 3.76 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: James
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/09
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> White Horse 60652964 White Horse is a gritty, vibrant debut from Erika T. Wurth about an Indigenous woman who must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.

Some people are haunted in more ways than one.

Heavy metal, ripped jeans, Stephen King novels, and the occasional beer at the White Horse have defined urban Indian Kari James’s life so far. But when her cousin Debby finds an old family bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, it inadvertently calls up both her mother’s ghost and a monstrous entity, and her willful ignorance about her past is no longer sustainable�

Haunted by visions of her mother and hunted by this mysterious creature, Kari must search for what happened to her mother all those years ago. Her father, permanently disabled from a car crash, can’t help her. Her Auntie Squeaker seems to know something but isn’t eager to give it all up at once. Debby’s anxious to help, but her controlling husband keeps getting in the way. Kari’s journey toward a truth long denied by both her family and law enforcement forces her to confront her dysfunctional relationships, thoughts about a friend she lost in childhood, and her desire for the one thing she’s always wanted but could never have.]]> 320 Erika T. Wurth 1250847656 James 1
The MC is in her mid 30s but acts like she is eighteen. We are constantly reminded she is “metal�. It was so bad that it started to sound like fan fic written my a middle schooler. “My metal T-shirt and black Jeans� was repeated so many times. All she does is drink, smoke, and tell her cousin Debby she doesn’t hang out with her enough. She supposed to be a recovering addict but she drinks constantly. Did I mention she is a badass? She loves glaring at hipsters and teens because she is so intimidating.

The story drags on forever and in the end is very unsatisfying. The structure is basically like this:

MC is drinking and smoking in some random location.
MC complains about Debby’s husband
MC sees the ghost of her mother

No kidding, this happens for almost 150 pages or the book before it moves forward.

Right in the last quarter of the book she goes to the Shining hotel and we get to read about her taking the tour. It serves no real purpose and is just forced into the story. She magically finds Geronimo’s war club in the infamous room.

It’s so awful.

]]> 3.47 2022 White Horse
author: Erika T. Wurth
name: James
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
Easily the worst book I’ve read this year.

The MC is in her mid 30s but acts like she is eighteen. We are constantly reminded she is “metal�. It was so bad that it started to sound like fan fic written my a middle schooler. “My metal T-shirt and black Jeans� was repeated so many times. All she does is drink, smoke, and tell her cousin Debby she doesn’t hang out with her enough. She supposed to be a recovering addict but she drinks constantly. Did I mention she is a badass? She loves glaring at hipsters and teens because she is so intimidating.

The story drags on forever and in the end is very unsatisfying. The structure is basically like this:

MC is drinking and smoking in some random location.
MC complains about Debby’s husband
MC sees the ghost of her mother

No kidding, this happens for almost 150 pages or the book before it moves forward.

Right in the last quarter of the book she goes to the Shining hotel and we get to read about her taking the tour. It serves no real purpose and is just forced into the story. She magically finds Geronimo’s war club in the infamous room.

It’s so awful.


]]> <![CDATA[The Oswalds: An Untold Account of Marina and Lee]]> 60354780 The closest friend of Lee Harvey Oswald and his Soviet wife Marina upon the couple’s arrival in Texas breaks a sixty-year silence with a riveting story of his time with JFK’s assassin and his candid assessment of the murder that marked a turning point in our country’s history.

Merely two hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, television cameras captured police escorting a suspect into Dallas police headquarters. Meanwhile at the University of Oklahoma, watching the coverage in the student center, Paul Gregory scanned the figure in dark trousers and a white, V-neck tee shirt and saw the bruised and battered face of Lee Harvey Oswald. Shocked, Gregory said, “I know that man.� In fact, he knew Oswald and his wife Marina better than almost anyone in America.



After sixty years, Paul Gregory finally tells everything he knows about the Oswalds and how he watched the soul of a killer take shape.



Identified by the FBI as a “known associate of LHO,� Gregory soon faced interrogations by the Secret Service. Later he would testify before the Warren Commission. Here, in The Oswalds, he offers the intimate details of his time spent with Lee and wife Marina in their run-down duplex on Mercedes Street in Fort Worth, Texas, and his admission into the inner world of a young marriage before candidly assessing the murder that marked a turning point in our country’s history. His riveting recollection includes memories both casual and deadly serious, such as the dinner at his parents� house introducing Marina to the “Dallas Russians,� a front-yard incident of spousal abuse, and a further rift in the marriage when he exposed to Marina that Oswald was not the dashing, radical intellectual whose Historic Diary would be a publishing sensation. And Gregory also gives a fascinating account of his father’s role as an eyewitness to history, serving as Marina’s translator and confidante in the first four days after the assassination.



As a scholar and skilled researcher, Gregory debunks the vast array of assassination conspiracy theories by demonstrating that Lee Harvey Oswald did it and did it alone—that the Oswald he once called a friend had the motive, the intelligence, and the means to commit one of the most shocking crimes in American history. ]]> 304 Paul R. Gregory 163576792X James 4 4.00 The Oswalds: An Untold Account of Marina and Lee
author: Paul R. Gregory
name: James
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/15
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Something Wicked This Way Comes]]> 248596 Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre.

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.]]> 293 Ray Bradbury 0380729407 James 5 3.91 1962 Something Wicked This Way Comes
author: Ray Bradbury
name: James
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
What an amazing book. It really meant a lot to me and made see things very differently in my own life.
]]> 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 James 4 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: James
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Paper Towns 6442769 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 014241493X James 2 3.68 2008 Paper Towns
author: John Green
name: James
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:
I liked parts of the story and a couple of the characters. Margo thinks she’s some sort of misunderstood soul, but she’s just a narcissist.
]]> <![CDATA[The Exorcist (The Exorcist, #1)]]> 179780 385 William Peter Blatty James 4 4.20 1971 The Exorcist (The Exorcist, #1)
author: William Peter Blatty
name: James
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves:
review:

]]> The Visitor 55673849
The jolliest time of the year quickly turns bloody as the diners find themselves fighting for their lives. This Christmas won’t just be white. It’ll be red, too.]]> 72 Sergio Gomez James 3 3.34 2020 The Visitor
author: Sergio Gomez
name: James
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:
This book isn’t perfect, but under its writing issues it’s a good story. Not as bad as some say and not as good as some say. I’ll definitely read whatever the author puts out next.
]]> Thrum 210835673 Meg Smitherman James 2 3.91 2024 Thrum
author: Meg Smitherman
name: James
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:
Utterly exhausting to read and overwritten. Like every line is an attempt to get a kindle highlight.
]]> <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)]]> 40197832 This is the most current edition of ISBN: 0345339703 (ISBN13: 9780345339706).
The previous covers can be found there: 2012, 2007, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1993, 1987, 1986.

THE GREATEST FANTASY EPIC OF OUR TIME

The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths are searching for a Hobbit. Frodo Baggins knows that they are seeking him and the Ring he bears—the Ring of Power that will enable evil Sauron to destroy all that is good in Middle-earth. Now it is up to Frodo and his faithful servant, Sam, with a small band of companions, to carry the Ring to the one place it can be destroyed: Mount Doom, in the very center of Sauron’s realm.

--back cover]]> 458 J.R.R. Tolkien 0345339703 James 5 4.39 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: James
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/11/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Redwall (Redwall, #1) 7996 A quest to recover a legendary lost weapon by bumbling young apprentice monk, mouse Matthias.

Redwall Abbey, tranquil home to a community of peace-loving mice, is threatened by Cluny the Scourge savage bilge rat warlord and his battle-hardened horde. But the Redwall mice and their loyal woodland friends combine their courage and strength.]]> 352 Brian Jacques 1862301387 James 5 4.14 1986 Redwall (Redwall, #1)
author: Brian Jacques
name: James
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]>