Jan's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 19 Jun 2022 13:30:33 -0700 60 Jan's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Jan 5 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Jan
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/06/19
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]]> Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang 6472246 Chelsea Lately and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.

Get ready for big laughs as Chelsea Handler lets loose with more comic personal essays. In this new, no-holds-barred account of life on the ridiculous side, Chelsea mines the wealth of material that is her family, her sex life, her career, and her distinctively outrageous worldview. Here is young Chelsea discovering "The Feeling" during a third-grade sleepover and getting shafted by clueless parents over Cabbage Patch dolls...and grown-up Chelsea at the mercy of the remote control, Lean Pockets, and Sex and the City --but still managing to convince her boyfriend that there are Swiss Army knives in the soles of her $16,000 shoes. Through it all, Chelsea never lets anyone off the hook, even herself, as she delivers page after page of irreverent humor, biting wit, and deliciously off-kilter entertainment.

]]> 244 Chelsea Handler 0446552445 Jan 4 3.83 2010 Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
author: Chelsea Handler
name: Jan
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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date added: 2022/06/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea]]> 40173
In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her... only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations.

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.]]> 264 Chelsea Handler 0061173398 Jan 4 3.85 2008 Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
author: Chelsea Handler
name: Jan
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/06/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead]]> 16071764 Lean In is a massive cultural phenomenon and its title has become an instant catchphrase for empowering women. The book soared to the top of bestseller lists internationally, igniting global conversations about women and ambition. Sandberg packed theatres, dominated opinion pages, appeared on every major television show and on the cover of Time magazine, and sparked ferocious debate about women and leadership. Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes, but ask the same women whether they'd feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some reticence creeps in. The statistics, although an improvement on previous decades, are certainly not in women's favour � of 197 heads of state, only twenty-two are women. Women hold just 20 percent of seats in parliaments globally, and in the world of big business, a meagre eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg � Facebook COO and one of Fortune magazine's Most Powerful Women in Business � draws on her own experience of working in some of the world's most successful businesses and looks at what women can do to help themselves, and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale.]]> 217 Sheryl Sandberg 0385349947 Jan 3 recommended 3.94 2013 Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
author: Sheryl Sandberg
name: Jan
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/01/27
date added: 2022/06/19
shelves: recommended
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours]]> 25810500
Oyeyemi’s tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation?]]> 325 Helen Oyeyemi 1594634637 Jan 3 3.65 2016 What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
author: Helen Oyeyemi
name: Jan
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2017/06/08
date added: 2022/06/19
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood]]> 29780253
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents� indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.]]> 289 Trevor Noah 0385689225 Jan 5 4.48 2016 Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
author: Trevor Noah
name: Jan
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/06/19
shelves:
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]]> The Vanishing Half 51791252
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.]]> 343 Brit Bennett 0525536299 Jan 0 currently-reading 4.11 2020 The Vanishing Half
author: Brit Bennett
name: Jan
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Educated 35133922
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.]]> 352 Tara Westover 0399590501 Jan 4 4.46 2018 Educated
author: Tara Westover
name: Jan
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/04/14
date added: 2019/05/21
shelves:
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This is a memior, written in first person by the first time author. She is raised by her mother and father in an average sized family in the mountains, on the edge of the nearest town. As from the book written by Newt Gingrich, which the father has read, the family is raised in as much isolation as the father is able to maintain. His wife works on call in homes requesting a mid-wife, providing the expectant mother and the child with a safe birth to the best of her apprentice-acquired skills. At an extremely, for me, young age of nine, the author begins to go with her mother. She is there as an observer at first, becoming more involved with each birth. She learns which home remedies from roots and plants which her mother used to ease the difficulties of childbirth. Since the father does not believe in medication, nor hospitals, as these programs and services are percieved as the beginning of the government's role or interference, with his children. The author's older brothers attended the Elementary School in town. At the midpoint in the book, there is a tragic, one-vehicle, accident. The father's decision to take his family home, rather than the hospital, forever shapes the profound decisions within his family, including some of his children seeking out a traditional education. As a school-based administrator, I've met many family's who have made this choice for their children, either out of fear or by choice, in order to better control their family's mindset.
]]> <![CDATA[The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels]]> 38385947
Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history.

He writes about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the birth of the Lost Cause; the backlash against immigrants in the First World War and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; the fight for women's rights; the demagoguery of Huey Long and Father Coughlin and the isolationist work of America First in the years before World War II; the anti-Communist witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy; and Lyndon Johnson's crusade against Jim Crow. Each of these dramatic hours in our national life have been shaped by the contest to lead the country to look forward rather than back, to assert hope over fear � a struggle that continues even now.

While the American story has not always � or even often � been heroic, we have been sustained by a belief in progress even in the gloomiest of times. In this inspiring book, Meacham reassures us, "The good news is that we have come through such darkness before" � as, time and again, Lincoln's better angels have found a way to prevail.]]> 372 Jon Meacham 039958983X Jan 5 4.26 2018 The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
author: Jon Meacham
name: Jan
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/03
date added: 2019/04/03
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]]> This Side Up 40697460
This Side The Road to a Renovated Life is a home and garden editor’s story of a life constantly under construction, none by design. Written with candor, humor and grace, Amy Mangan shares her own home tour, but this one deftly sheds light on job loss, financial shame, home displacement, marital discord, illness and caregiving. Faced with one crisis after the next, Amy discovers how to cope, hope and rebuild, finding a new way home to a stronger way of life.]]> 211 Amy Mangan Jan 5 4.15 This Side Up
author: Amy Mangan
name: Jan
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2018/11/05
date added: 2018/11/05
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]]> Born to Run 29072594 Born to Run

In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began.

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.

He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang�: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run� reveals more than we previously realized.

Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.

Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,� “Badlands,� “Darkness on the Edge of Town,� “The River,� “Born in the U.S.A.,� “The Rising,� and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,� to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.]]> 528 Bruce Springsteen 1501141511 Jan 5 4.16 2016 Born to Run
author: Bruce Springsteen
name: Jan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2018/08/04
date added: 2018/08/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations]]> 9625235 192 Jill Kargman 006200719X Jan 0 3.36 2011 Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations
author: Jill Kargman
name: Jan
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2017/06/08
date added: 2017/06/08
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent]]> 13122094
Dionne offers both a fascinating tour of American history-from the Founding Fathers to Clay and Lincoln and on to the Populists, the Progressives and the New Dealers-and also an analysis of our current politics that shatters conventional wisdom. The true American idea, far from endorsing government inaction or indifference, has always viewed the federal government as an active and constructive partner with the rest of society in promoting prosperity, opportunity, and American greatness.

The ability of the American system to self-correct is its greatest asset and Dionne challenges progressives to embrace the American story. Our fractious but productive past offers us the resources both to rediscover the idea of progress and to put an end to our fears of decline. Our Divided Political Heart will be required reading for all who seek a path out of our current impasse.]]> 336 E.J. Dionne Jr. 1608192016 Jan 4 recommended 3.79 2012 Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent
author: E.J. Dionne Jr.
name: Jan
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2017/01/04
date added: 2017/01/04
shelves: recommended
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave: Observations, Rants, and Other Uplifting Thoughts About Life]]> 28185837 The star of Bravo’s breakout scripted comedy Odd Mom Out shares her razor-sharp wit and backhanded wisdom in a deeply observed and outrageously funny collection of musings, lists, essays, and outrages. From her unique lingo (things don’t simply frighten her, they “M. Night Shyamalan her out�) to her gimlet-eyed view of narrow-mindedness, to her morbid but curiously life-affirming parenting style, Jill Kargman is nothing if not original. In this hilarious new book, the sharp-elbowed mother of three turns her unconventional lens on life and death and everything in between, including � the politically correct peer pressure she felt from the new moms in her hood, the women who provided the grist for the mill of her hit television show � the evolution of her aesthetic from Miami Vice vibrant (a very brief flirtation) to Wednesday Addams–meets–rocker chic � her deep-seated New Yorker’s discomfort with moving vehicles that aren’t taxis and subways (a.k.a. “suburban panic disorder�) � the family obsession with reading obituaries for their medical revelations and real estate news value � the reasons why, in a land of tan-orexic baby-oil beach bakers, she chooses to honor the valor of her ghostly pallor From a hellish visit to the Happiest Place on Earth to her unusual wedding night with Russell Crowe to her adrenaline-pumping Gay Pride parade experience, Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave is as wonderfully indecent and entertaining as a spring break road trip with your best friend. Assuming your best friend is the kind of gal who still wears a motorcycle jacket to pick up the kids at school.Praise for Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave“We love her on Bravo’sOdd Mom Out, and inSprinkle Glitter on My Grave, Jill Kargman brings us a hilarious essay collection about life, death, and everything in between.�‱DZ賧ܲ “The release (which reads in part like a memoir, or what we imagine it would be like to have a girls� night in with the writer) is a humorous book filled with a closer look at the New York native’s childhood and family, as well as her unfiltered opinions on any number of subjects, like parenting and fashion.�—Bdzٱ.dz “[A] love letter to her deeply macabre family.�—VDzܱ “The creator of Bravo’s Odd Mom Out,Kargman dishes out a variety of essays that poke fun at herself, her family, friends, and the world in general. . . . Prepare to laugh.�—Kirkus Reviews“A comedic, lively take on [Kargman’s] life as an opinionated, Jewish native New Yorker . . . sharp and funny . . . Those looking for a new, fun voice that doesn’t get too heavy will enjoy Kargman’s perspective, which is rich with gratitude, laughs, and a healthy appreciation for the color black.�—Publisher’s Weekly]]> 199 Jill Kargman 0399594582 Jan 5 3.62 Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave: Observations, Rants, and Other Uplifting Thoughts About Life
author: Jill Kargman
name: Jan
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2016/11/03
date added: 2017/01/04
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]]> <![CDATA[Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking]]> 8520610 The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content.]]> 333 Susan Cain 0307352145 Jan 5 recommended 4.07 2012 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
author: Susan Cain
name: Jan
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2013/08/11
date added: 2016/10/02
shelves: recommended
review:
Definitely a voice of caution in the movement towards the "group think" philosophy. Covers the topic on a personal and professional level especially in relationship to current applications. Sites several longitudinal, scientifically-based, research models which dispel the advantages of cooperative learning, work space without walls, heavily dispels the myth of any positive use of "brainstorming". This also picks up with the same subjects and methodology used in Kagan's research. If half of us or our children or students are introverted, we are educating politicians, not innovators. Thoughtful.
]]> <![CDATA[The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters]]> 18167001
The Work is the story of how one young man traced a path through the world to find his life’s purpose. Wes Moore graduated from a difficult childhood in the Bronx and Baltimore to an adult life that would find him at some of the most critical moments in our recent history: as a combat officer in Afghanistan; a White House fellow in a time of wars abroad and disasters at home; and a Wall Street banker during the financial crisis. In this insightful book, Moore shares the lessons he learned from people he met along the way—from the brave Afghan translator who taught him to find his fight, to the resilient young students in Katrina-ravaged Mississippi who showed him the true meaning of grit, to his late grandfather, who taught him to find grace in service.

Moore also tells the stories of other twenty-first-century change-makers who’ve inspired him in his search, from Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND, to Esther Benjamin, a Sri Lankan immigrant who rose to help lead the Peace Corps. What their lives—and his own misadventures and moments of illumination—reveal is that our truest work happens when we serve others, at the intersection between our gifts and our broken world. That’s where we find the work that lasts.

An intimate narrative about finding meaning in a volatile age, The Work will inspire readers to see how we can each find our own path to purpose and help create a better world.]]> 272 Wes Moore 0812993578 Jan 4 3.74 2014 The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters
author: Wes Moore
name: Jan
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2016/10/02
date added: 2016/10/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"]]> 20588698 Not That Kind of Girl. These are stories about getting your butt touched by your boss, about friendship and dieting (kind of) and having two existential crises before the age of 20. Stories about travel, both successful and less so, and about having the kind of sex where you feel like keeping your sneakers on in case you have to run away during the act. Stories about proving yourself to a room of 50-year-old men in Hollywood and showing up to "an outlandishly high-fashion event with the crustiest red nose you ever saw." Fearless, smart, and as heartbreakingly honest as ever, Not That Kind of Girl establishes Lena Dunham as more than a hugely talented director, actress and producer-it announces her as a fresh and vibrant new literary voice.]]> 265 Lena Dunham 081299499X Jan 2 3.28 2014 Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"
author: Lena Dunham
name: Jan
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2014/12/10
date added: 2016/10/02
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings]]> 10770677
The handbook acknowledges that adolescents commonly survive stress by either indulging in unhealthy behaviors or giving up completely, and its suggested solutions are aimed at strengthening resilience. The proposed plan enables kids from the age of 18 months to 18 years to build the seven crucial “C’s”—competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control—needed to bounce back from challenges.

A variety of approaches are featured such as building on natural strengths, fostering hope and optimism, avoiding risky behaviors, and taking care of oneself physically and emotionally. With new chapters on perfectionism, the negative portrayal of teens, military families, and what parents can do when resilience has reached its limits, this examination also includes two personalized guides for creating customized strategies.

]]> 358 Kenneth R. Ginsburg 1581105517 Jan 3 4.03 Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings
author: Kenneth R. Ginsburg
name: Jan
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2016/10/02
date added: 2016/10/02
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]]> All the Light We Cannot See 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

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

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Jan 4 4.31 2014 All the Light We Cannot See
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Jan
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/07
date added: 2016/08/07
shelves:
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]]> C.S. Lewis Signature Classics 17335 The Screwtape Letters
A Grief Observed
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
The Great Divorce C. S. Lewis's works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year, appealing to those seeking wisdom and calm in a hectic and ever-changing world. Each volume is written with the lucidity, warmth, and wit that has made Lewis revered as a writer the world over. From The Problem of Pain —a wise and compassionate exploration of suffering—to the darkly satirical The Screwtape Letters , Lewis is unrivalled in his ability to disentangle the questions of life. His writings offer hope, wisdom, and a true understanding of human nature.]]> C.S. Lewis Jan 4 4.28 2001 C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Jan
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Little Black Dress 15849492
Defined by the simplest parameters—color and shape—yet voluminous in possibility, the little black dress is personalized by the designer who imagined it and the woman who wears it. In one silhouette it can capture a woman's allure, and in one evening worn provide her with a reservoir of memories. It can sum up in one wardrobe reconnaissance the way you wore the way you were. A little black dress in any other color could dent a reputation; in black it can only elevate one. Whether made from the most superior fabrics, or designed in cutting-edge neoprene, the little black dress maintains its status as the game-changer, the free spirit and pleasure-seeker (Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy in Breakfast at Tiffany's ), the career-launcher (Elizabeth Hurley in Versace), the going-for-broke risk-taker (Virginie Gautreau as Madame X), inevitably revealing truths about the women who have chosen to wear one.

Three original essays offer personal histories in praise of the little black dress. An introduction by André Leon Talley and a foreword by Paula Wallace complete this exquisite volume. Together with a stunning collection of images, this book presents a singularly elegant portfolio.]]> 184 André Leon Talley 0847840573 Jan 3 3.90 2013 Little Black Dress
author: André Leon Talley
name: Jan
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2015/11/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World]]> 9534444
Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.

Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations.]]> 213 Michael Lewis 0393081818 Jan 4 recommended 3.89 2011 Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World
author: Michael Lewis
name: Jan
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/10/12
shelves: recommended
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You]]> 7187116 208 Kelly Cutrone 0061930938 Jan 5 recommended 3.76 2009 If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You
author: Kelly Cutrone
name: Jan
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/10/12
shelves: recommended
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine]]> 6463967
Michael Lewis creates a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 bestseller Liar's Poker. Out of a handful of unlikely-really unlikely-heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our time.]]> 264 Michael Lewis 0393072231 Jan 5 recommended 4.20 2010 The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
author: Michael Lewis
name: Jan
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2014/10/12
shelves: recommended
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]]> <![CDATA[Jesus Calling: Enjoy Peace in His Presence (Jesus Calling®)]]> 18816363 Jesus Calling is a devotional filled with uniquely inspired treasures from heaven for every day of the year. After many years of writing in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to "listen" to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever she believed He was saying to her. It was awkward at first, but gradually her journaling changed from monologue to dialogue. She knew her writings were not inspired as Scripture is, but journaling helped her grow closer to God. Others were blessed as she shared her writings, until people all over the world were using her messages. They are written from Jesus' point of view, thus the title Jesus Calling. It is Sarah's fervent prayer that our Savior may bless readers with His presence and His peace in ever deeper measure.]]> 407 Sarah Young Jan 3 4.75 2003 Jesus Calling: Enjoy Peace in His Presence (Jesus Calling®)
author: Sarah Young
name: Jan
average rating: 4.75
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2014/09/10
date added: 2014/09/10
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]]> Sick Puppy (Skink, #4) 13066 464 Carl Hiaasen 0446695688 Jan 4 3.89 2000 Sick Puppy (Skink, #4)
author: Carl Hiaasen
name: Jan
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2000
rating: 4
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date added: 2014/02/06
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]]> Bad Monkey (Andrew Yancy, #1) 16071701 Carl Hiaasen is back doing what he does best: spinning a wickedly funny, fiercely pointed tale in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of pristine land in Florida--now, in the Bahamas too--get their comeuppance in mordantly ingenious, diabolically entertaining fashion.

Andrew Yancy--late of the Miami Police, soon-to-be-late of the Key West Police--has a human arm in his freezer. There's a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, his commander might relieve him of Health Inspector duties, aka Roach Patrol. But first Yancy will negotiate an ever-surprising course of events--from the Keys to Miami to a Bahamian out island--with a crew of equally ever-surprising characters, including: the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; an avariciously idiotic real estate developer; a voodoo witch whose lovers are blinded-unto-death by her particularly peculiar charms; Yancy's new love, a kinky medical examiner; and the eponymous Bad Monkey, who earns his place among Hiaasen's greatest characters with hilariously wicked aplomb.]]> 337 Carl Hiaasen 0307272591 Jan 4 3.69 2013 Bad Monkey (Andrew Yancy, #1)
author: Carl Hiaasen
name: Jan
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/10
date added: 2014/01/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes]]> 541132 Punished By Rewards presents an argument unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.]]> 398 Alfie Kohn 0395710901 Jan 5 4.17 1993 Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes
author: Alfie Kohn
name: Jan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1993
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> A.L.T. 365+ 70481
Talley invites us to share in a year of his life in A.L.T. 365+ , his first art monograph, designed by world-renowned art director Sam Shahid. Within the pages, Talley’s photographs and text introduce us to the people and places he encounters along his travels around the world, be it among the devout perched along the front row of Fashion Week in New York, Paris, and Milan or seated with the faithful at the Good Friday services at Abyssinian Baptist Church, Harlem. A wonderful and warm family album, A.L.T. 365+ is inspired by Allure, the iconic volume of culture, personality, and style by Talley’s beloved mentor, Diana Vreeland.

Showcasing charmingly candid snapshots, taken with a Kodak one-time-use camera to lend a classic Warholian touch, along with revealing and intimate remembrances, A.L.T. 365+ is the only book to bring you the most illustrious players of our day living the life without thinking twice, all posing for Talley’s camera—legendary designers Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, Miuccia Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Manolo Blahnik, Diane von Furstenberg, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace, Stella McCartney, Stephen Jones, and Zac Posen; famed models Iman, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista, Sophie Dahl, Stella Tennant, and Carmen Kass; superstar drag queens Lypsinka and Lady Bunny; Hip Hop icons Russell Simmons, Sean “P. Diddy� Combs, and Jay-Z; reigning divas Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Queen Latifah, and Boy George; among many others. Unvarnished, unairbrushed, and full of love, A.L.T. 365+ reveals a world where style is as style does.]]> 236 André Leon Talley 1576872408 Jan 5 4.08 2005 A.L.T. 365+
author: André Leon Talley
name: Jan
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> The Secret Life of Bees 37435 The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.]]> 302 Sue Monk Kidd 0142001740 Jan 5 4.10 2001 The Secret Life of Bees
author: Sue Monk Kidd
name: Jan
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]> 386187
The story is peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproarious black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.]]> 386 John Berendt 0679751521 Jan 5 3.91 1994 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
author: John Berendt
name: Jan
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1994
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Gentry Man: A Guide for the Civilized Male]]> 13426074 256 Hal Rubenstein 0062088475 Jan 4 gift-ideas 3.67 2012 The Gentry Man: A Guide for the Civilized Male
author: Hal Rubenstein
name: Jan
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
shelves: gift-ideas
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]]> <![CDATA[The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own]]> 3249756 The Little Black Book of Style, fashion authority Nina Garcia showed women how to think about personal style in an entirely new way. Encouraging readers to creatively assert their style identities, Nina showed women of all ages how to hone and self-edit a distinct fashion voice.

With her style philosophy firmly out in the world, Nina decided to address the most popular question readers consistently ask Exactly what are fashion's timeless pieces?

The One Hundred answers this question and provides women with a tangible style map to follow when planning a shopping trip and stocking one's closet. With illustrations from world-renowned fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo, The One Hundred contains the 100 items that Nina believes will never go out of style and that have become absolutely indispensable for any woman attaining her own eternal fashion look.]]> 284 Nina García 0061664618 Jan 3 3.82 2008 The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own
author: Nina García
name: Jan
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
rating: 3
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[10 Things I Want My Daughter to Know: Getting Her Ready for Life]]> 1152200 but a partner in a sisterhood of adult women. Was she prepared for the future? Drawing on years of being a mother, the wisdom of God’s Word, and insights of other women, Annie encourages mothers to share 10 essential truths with their daughters, including how to: Candidly sharing her own experiences and the traits of biblical women, Annie helps mothers navigate the sometimes tricky, always fulfilling role of “Mom.”]]> 180 Annie Chapman 0736904549 Jan 4 3.79 2002 10 Things I Want My Daughter to Know: Getting Her Ready for Life
author: Annie Chapman
name: Jan
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> Power of a Positive Woman 2423694
This life-changing book explores seven principles that can help you become a powerful force in your family, your church, your community, and your world. Through biblical teaching, inspirational quotes, and true stories of women just like you, you will learn to incorporate your life as you have a powerful impact on those around you.

Every woman -- including you -- has the potential to become a positive, powerful influence in her world. Never underestimate the power of a positive woman. That woman can be you!]]> 274 Karol Ladd 1416533583 Jan 4 4.16 2002 Power of a Positive Woman
author: Karol Ladd
name: Jan
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2002
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> Loving Through Heartsongs 970251 70 Mattie J.T. Stepanek 0786869461 Jan 5 4.47 2003 Loving Through Heartsongs
author: Mattie J.T. Stepanek
name: Jan
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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]]> Journey Through Heartsongs 572762 74 Mattie J.T. Stepanek 0786869429 Jan 5 4.32 2001 Journey Through Heartsongs
author: Mattie J.T. Stepanek
name: Jan
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> The Year of Magical Thinking 7815
From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good times and bad–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later–the night before New Year's Eve–the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.

This powerful book is Didion's attempt to make sense of the "weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself."]]> 227 Joan Didion 1400078431 Jan 4 3.94 2005 The Year of Magical Thinking
author: Joan Didion
name: Jan
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson]]> 6900
Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.]]> 210 Mitch Albom Jan 5 4.19 1997 Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
author: Mitch Albom
name: Jan
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Five People You Meet in Heaven]]> 3431
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"]]> 196 Mitch Albom 0786868716 Jan 4 4.01 2003 The Five People You Meet in Heaven
author: Mitch Albom
name: Jan
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Devil Wears Prada (The Devil Wears Prada, #1)]]> 5139
Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.� Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.� Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.]]> 432 Lauren Weisberger 0307275558 Jan 4 3.82 2003 The Devil Wears Prada (The Devil Wears Prada, #1)
author: Lauren Weisberger
name: Jan
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2003
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)]]> 2429135
An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.]]> 480 Stieg Larsson 0670069019 Jan 4 4.17 2005 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)
author: Stieg Larsson
name: Jan
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2005
rating: 4
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date added: 2013/06/01
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]]>