John's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 05 Aug 2024 20:17:01 -0700 60 John's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Widower's Aura (St. Fleur #1) 58795264 He’s a guilt-ridden single father and she’s a believer in second chances.

Sofia Brazier lives in a world full of colors.

Her ability to see auras has been useful in her career as a juvenile probation officer in New Orleans, but when things go south, she escapes to the small town of St. Fleur.

The photography business is her chance to try to rid her life of all the dark auras surrounding the damaged souls she once tried helping.

But her comfortable new world is upended when widower, and ex-security-forces-turned-handyman hunk, Noah Tyler enters the local pub and her life.

Noah knows better than to get involved with the voluptuous beauty who has captivated his every thought.

The guilt of his wife’s murder still weighed on his heart, and he needed to focus on his daughter.

That is, until his daughter vandalizes Sofia’s building and effectively seals their fate.

After cutting his daughter a break, Sofia begins tearing down the walls he built after his wife’s death.

Just when life finally seems worth living for Noah, Sofia finds herself the victim of a string of crimes. Can he protect Sofia when he failed to protect the only other woman he’s ever loved?

St. Fleur Series:
Book 1: Widower’s Aura (Sofia and Noah)
Book 2: Always Mine (Lindsey and Marc)
Book 3: Duplicity (Jaime Lynn and Jesse)
Book 4: No Going Back (JJ and Rocco)
Book 5: Taxed by Love (Gabrielle and Andrew)

“I absolutely loved this book by AJ Renee. I couldn't put it down. I fell in love with the characters. Friends in a close knit town who are family not out of blood or obligation but due to caring for one another by choice.� � Wicked Tales of Racy Reads

“There is absolutely nothing I love more than reading a book by a down-to-earth and friendly author. To add to AJ Renee's awesomeness, she knows how to write a great book! Widower's Aura was a treat for me in many, many ways. Not only was the story line right up my alley (hello, a Romantic Suspense? YES, PLEASE!), but I loved ALL, yes ALL, the characters. Also, the small-town environment was perfectly described/developed and had me feeling like I lived in St. Fleur.� � HEA Bookshelf]]> A.J. Renee John 0 currently-reading 4.39 Widower's Aura (St. Fleur #1)
author: A.J. Renee
name: John
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Invincible: Compendium Vol. 3 40854186 1116 Robert Kirkman 1534311157 John 5 Satisfying conclusion to an epic tale

You get it all in this wrap-up of the epic superhero space opera from the conclusion of the Invincible series. It's a fun read with lots of twists and turns.]]> 4.83 2018 Invincible: Compendium Vol. 3
author: Robert Kirkman
name: John
average rating: 4.83
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
review:
Satisfying conclusion to an epic tale

You get it all in this wrap-up of the epic superhero space opera from the conclusion of the Invincible series. It's a fun read with lots of twists and turns.
]]> Invincible: Compendium Vol. 2 51808901 1129 Robert Kirkman 1534313176 John 5 An unexpectedly touching follow-up to a classic

This story still has all the important stuff a superhero tale is expected to have, but what it also boasts is a heroic dose of emotion and complex storytelling.

The stakes are bigger, and smaller, than ever before, and it's almost impossible to figure out who saves the day for any one adventure. The world is never safe, and neither are our heroes. But it makes for a fun ride that's a worthy successor to the instant classic that was Vol. 1.]]> 4.78 2013 Invincible: Compendium Vol. 2
author: Robert Kirkman
name: John
average rating: 4.78
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/13
date added: 2023/12/13
shelves:
review:
An unexpectedly touching follow-up to a classic

This story still has all the important stuff a superhero tale is expected to have, but what it also boasts is a heroic dose of emotion and complex storytelling.

The stakes are bigger, and smaller, than ever before, and it's almost impossible to figure out who saves the day for any one adventure. The world is never safe, and neither are our heroes. But it makes for a fun ride that's a worthy successor to the instant classic that was Vol. 1.
]]> Invincible Compendium Vol. 1 45727896 1140 Robert Kirkman 1632151537 John 5 An incredible tale, and woven differently than the show

I came to the comics to fill the void left by the pause in season 2, and I'm so glad I did. My productivity in all else has tanked, as I was totally consumed with the story.

Reading this has made me confident in the show's direction, and that it's only going to get better!]]> 4.77 2011 Invincible Compendium Vol. 1
author: Robert Kirkman
name: John
average rating: 4.77
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/12/12
date added: 2023/12/12
shelves:
review:
An incredible tale, and woven differently than the show

I came to the comics to fill the void left by the pause in season 2, and I'm so glad I did. My productivity in all else has tanked, as I was totally consumed with the story.

Reading this has made me confident in the show's direction, and that it's only going to get better!
]]> The World of Ficus Bonsai 45164443 330 Jerry Meislik 1525532898 John 0 currently-reading 4.90 The World of Ficus Bonsai
author: Jerry Meislik
name: John
average rating: 4.90
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves]]> 59574492
We need a fundamental shift in our values--a pivot in how we think, act, work, and connect. Despite what we’ve been told, the most critical mainspring of social change isn’t coalition building or problem analysis. It’s healing: deep, whole, and systemic, inside and out.

Here, Shawn Ginwright, PhD, breaks down the common myths of social movements--a set of deeply ingrained beliefs that actually hold us back from healing and achieving sustainable systemic change. He shows us why these frames don’t work, proposing instead four revolutionary pivots for better activism and collective leadership:

Awareness: from lens to mirror
Connection: from transactional to transformative relationships
Vision: from problem-fixing to possibility-creating
Presence: from hustle to flow

Supplemented with reflections, prompts, cutting-edge research, and the author’s own insights and lived experience as an African American social scientist, professor, and movement builder, The Four Pivots helps us uncover our blind spots. It shows us how to discover new lenses and boldly assert our need for connection, transformation, trust, wholeness, and healing. It gives us permission to create a better future--to acknowledge that a broken system has been predefining our dreams and limiting what we allow ourselves to imagine, but that it doesn’t have to be that way at all. Are you ready to pivot?]]> 272 Shawn A. Ginwright 1623175437 John 0 currently-reading 4.33 2022 The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves
author: Shawn A. Ginwright
name: John
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Catharsis (Awaken Online, #1) 33827079 This is an alternate cover edition for B01J0E8Z8A

On paper, Jason has a great life. He attends a prestigious private school on scholarship and his parents are reasonably well off.

Yet life hasn't been easy for Jason. He has spent most of high school being tormented by both the students and faculty and his parents are never home.

Frustrated and alone, his one escape has always been video games. In-game, he can feel the type of power and freedom he lacks in his day-to-day life. Fortunately, a new virtual reality game (the first of its kind) has just been released, which promises the opportunity for an even greater escape.

Once he begins playing, Jason quickly finds himself on the path to becoming the game’s villain. In the process, he also starts to suspect that there is something unusual going on within the game.

(This novel contains graphic violence and language. Books don't have ratings, but, if they did, this book would be rated "M" for Mature)]]> 525 Travis Bagwell John 0 to-read 4.26 2016 Catharsis (Awaken Online, #1)
author: Travis Bagwell
name: John
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leader Effectiveness Training: L.E.T. (Revised): "L.E.T."]]> 19214189 ]]> 318 Thomas Gordon 1101100249 John 0 currently-reading 4.07 1977 Leader Effectiveness Training: L.E.T. (Revised): "L.E.T."
author: Thomas Gordon
name: John
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Seven Chinese Brothers 816735 40 Margaret Mahy 0590420577 John 5 childrens 4.18 1990 The Seven Chinese Brothers
author: Margaret Mahy
name: John
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/09
shelves: childrens
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)]]> 20603758 A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.]]> 386 Ernest Cline John 0 currently-reading 4.38 2011 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
author: Ernest Cline
name: John
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)]]> 5293561
For twenty years, Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to the mysteries of Scotland’s mist-shrouded Highlands.

Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as shocking as the events that gave it birth: the secret of an ancient circle of standing stones, the secret of a love that transcends centuries, and the truth of a man named Jamie Fraser—a Highland warrior whose gallantry once drew the young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his.

Claire’s spellbinding journey continues through the intrigue-ridden French court and the menace of Jacobite plots, to the Highlands of Scotland, through war and death in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Diana Gabaldon’s Voyager.]]> 976 Diana Gabaldon John 0 4.45 1992 Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)
author: Diana Gabaldon
name: John
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at: 2020/05/25
date added: 2020/05/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Joy Luck Club 10381144 Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.

With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.]]> 354 Amy Tan John 0 currently-reading 4.20 1989 The Joy Luck Club
author: Amy Tan
name: John
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/05/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven, #3)]]> 8126326 "The Fablehaven series is generating buzz as a contender in the fantasy-adventure genre to replace the Harry Potter franchise."—Hollywood Reporter "Like Harry Potter, Fablehaven can be read aloud in a family with as much pleasure for grownups as for children."—Orson Scott Card Strange things are afoot at Fablehaven. Someone or something has released a plague that transforms beings of light into creatures of darkness. Seth discovers the problem in its infancy, but as the infectious disease spreads, it becomes clear that the preserve cannot hold out for long. In dire need of help, the Sorensons question where to turn. The Sphinx has always given sound advice—but is he a traitor? Inside the Quiet Box, Vanessa might have information that could lead to a cure—but can she be trusted? Meanwhile, Kendra and members of the Knights of the Dawn must journey to a distant preserve and retrieve another hidden artifact. Will the Society of the Evening Star recover it first? Will the plague eclipse all light at Fablehaven? Find out in Grip of the Shadow Plague.]]> 499 Brandon Mull 1606415948 John 0 4.53 2008 Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven, #3)
author: Brandon Mull
name: John
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2020/04/01
date added: 2020/04/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking: How to Hand Sew Georgian Gowns and Wear Them With Style]]> 35000294 Bring History to Life

Whether you wish you could time travel to the court of Versailles or the Highlands of Scotland, this comprehensive guide will walk you through how to make and wear your 18th century dream gown. Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox of American Duchess have endeavored to make the impossible possible by bringing historically accurate dressmaking techniques into your sewing room. Learn how to make four of the most iconic 18th century silhouettes—the English Gown, Sacque Gown, Italian Gown and Round Gown—using the same hand sewing techniques done by historic dressmakers. From large hoops to full bums, wool petticoats to grand silk gowns, ruffled aprons to big feathered hats, this manual has project patterns and instructions for every level of 18th century sewing enthusiast. With Lauren and Abby’s guidance, you’ll feel as if you just stepped out of an 18th century portrait.

The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking demystifies 18th century fashion and sewing techniques so that you can wear these beautiful gowns with confidence and style.]]> 705 Lauren Stowell 1624144543 John 0 currently-reading 4.54 The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking: How to Hand Sew Georgian Gowns and Wear Them With Style
author: Lauren Stowell
name: John
average rating: 4.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)]]> 8935689
Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.]]> 467 Iain M. Banks 1857231384 John 0 to-read 3.86 1987 Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)
author: Iain M. Banks
name: John
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

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

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.]]> 453 Joseph Heller 0684833395 John 0 yet-to-finish, to-read 3.99 1961 Catch-22
author: Joseph Heller
name: John
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/04
shelves: yet-to-finish, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Puppy Sleep Training - The Exhausted Puppy Owner's Nighttime Survival Guide]]> 20557741 58 Rebecca Setler John 0 to-read 4.11 2013 Puppy Sleep Training - The Exhausted Puppy Owner's Nighttime Survival Guide
author: Rebecca Setler
name: John
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Binti (Binti, #1) 25667918 For the first time in hardcover, the winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award!

With a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself -- but first she has to make it there, alive.

The Binti Series
Book 1: Binti
Book 2: Binti: Home
Book 3: Binti: The Night Masquerade]]> 96 Nnedi Okorafor 0765384469 John 5 sci-fi, short-stories 3.81 2015 Binti (Binti, #1)
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: John
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/11/04
shelves: sci-fi, short-stories
review:

]]> The Expanse Roleplaying Game 39687681 224 Stephen Kenson 1934547972 John 0 to-read 4.03 The Expanse Roleplaying Game
author: Stephen Kenson
name: John
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search for Black Panther]]> 45289524
The world fell in love with her in Marvel’s Black Panther. Now, T’Challa’s techno-genius sister launches her own adventures � written by best-selling Afrofuturist author Nnedi Okorafor and drawn by Eisner Award-nominated artist Leonardo Romero! T’Challa has disappeared, and everyone is looking at the next in line for the throne. Wakanda expects Shuri to take on the mantle of Black Panther once more and lead their great nation � but she’s happiest in a lab, surrounded by her own inventions. She’d rather be testing gauntlets than throwing them down! So it’s time for Shuri to go rescue her brother yet again � with a little help from Storm, Rocket Raccoon and Groot, of course! But when her outer-space adventure puts the entire cultural history of her continent at risk from an energy-sapping alien threat, can Shuri and Iron Man save Africa?]]> 113 Nnedi Okorafor 1302510754 John 0 currently-reading 3.92 2018 Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search for Black Panther
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: John
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected (TED Books)]]> 43462963 A powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to creative awakening, award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths.

Nnedi Okorafor was never supposed to be paralyzed. A college track star and budding entomologist, Nnedi’s lifelong battle with scoliosis was just a bump in her plan—something a simple operation would easily correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can’t move her legs, her entire sense of self begins to waver. Confined to a hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. Nnedi begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange, fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction author: In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often emerges from the cracks.

In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi takes the reader on a journey from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to her parents� hometown in Nigeria. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths—far greater than when we were unbroken.

A guidebook for anyone eager to understand how their limitations might actually be used as a creative springboard, Broken Places & Outer Spaces is an inspiring look at how to open up new windows in your mind.]]> 113 Nnedi Okorafor 1501195484 John 0 currently-reading 4.36 2019 Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected (TED Books)
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: John
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Presto Sketching: The Magic of Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product Thinking and Design]]> 36633697 544 Ben Crothers 149199424X John 0 currently-reading 4.00 Presto Sketching: The Magic of Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product Thinking and Design
author: Ben Crothers
name: John
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8)]]> 28335698
In the dead systems where gates lead to stranger things than alien planets, Elvi Okoye begins a desperate search to discover the nature of a genocide that happened before the first human beings existed, and to find weapons to fight a war against forces at the edge of the imaginable. But the price of that knowledge may be higher than she can pay.

At the heart of the empire, Teresa Duarte prepares to take on the burden of her father's godlike ambition. The sociopathic scientist Paolo Cortázar and the Mephistophelian prisoner James Holden are only two of the dangers in a palace thick with intrigue, but Teresa has a mind of her own and secrets even her father the emperor doesn't guess.

And throughout the wide human empire, the scattered crew of the Rocinante fights a brave rear-guard action against Duarte's authoritarian regime. Memory of the old order falls away, and a future under Laconia's eternal rule -- and with it, a battle that humanity can only lose - seems more and more certain. Because against the terrors that lie between worlds, courage and ambition will not be enough...]]> 534 James S.A. Corey 0316332879 John 0 to-read 4.54 2019 Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)]]> 28335696 In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and the Belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance, still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity � and the power to enforce it.
New technologies clash with old, as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient pattern of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity � and of the Rocinante � unexpectedly and for ever �

The seventh novel in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now a major television series.
The Expanse Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games, Babylon's Ashes, Persepolis Rising,
The Expanse Short Fiction The Butcher of Anderson Station, Gods of Risk, The Churn, The Vital Abyss, Strange Dogs.]]> 608 James S.A. Corey 0316332828 John 0 to-read 4.34 2017 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strange Dogs (The Expanse, #6.5)]]> 30367030
But soon the soldiers followed and under this new order Cara makes a discovery that will change everything.]]> 112 James S.A. Corey 0356504204 John 0 to-read 4.08 2017 Strange Dogs (The Expanse, #6.5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)]]> 25877663 The sixth book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series.

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.

]]> 532 James S.A. Corey 0356504263 John 0 to-read 4.22 2016 Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vital Abyss (The Expanse, #5.5)]]> 26170028 From New York Times bestselling author James S.A. Corey...
Somewhere in the vast expanse of space, a group of prisoners lives in permanent captivity.
The only company they have is each other and the Belters who guard them. The only stories they know are the triumphs and crimes that brought them there. The only future they see is an empty life in an enormous room.
And then the man from Mars came along . . .
Set in the hard-scrabble solar system of the Expanse, The Vital Abyss deepens James S. A. Corey's acclaimed series.
The Expanse (soon to be a major Syfy Channel television series)Leviathan WakesCaliban's WarAbaddon's GateCibola BurnNemesis Games
Coming Babylon's Ashes
The Expanse Short Fiction The Butcher of Anderson StationGods of RiskThe ChurnDrive]]> 75 James S.A. Corey 0316217565 John 0 to-read 3.85 2015 The Vital Abyss (The Expanse, #5.5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)]]> 22886612
A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price.

And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.]]> 536 James S.A. Corey 031621759X John 0 to-read 4.44 2015 Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
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]]> Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) 18656030 The fourth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series

The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule.

But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. Both sides will stop at nothing to defend what's theirs, but soon a terrible disease strikes and only Holden - with help from the ghostly Detective Miller - can find the cure.]]> 581 James S.A. Corey John 0 to-read 4.19 2014 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, #3)]]> 16131032
For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artefact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.]]> 539 James S.A. Corey John 0 to-read 4.26 2013 Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse, #3)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Gods of Risk (The Expanse, #2.5)]]> 15837317 A novella set in the hard-scrabble world of James S. A. Corey's NYT-bestselling Expanse series, Gods of Risk tells the story of Bobbie Draper following the events of Caliban's War.ĚýThis story will be available in the complete Expanse story collection, Memory’s Legion.HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIESAs tension between Mars and Earth mounts, and terrorism plagues the Martian city of Londres Nova, sixteen-year-old David Draper is fighting his own lonely war. A gifted chemist vying for a place at the university, David leads a secret life as a manufacturer for a ruthless drug dealer. When his friend Leelee goes missing, leaving signs of the dealer's involvement, David takes it upon himself to save her. But first he must shake his aunt Bobbie Draper, an ex-marine who has been set adrift in her own life after a mysterious series of events nobody is talking about.The ExpanseLeviathan WakesCaliban's WarAbaddon's GateCibola BurnNemesis GamesBabylon's AshesPersepolis RisingTiamat's Wrath​Leviathan FallsMemory's LegionThe Expanse Short FictionDriveThe Butcher of Anderson StationGods of RiskThe ChurnThe Vital AbyssStrange DogsAuberonThe Sins of Our Fathers]]> 72 James S.A. Corey 0316217654 John 0 to-read 3.73 2012 Gods of Risk (The Expanse, #2.5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Caliban’s War (The Expanse, #2)]]> 12591698
In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .]]> 624 James S.A. Corey 1841499900 John 0 to-read 4.36 2012 Caliban’s War (The Expanse, #2)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Butcher of Anderson Station (The Expanse, #1.5)]]> 11570653
This is his story.

Word ~9,000 words
]]> 40 James S.A. Corey John 0 to-read 3.99 2011 The Butcher of Anderson Station (The Expanse, #1.5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Churn (The Expanse, #3.5) 20981355 New York Times bestselling author James S.A. Corey...
Before his trip to the stars, before the Rocinante, Amos Burton was confined to a Baltimore where crime paid you or killed you. Unless the authorities got to you first.

Set in the hard-scrabble solar system of the Expanse, The Churn deepens James S. A. Corey's acclaimed series.

The Expanse (a major SyFy Channel television series)
Leviathan Wakes
Caliban's War
Abaddon's Gate
Cibola Burn
Nemesis Games

The Expanse Short Fiction
The Butcher of Anderson Station
Gods of Risk
The Churn]]> 60 James S.A. Corey 1478929693 John 0 to-read 4.09 2014 The Churn (The Expanse, #3.5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
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]]> Drive (The Expanse, #2.7) 25899877 The Expanse series.

The Expanse, premiering in December 2015 on Syfy, is based on The New York Times best selling book series by James S.A. Corey. Set two hundred years in the future, where man has colonized the outer asteroid belt, The Expanse follows the case of a missing girl that brings together a hardened detective and a rogue ship captain in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history. "Drive" highlights a key moment in The Expanse universe whose ramifications set the foundation for the show.
The story is a prequel taking place approximately 150 years prior to the main series, concerning Solomon Epstein and his invention of the Epstein drive.]]> 30 James S.A. Corey John 0 to-read 4.04 2012 Drive (The Expanse, #2.7)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)]]> 8855321
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.]]> 592 James S.A. Corey 1841499889 John 0 to-read 4.30 2011 Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: John
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Her Vampire's Promise (Romance in Central City #1)]]> 23277480 There is an alternate cover edition for this ASIN here.

Raging Fire Kills Co-Founder, Daughter.
Panthera Laboratories in Ruin.
~ Central City Gazette, 1994

Reade Hayes knows better than any vampire that nothing good ever comes out of Central City. So he isn’t surprised the beautiful blonde he meets in a dive bar is crazy. What does surprise him is how fast she moves, how hard she hits, and the fact she’s wearing a ring he last saw two decades ago on the hand of his dead friend.

Is it possible the little girl he swore a blood pact to protect didn’t die in the fire? If the beauty sitting beside him is that pretty little baby, where has she been for twenty years? And why is she so lethal?

On hindsight Lawrie Tyrone realizes drinking vampire blood might not have been the smartest decision. But scientists experiment and if she is going to prove her father was not a traitor, she has to take risks. So far she’s experienced no alarming side effects, well, none other than being able to recognize vampires walking among humans.

From the power he exudes to his gorgeous dark eyes everything about the man to her right screams danger. Every logical thought tells her to kill him. But something in his eyes stops her. Is he using his vampire powers to influence her, or is something else making her heart ache for him?

Can love thrive in the ruins of Central City?]]> 96 Jordan K. Rose John 0 currently-reading 3.69 2014 Her Vampire's Promise (Romance in Central City #1)
author: Jordan K. Rose
name: John
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/11/03
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)]]> 65605
Narnia... a land where the woods are thick and cold, where Talking Beasts come to life—an entirely new world where adventure begins.

One cold, wet summer in London, Digory and Polly meet and become fast friends. Their lives take a sudden turn when Digory’s Uncle Andrew, who fancies himself a magician, sends them hurtling to... somewhere else. They arrive in Narnia, just as it is born from the song of the great Lion, Aslan. Along the way, they encounter the evil sorceress Jadis, whose dark magic threatens everything. After a whirlwind adventure, they finally find their way back home.]]> 221 C.S. Lewis 0060764902 John 5 4.06 1955 The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: John
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2018/10/15
date added: 2018/10/15
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]]> Lord of the Flies 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 John 5
I read this book on my own, and was able to recall the plot during in-class discussion in middle school. My analysis of this book is what got me into honors English. If I had not read this book, my life would be much different.

Golding's imagery paints some pretty telling and gruesome scenes, most of which I don't think I fully grasped while reading as a child. But seeing the movie later in life really drove home just how barbaric some of the children's actions were.

A very powerful book, and one I'm very glad I read.]]> 3.70 1954 Lord of the Flies
author: William Golding
name: John
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at: 1997/01/01
date added: 2018/09/25
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This book had a big impact on me. It taught me about cruelty, and motives behind childhood cruelty, most of which are fear or ignorance-based.

I read this book on my own, and was able to recall the plot during in-class discussion in middle school. My analysis of this book is what got me into honors English. If I had not read this book, my life would be much different.

Golding's imagery paints some pretty telling and gruesome scenes, most of which I don't think I fully grasped while reading as a child. But seeing the movie later in life really drove home just how barbaric some of the children's actions were.

A very powerful book, and one I'm very glad I read.
]]> <![CDATA[Children of God (The Sparrow, #2)]]> 16948 The Sparrow, took us on a journey to a distant planet and into the center of the human soul. A critically acclaimed bestseller, The Sparrow was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Books of the Year, a finalist for the Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Prize and the winner of the James M. Tiptree Memorial Award. Now, in Children of God, Russell further establishes herself as one of the most innovative, entertaining and philosophically provocative novelists writing today.

The only member of the original mission to the planet Rakhat to return to Earth, Father Emilio Sandoz has barely begun to recover from his ordeal when the Society of Jesus calls upon him for help in preparing for another mission to Alpha Centauri. Despite his objections and fear, he cannot escape his past or the future.

Old friends, new discoveries and difficult questions await Emilio as he struggles for inner peace and understanding in a moral universe whose boundaries now extend beyond the solar system and whose future lies with children born in a faraway place.

Strikingly original, richly plotted, replete with memorable characters and filled with humanity and humor, Children of God is an unforgettable and uplifting novel that is a potent successor to The Sparrow and a startlingly imaginative adventure for newcomers to Mary Doria Russell’s special literary magic.]]> 451 Mary Doria Russell 044900483X John 5 4.07 1998 Children of God (The Sparrow, #2)
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: John
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/09/13
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]]> <![CDATA[The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, #2)]]> 8587084 Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end.

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers� destruction—and they’re determined to survive.]]> 394 James Dashner John 0 3.97 2010 The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, #2)
author: James Dashner
name: John
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2018/09/12
date added: 2018/09/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)]]> 25499718
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?]]> 608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1447273281 John 0 to-read 4.29 2015 Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: John
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/08/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)]]> 31817749
The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.

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

For Nassun, her mother's mastery of the Obelisk Gate comes too late. She has seen the evil of the world, and accepted what her mother will not admit: that sometimes what is corrupt cannot be cleansed, only destroyed.

The remarkable conclusion to the post-apocalyptic and highly acclaimed trilogy that began with the multi-award-nominated The Fifth Season.]]> 416 N.K. Jemisin John 0 to-read 4.32 2017 The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: John
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/05/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)]]> 26228034 410 N.K. Jemisin John 5 4.27 2016 The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: John
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/05/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)]]> 19161852
Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.]]> 468 N.K. Jemisin John 5 4.29 2015 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: John
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 5
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date added: 2018/05/02
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]]> Stumbling on Happiness 56627 � Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight?
� Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want?
� Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it?

In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to mis-conceive our tomorrows and mis-estimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there. With penetrating insight and sparkling prose, Gilbert explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.]]> 263 Daniel Todd Gilbert 1400077427 John 0 to-read 3.82 2006 Stumbling on Happiness
author: Daniel Todd Gilbert
name: John
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/04/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business]]> 12609433 375 Charles Duhigg 1400069289 John 0 to-read 4.13 2012 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
author: Charles Duhigg
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/04/27
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]]> <![CDATA[So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love]]> 13525945
Not only is the cliché flawed—preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work—but it can also be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping.

After making his case against passion, Newport sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving what they do. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers.

Matching your job to a preexisting passion does not matter, he reveals. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.

With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love.

So Good They Can't Ignore You will change the way we think about our careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.]]> 288 Cal Newport 1455509108 John 0 to-read 4.05 2012 So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
author: Cal Newport
name: John
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/04/27
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]]> The Shadow Cipher (York, #1) 18806245
Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment house—until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long-held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.]]> 496 Laura Ruby 0062306952 John 0 to-read 3.89 2017 The Shadow Cipher (York, #1)
author: Laura Ruby
name: John
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/02/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond]]> 8130311 From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer, the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, "Yes, you can raise the perfect dog!" It all starts with the proper foundation in the early years. Here, Cesar tells you everything you need to know to create the best environment for a well-balanced dog in order to avoid behavior issues in the future, and shows you how to correct the most common behavior issues for young dogs. Based on Cesar’s own detailed experiences raising individual puppies from some of the most popular breeds, How to Raise the Perfect Dog is like having Cesar right beside you, as your own personal expert, coaching you and your dog from the first day of your life together. Packed with new information aimed specifically at the particular needs of puppies and adolescents, and written in Cesar's friendly, accessible style, How to Raise the Perfect Dog answers all the most commonly asked questions and guides you towards a loving, satisfying life-long relationship with your best friend. #1 New York Times bestselling author, Cesar Millan shows you how to raise the perfect dog and prevent behavior issues before they start, � what to expect from each stage of your puppy's development� quick and easy housebreaking� the essentials of proper nutrition� the importance of vaccinating–and of not over-vaccinating� creating perfect obedience from day one through rules, boundaries, and calm-assertive leadership� how to avoid the most common mistakes owners make raising puppies and young dogs� how to correct any issue before it becomes a problem� unique exercises and play to bring out the best in every breed]]> 322 Cesar Millan John 0 currently-reading 3.89 2009 How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond
author: Cesar Millan
name: John
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/12/09
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Art of Raising a Puppy 19972777 The classic bestseller that established the Monks of New Skete as America's most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond, updated to include the latest developments in canine health. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog's Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as trainers of dogs of all breeds to provide--brilliantly distilled--the indispensable information and advice that every dog owner needs. This new edition of The Art of Raising a Puppy features new photographs throughout, along with updated chapters on play, crating, adopting dogs from shelters and rescue organizations, raising dogs in an urban environment, and the latest developments in canine health and canine behavioral theory.]]> 329 Monks of New Skete John 0 currently-reading 4.27 1990 The Art of Raising a Puppy
author: Monks of New Skete
name: John
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners]]> 22514127
In "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python," you'll learn how to use Python to write programs that do in minutes what would take you hours to do by hand no prior programming experience required. Once you've mastered the basics of programming, you'll create Python programs that effortlessly perform useful and impressive feats of automation to: Search for text in a file or across multiple filesCreate, update, move, and rename files and foldersSearch the Web and download online contentUpdate and format data in Excel spreadsheets of any sizeSplit, merge, watermark, and encrypt PDFsSend reminder emails and text notificationsFill out online forms

Step-by-step instructions walk you through each program, and practice projects at the end of each chapter challenge you to improve those programs and use your newfound skills to automate similar tasks.

Don't spend your time doing work a well-trained monkey could do. Even if you've never written a line of code, you can make your computer do the grunt work. Learn how in "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python.""]]> 479 Al Sweigart 1593275994 John 0 tech, currently-reading 4.29 2014 Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners
author: Al Sweigart
name: John
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: tech, currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming]]> 25428612
Step-by-step explanations will have kids learning computational thinking right away, while visual and game-oriented examples hold their attention. Friendly introductions to fundamental programming concepts such as variables, loops, and functions will help even the youngest programmers build the skills they need to make their own cool games and applications.

Whether you've been coding for years or have never programmed anything at all, "Teach Your Kids to Code" will help you show your young programmer how Explore geometry by drawing colorful shapes with Turtle graphicsWrite programs to encode and decode messages, play Rock-Paper-Scissors, and calculate how tall someone is in Ping-Pong ballsCreate fun, playable games like War, Yahtzee, and PongAdd interactivity, animation, and sound to their apps

"Teach Your Kids to Code" is the perfect companion to any introductory programming class or after-school meet-up, or simply your educational efforts at home. Spend some fun, productive afternoons at the computer with your kids you can all learn something!"]]> 336 Bryson Payne 1593276818 John 0 to-read, tech 4.00 2015 Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming
author: Bryson Payne
name: John
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Learn to Program with Scratch: A Visual Introduction to Programming with Art, Science, Math and Games]]> 18325450 Learn to Program with Scratchshows just how much you can do with Scratch and teaches you essential, universal programming concepts along the way.

In Learn to Program with Scratch, author Majed Marji takes you on a tour through Scratch's surprisingly powerful features to teach programming concepts like procedures, variables, loops, recursion, decision making, and lists. You will use your new-found skills to create science simulations, math projects, and even some fun arcade games! Each chapter offers a summary and practice exercises at the end to make sure the lessons stick.

Scratch is an incredibly fun and easy language to learn, plus you can do some seriously potent programming with it. Learn to Program with Scratch will help you get the most out of Scratch and begin your journey into the world of programming.]]> 288 Majed Marji 1593275439 John 0 to-read, tech 4.21 2014 Learn to Program with Scratch: A Visual Introduction to Programming with Art, Science, Math and Games
author: Majed Marji
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> Lauren Ipsum 13073554
The truth is that computer science is not really about the computer. It is just a tool to help you see ideas more clearly. You can see the moon and stars without a telescope, smell the flowers without a fluoroscope, have fun without a funoscope, and be silly sans oscilloscope.

You can also play with computer science without... you-know-what. Ideas are the real stuff of computer science. This book is about those ideas, and how to find them.]]> 150 Carlos Bueno John 0 to-read 3.93 2011 Lauren Ipsum
author: Carlos Bueno
name: John
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python]]> 8437138 400 Al Sweigart 0982106017 John 0 to-read, tech 4.12 2009 Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python
author: Al Sweigart
name: John
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 4th Edition]]> 33840848 377 Al Sweigart 159327811X John 0 to-read, tech 4.26 2009 Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 4th Edition
author: Al Sweigart
name: John
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> Glimpses 379197 When he finds the music he dreams of has been mysteriously recorded by his tape deck, Ray is drawn into the past, to revisit the histories of Hendrix, Morrison, and the Beatles...along with the history of Ray Shackleford.
Vividly recreating a lost era that might have been, Glimpses fuses the hopes and dreams in the music with a powerful vision of reality.
]]> 328 Lewis Shiner 0312267436 John 0 to-read 3.95 1993 Glimpses
author: Lewis Shiner
name: John
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gray Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Reverse Engineers]]> 5044768
Gray Hat Python explains the concepts behind hacking tools and techniques like debuggers, trojans, fuzzers, and emulators. But author Justin Seitz goes beyond theory, showing you how to harness existing Python-based security tools—and how to build your own when the pre-built ones won't cut it.

You'll learn how to:
–Automate tedious reversing and security tasks
–Design and program your own debugger
–Learn how to fuzz Windows drivers and create powerful fuzzers from scratch
–Have fun with code and library injection, soft and hard hooking techniques, and other software trickery
–Sniff secure traffic out of an encrypted web browser session
–Use PyDBG, Immunity Debugger, Sulley, IDAPython, PyEMU, and more

The world's best hackers are using Python to do their handiwork. Shouldn't you?]]> 232 Justin Seitz 1593271921 John 0 to-read, tech 3.91 2008 Gray Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Reverse Engineers
author: Justin Seitz
name: John
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> Final Girls 32994321
Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.]]> 112 Mira Grant John 0 to-read, sci-fi 3.58 2017 Final Girls
author: Mira Grant
name: John
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, sci-fi
review:

]]> Fender Lizards 25028989 Fender Lizards, Joe R. Lansdale’s tale of the life and love and work of one Dot Sherman, who delivers on her promise that her story is “the real thing from beginning to end.�

Dot waitresses on roller skates at the Dairy Bob, doesn’t care for smoking at least partly on account of her dad having never returned from a cigarette run, and carries on the family tradition of philosophizing. Life hasn’t done her any favors in her seventeen years so far. But if there was ever a heroine built for turning things upside down and seeing what shakes out, it’s Dot. Determined to find out who she is and why she’s the way she is, an opportunity presents itself when her heretofore-unknown uncle suddenly moves his camper into the front yard.

As in his classic novelsĚýThe BottomsĚý˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚýThe Magic Wagon, multiple-award-winning Lansdale instills place with character and character with place. Here is an overlooked world and a cast of real folks that prove unforgettable, all rendered in one of American fiction’s most authentic voices.]]> 232 Joe R. Lansdale John 0 to-read 3.88 2015 Fender Lizards
author: Joe R. Lansdale
name: John
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Earths of Distant Suns: How We Find Them, Communicate with Them, and Maybe Even Travel There]]> 32592821
All of us are mesmerized by the possibility of other Earth-like worlds out there. Author Michael Carroll asks the tough questions of what the expected gain is from identifying these Earth analogs spread across the Universe and the reasons for studying them. Potentially, they could teach us about our own climate and Solar System. Also explored are the more remote options of communication between or even travel to these distant yet perhaps not so dissimilar worlds.
]]> 230 Michael Carroll 3319439642 John 0 to-read, astronomy 3.86 2016 Earths of Distant Suns: How We Find Them, Communicate with Them, and Maybe Even Travel There
author: Michael Carroll
name: John
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, astronomy
review:

]]> Down and Out in Purgatory 28633840
In college, Tom Holbrook worshipped Shasta DiMaio from afar, but she married the arrogant John Atwater—and Atwater eventually murdered her.

All that's left for Tom is revenge. He has devoted the rest of his life to finding Atwater and killing him—but when he finally finds him, Atwater is in a bag in the Los Angeles County morgue.

How do you kill a man who has already died?]]> 120 Tim Powers 1596067810 John 0 to-read 3.30 2016 Down and Out in Purgatory
author: Tim Powers
name: John
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Doing Math with Python 24369873
Rather than crank through tedious calculations by hand, you'll learn how to use Python functions and modules to handle the number crunching while you focus on the principles behind the math. Exercises throughout teach fundamental programming concepts, like using functions, handling user input, and reading and manipulating data. As you learn to think computationally, you'll discover new ways to explore and think about math, and gain valuable programming skills that you can use to continue your study of math and computer science.

If you’re interested in math but have yet to dip into programming, you’ll find that Python makes it easy to go deeper into the subject—let Python handle the tedious work while you spend more time on the math.]]> 304 Amit Saha 1593276400 John 0 to-read, tech 4.07 2015 Doing Math with Python
author: Amit Saha
name: John
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> Deep Navigation 7944347 336 Alastair Reynolds 1886778906 John 0 to-read, tech, sci-fi 4.01 2010 Deep Navigation
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: John
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech, sci-fi
review:

]]> Can & Can'tankerous 26199039
The great English writer Michael Moorcock—and if his name does not leave you dumbstruck with awe, you should move on—called Ellison a “fox in the sf hen-coop� whose presence will “produce a brighter, faster hen, with improved survival characteristics, laying a tastier, more nourishing egg� and went on to say Ellison was “a brave and lively little beast, who makes a great show of himself to the hounds, but remains too wary ever to lead them to his lair.�

The brilliant novelist Joanna Russ, in admiring frustration, opined that Ellison’s stories “have an assault on you,� but complained that “they’re not like a piece of sculpture that you can stop and walk around and look at from all sides.� Ellison’s reply: “Absolutely not; I want them to grab you by the throat and tear off parts of your body.�

Ellison’s a double agent who lures you into the bush, and when you blink, he’s gone; you don’t know whether to turn left or right, or just dig a hole. He crafts enigmas set to entrap you. When Ellison sees where a story is going, he figures—since he’s writing for the smartest readers alive—you do, too. So he stops and turns left. Or right. Or widdershins. Or digs a cave with 200 tunnels.

Can & Can’tankerous gathers ten previously uncollected tales from the fifth and sixth decades of Harlan Ellison’s professional writing career: a written-in-the-window endeavor that invites re-reading from the start before you’ve even finished it; a second entry in his (now) ongoing abcedarian sequence; a “lost� pulp tale re-cast as a retro-fable; a melancholy meditation for departed friend and fellow legend, Ray Bradbury; a 2001 revision of a 1956 original; an absurdist ascent toward enlightenment (or its gluten-free substitute); a 200-word exercise in not following the directions as written (with a special introduction by Neil Gaiman that weighs in at four times the word count of its subject); a fantastical lament for a bottom-line world; the 2011 Nebula Award-winning short story; and Ellison’s most recent offering, a fusion of fact and fiction that calls to mind Russ’s frustration and Moorcock’s metaphor while offering a solution to the story’s enigma in plain view.

Strokes be damned! Ellison’s still here! HE’s still writing! And with more new books published in the last ten years than any preceding decade of his career, his third act is proving to be the kind other living legends envy.]]> 236 Harlan Ellison John 0 to-read 3.69 2015 Can & Can'tankerous
author: Harlan Ellison
name: John
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Arduino Workshop: A Hands-On Introduction with 65 Projects]]> 15812546
The Arduino is an inexpensive, flexible microcontroller platform that makes it easy for hobbyists to use electronics in DIY projects. With its wide range of input and output add-ons, sensors, indicators, displays, and motors, the Arduino offers you countless ways to create interactive devices.
Ěý
Through 65 hands-on projects, Arduino Workshop will teach you the tricks and design principles of a master craftsman. This edition has been updated for the latest version of the Arduino IDE and revised to reflect current hardware and technology. It includes coverage of general electronics concepts as well as schematic diagrams and detailed images of components. You’ll experiment with touchscreens and LED displays, explore robotics, use sensors with wireless data links, and control devices remotely with a cell phone.
Ěý
Build projects
Ěý â€� ĚýAn electronic version of the classic six-sided die
Ěý â€� ĚýA GPS logger that records and displays travel data
Ěý â€� ĚýA keypad-controlled lock that opens with a secret code
Ěý â€� ĚýA binary quiz game
Ěý â€� ĚýA motorized remote control car with collision detection
Ěý
Whatever your skill level, you’re sure to have fun as you learn to harness the power of the Arduino for your own DIY projects.
Ěý
NEW TO THIS
Ěý â€� ĚýA chapter on creating your own Arduino libraries
Ěý â€� ĚýUpdated robotic vehicle projects
Ěý â€� ĚýNewer shields that leverage GPS, 3G, and LoRa data transmission capabilities
Ěý â€� ĚýA chapter on MAX7219-based numeric LED displays and LED matrix modules
Ěý
Covers Arduino IDE 2.x]]> 364 John Boxall 1593274483 John 0 to-read, tech 4.09 2012 Arduino Workshop: A Hands-On Introduction with 65 Projects
author: John Boxall
name: John
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters]]> 22299369
In Black Hat Python, the latest from Justin Seitz (author of the best-selling Gray Hat Python), you'll explore the darker side of Python's capabilities writing network sniffers, manipulating packets, infecting virtual machines, creating stealthy trojans, and more. You'll learn how to:


Create a trojan command-and-control using GitHub
Detect sandboxing and automate common malware tasks, like keylogging and screenshotting
Escalate Windows privileges with creative process control
Use offensive memory forensics tricks to retrieve password hashes and inject shellcode into a virtual machine
Extend the popular Burp Suite web-hacking tool
Abuse Windows COM automation to perform a man-in-the-browser attack
Exfiltrate data from a network most sneakily
Insider techniques and creative challenges throughout show you how to extend the hacks and how to write your own exploits.When it comes to offensive security, your ability to create powerful tools on the fly is indispensable. Learn how in Black Hat Python.

"]]> 171 Justin Seitz 1593275900 John 0 to-read, tech 4.13 2014 Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters
author: Justin Seitz
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, tech
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Stargazing Program for Beginners: A Pocket Field Guide (Astronomer's Pocket Field Guide)]]> 26784942 ĚýBy investing just an hour a week and $50 in binoculars, it’s possible to learn a few simple techniques and quickly gain a real insight into the night sky's ever-changing patterns â€� and what they tell us about Earth, the seasons and ourselves. Searching more for a learned appreciation of nature and our exact place within the cosmos than academic scientific knowledge, science and travel writer Jamie Carter takes the reader on a 12 month tour of the night sky's incredible annual rhythms that say so much about Earth. During the journey he learns about the celestial mechanics at work in the skies above that are â€� to the beginner â€� almost beyond belief. As well as the vital constellations and clusters, and the weird and wonderful nebulas, he searches out “dark sky destinationsâ€� across the globe that help increase knowledge and give a new perspective on familiar night sky sights. On the journey he witnesses a solar eclipse and grapples with star-charts, binoculars, smartphone apps, telescopes, spots satellites and attempts basic astro-photography.Ěý By year's end, the reader will be able to glance at the night sky from anywhere on the planet and tell what direction he or she is facing, what time it is, where all the planets are and even where the Galactic Center Point is.Ěý]]> 435 Jamie Carter 3319220713 John 0 to-read, astronomy 4.40 2015 A Stargazing Program for Beginners: A Pocket Field Guide (Astronomer's Pocket Field Guide)
author: Jamie Carter
name: John
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, astronomy
review:

]]> A Long December 29464495 Midnight Promises, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Publishers Weekly called it "a sterling collection" while singling out "The Silence of Sorrow" as "an understated masterpiece."

Two years later, Subterranean Press published a mini-collection from Chizmar entitled Monsters and Other Stories. In his introduction, acclaimed genre critic Edward Bryant said, "When all is said and done, this book should leave you in utter silence, giving you time and opportunity to contemplate what you just read. Tough storytelling from a tough writer; but a writer who is not calloused. Chizmar possesses a finely honed gift of empathy. With utter grace and loving kindness he'll put you right inside the life (and soul) of the monster."

Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella, and presents us with A Long December. This massive new collection features more than 150,000 words of Chizmar's very best short fiction and includes 8,000 words of autobiographical Story Notes.

Eerie, suspenseful, poignant, the stories in A Long December range from horror to suspense, crime to dark fantasy, mainstream to mystery.

As New York Times bestselling author Scott Smith (A Simple Plan, The Ruins) notes: "It's an idyllic little world Richard Chizmar has created. Boys fish in the shallows of a winding creek. A father tosses a baseball with his young son in the fading light of a summer day. There's the smell of fresh-cut grass. And then, well...just beneath the surface? There are those missing pets whose collars turn up in a shoebox. Or the disturbing photos the dead can leave behind. Or the terrible thing you might find yourself doing when a long lost brother suddenly returns, demanding money. Chizmar does a tremendous job of peeling back his world's shiny layers, revealing the rot that lies underneath. His stories feel like so many teeth: short and sharp and ready to draw blood."]]> 530 Richard Chizmar 1596067934 John 0 to-read, short-stories 4.16 2016 A Long December
author: Richard Chizmar
name: John
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/12/08
shelves: to-read, short-stories
review:

]]> Night Hoops 112220
While trying to prove that he is good enough to be on his high school's varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents' divorce and the erractic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.]]> 256 Carl Deuker 0064472752 John 0 to-read 4.08 2000 Night Hoops
author: Carl Deuker
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tangerine 89755 very unusual things about his family’s new home in Tangerine County, Florida. Where else does a sinkhole swallow the local school, fire burn underground for years, and lightning strike at the same time every day?

The chaos is compounded by constant harassment from his football-star brother, and adjusting to life in Tangerine isn’t easy for Paul—until he joins the soccer team at his middle school. With the help of his new teammates, Paul begins to discover what lies beneath the surface of his strange new hometown. And he also gains the courage to face up to some secrets his family has been keeping from him for far too long. In Tangerine, it seems, anything is possible.]]> 312 Edward Bloor 0152057803 John 0 to-read 3.57 1997 Tangerine
author: Edward Bloor
name: John
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, #2)]]> 106
Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known—and feared—as the man christened Muad’Dib. As Emperor of the known universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne—and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence.

And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him from the machinations of his enemies, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family’s dynasty...]]> 331 Frank Herbert 0441172695 John 3 3.88 1969 Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, #2)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 2015/09/27
date added: 2015/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> The Martian 18007564
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error� are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills � and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit � he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

]]> 384 Andy Weir 0804139024 John 3 4.41 2011 The Martian
author: Andy Weir
name: John
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2015/09/27
date added: 2015/09/27
shelves:
review:

]]> Where the Sidewalk Ends 30119 Come in... for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins.

Shel Silverstein, theĚýNew York Times bestselling author of The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and Every Thing On It, has created a poetry collection that is outrageously funny and deeply profound.

You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings stretches the bounds of imagination and will be cherished by readers of all ages.]]> 176 Shel Silverstein 0060513039 John 5 4.34 1974 Where the Sidewalk Ends
author: Shel Silverstein
name: John
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/06/21
shelves:
review:
My introduction to poetry, and one of my all-time favorite books. Left an impression on me that the world was one giant poem waiting to be written.
]]> <![CDATA[Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)]]> 68333
The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance.]]> 400 Nancy Kress 0060733489 John 0 to-read 3.93 1993 Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)
author: Nancy Kress
name: John
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/06/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) 334176 419 Mary Doria Russell 0449912558 John 4 Mary Doria Russell's writing style begs you to continue, and her clear prose painted such vivid pictures in my mind. Even when explaining the exotic beauty of an unknown world, it was still so very clear to my mind's eye what was happening.

The characters were so deep and complex, and Russell made me fall in love with each of them in different ways. I was so happy for them during the good times, and so sad when each of them ran into their inevitable problems.

The way with which the book was written was very risky, but made the development of the story a fulfilling and rich experience.

It was such fun to dream of what a modern-day Christopher-Columbus-esque adventure would be like for space explorers.

But, be warned, this book is not for the light-hearted or easily spooked, as Russell does not reward your experience reading this story with the fairytale ending you would hope for. But, the best stories are the ones that make us feel something, the ones that draw us in and change our perspective about certain topics.

And this story did that... Russell made me want to travel to the depths of space, even if were a one-way ticket, to explore things unseen by humans eyes.

Lastly, as a Catholic, this book was inspiring, to see the holy order of priests so willing to fling themselves into the unknown, and not necessarily for the sake of spreading religion, but the for the sake of knowing and for exploration! To think, that the church would move faster than world governments in assembling a team and sending them into the great unknown was exhilarating, and made me look at the accomplishments of priests in the past in an entirely new light. Their bravery seems apparent now, whereas before it was mainly their mistakes that echoes loudest in my memory of learning of their feats in history class.

This book was a pleasant surprise, and I encourage anyone who looks towards the night sky with wonder and excitement to read it.]]> 4.13 1996 The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: John
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/21
date added: 2015/06/21
shelves:
review:
I consumed this book at a breakneck speed, and I lost sleep in the process. Mary Doria Russell's writing style begs you to continue, and her clear prose painted such vivid pictures in my mind. Even when explaining the exotic beauty of an unknown world, it was still so very clear to my mind's eye what was happening.

The characters were so deep and complex, and Russell made me fall in love with each of them in different ways. I was so happy for them during the good times, and so sad when each of them ran into their inevitable problems.

The way with which the book was written was very risky, but made the development of the story a fulfilling and rich experience.

It was such fun to dream of what a modern-day Christopher-Columbus-esque adventure would be like for space explorers.

But, be warned, this book is not for the light-hearted or easily spooked, as Russell does not reward your experience reading this story with the fairytale ending you would hope for. But, the best stories are the ones that make us feel something, the ones that draw us in and change our perspective about certain topics.

And this story did that... Russell made me want to travel to the depths of space, even if were a one-way ticket, to explore things unseen by humans eyes.

Lastly, as a Catholic, this book was inspiring, to see the holy order of priests so willing to fling themselves into the unknown, and not necessarily for the sake of spreading religion, but the for the sake of knowing and for exploration! To think, that the church would move faster than world governments in assembling a team and sending them into the great unknown was exhilarating, and made me look at the accomplishments of priests in the past in an entirely new light. Their bravery seems apparent now, whereas before it was mainly their mistakes that echoes loudest in my memory of learning of their feats in history class.

This book was a pleasant surprise, and I encourage anyone who looks towards the night sky with wonder and excitement to read it.
]]> <![CDATA[Redesigning Leadership (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)]]> 10281070 Lessons for a new generation of leaders on teamwork, meetings, conversations, free food, social media, apologizing, and other topics. When designer and computer scientist John Maeda was tapped to be president of the celebrated Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, he had to learn how to be a leader quickly. He had to transform himself from a tenured professor--with a love of argument for argument's sake and the freedom to experiment--into the head of a hierarchical organization. The professor is free to speak his mind against "the man." The college president is "the man." Maeda has had to teach himself, through trial and error, about leadership. In Redesigning Leadership, he shares his learning process.

Maeda, writing as an artist and designer, a technologist, and a professor, discusses intuition and risk-taking, "transparency," and all the things that a conversation can do that an email can't. In his transition from MIT to RISD he finds that the most effective way to pull people together is not social networking but free food. Leading a team? The best way for a leader to leverage the collective power of a team is to reveal his or her own humanity.

Asked if he has stopped designing, Maeda replied (via Twitter) "I'm designing how to talk about/with/for our #RISD community." Maeda's creative nature makes him a different sort of leader--one who prizes experimentation, honest critique, and learning as you go. With Redesigning Leadership, he uses his experience to reveal a new model of leadership for the next generation of leaders.]]> 96 John Maeda 0262015889 John 4 3.77 2011 Redesigning Leadership (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
author: John Maeda
name: John
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/06/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 529172 Chosen by John Updike as a Today Show Book Club Pick. Already an award-winning writer, ZZ Packer now shares with us her debut, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. Her impressive range and talent are abundantly evident: Packer dazzles with her command of language, surprising and delighting us with unexpected turns and indelible images, as she takes us into the lives of characters on the periphery, unsure of where they belong. We meet a Brownie troop of black girls who are confronted with a troop of white girls; a young man who goes with his father to the Million Man March and must decides where his allegiance lies; an international group of drifters in Japan, who are starving, unable to find work; a girl in a Baltimore ghetto who has dreams of the larger world she has seen only on the screens in the television store nearby, where the Lithuanian shopkeeper holds out hope for attaining his own American Dream.

With penetrating insight that belies her youth—she was only nineteen years old when Seventeen magazine printed her first published story—ZZ Packer helps us see the world with a clearer vision. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a striking performance—fresh, versatile, and captivating. It introduces us to an arresting and unforgettable new voice.

Brownies --
Every tongue shall confess --
Our Lady of Peace --
The ant of the self --
Drinking coffee elsewhere --
Speaking in tongues --
Geese --
Doris is coming]]> 265 ZZ Packer 1573223786 John 0 to-read 3.88 2004 Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
author: ZZ Packer
name: John
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Laws of Simplicity 225111 Ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.

Maeda—a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer—explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on.

Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products—how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."]]> 128 John Maeda 0262134721 John 5 3.91 2006 The Laws of Simplicity
author: John Maeda
name: John
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2014/11/05
date added: 2014/11/05
shelves:
review:
Wonderful book with many implications for Technical Communicators. Will keep it around for a long while and refer to it often during my career.
]]> Dune (Dune, #1) 234225 Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the "spice" melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul's family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.]]> 604 Frank Herbert 0340839937 John 5 4.21 1965 Dune (Dune, #1)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2014/11/05
date added: 2014/11/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Switched (My Sister the Vampire, #1)]]> 1013389 208 Sienna Mercer 006087113X John 0 to-read 4.14 2007 Switched (My Sister the Vampire, #1)
author: Sienna Mercer
name: John
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Machine Man 6634696 185 Max Barry John 5
Barry captures the epitome of said dependence in his main character, Dr. Charles Neumann, a brilliant recluse. His insistence on efficiency leads him to some odd, and very grotesque, decisions.

The story opens with Dr. Neumann neurotically looking for his cell phone and begs readers to view themselves on this ritualistic hunt and how absurd it really is to depend so much on something so small.

As usual, Barry pulls no punches as this oft bouncy story has a tendency to make its readers squirm with unease in several pivotal scenes. But Barry doesn't go over the top just for shock value, also a trademark of a Barry book, he does so tastefully and emphasizes the decisions that lead to those horrific moments.

After reading Machine Man (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler), readers will view their day-to-day increasing dependence on technology with either disdain or expansive optimism. Barry pushes the boundaries of our imagination with what could be possible for humans and their next stage of evolution and integration with technology.

Just make sure you have a block of time set aside for after to start reading this book, because once you stop it's not easy to put down Machine Man.]]> 3.71 2008 Machine Man
author: Max Barry
name: John
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2011/09/12
date added: 2013/12/03
shelves:
review:
Max Barry's latest acid trip of a book, Machine Man, was a break-neck thriller with a fine dose of ego-checking commentary about our society's dependence on technology.

Barry captures the epitome of said dependence in his main character, Dr. Charles Neumann, a brilliant recluse. His insistence on efficiency leads him to some odd, and very grotesque, decisions.

The story opens with Dr. Neumann neurotically looking for his cell phone and begs readers to view themselves on this ritualistic hunt and how absurd it really is to depend so much on something so small.

As usual, Barry pulls no punches as this oft bouncy story has a tendency to make its readers squirm with unease in several pivotal scenes. But Barry doesn't go over the top just for shock value, also a trademark of a Barry book, he does so tastefully and emphasizes the decisions that lead to those horrific moments.

After reading Machine Man (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler), readers will view their day-to-day increasing dependence on technology with either disdain or expansive optimism. Barry pushes the boundaries of our imagination with what could be possible for humans and their next stage of evolution and integration with technology.

Just make sure you have a block of time set aside for after to start reading this book, because once you stop it's not easy to put down Machine Man.
]]> Cloud Atlas 49628
Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. . . .

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

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

As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.]]> 509 David Mitchell 0375507256 John 0 to-read 4.02 2004 Cloud Atlas
author: David Mitchell
name: John
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer]]> 827 The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It is to some extent a science fiction coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence.]]> 499 Neal Stephenson 0553380966 John 0 to-read 4.17 1995 The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
author: Neal Stephenson
name: John
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[That Hideous Strength (The Space Trilogy, #3)]]> 100933
The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a Sociologist who is enticed to join an organisation called N.I.C.E. which aims to control all human life. His wife, meanwhile, has bizarre prophetic dreams about a decapitated scientist, Alcasan. As Mark is drawn inextricably into the sinister organisation, he discovers the truth of his wife’s dreams when he meets the literal head of Alcasan which is being kept alive by infusions of blood.

Jane seeks help concerning her dreams at a community called St Anne’s, where she meets their leader � Dr Ransom (the main character of the previous two titles in the trilogy). The story ends in a final spectacular scene at the N.I.C.E. headquarters where Merlin appears to confront the powers of Hell.]]> 534 C.S. Lewis 0007157177 John 0 to-read 3.91 1945 That Hideous Strength (The Space Trilogy, #3)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: John
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1945
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Perelandra (The Space Trilogy, #2)]]> 100924 The second book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which also includes Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, Perelandra continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Ransom. Pitted against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, the great man must battle evil on a new planet — Perelandra — when it is invaded by a dark force. Will Perelandra succumb to this malevolent being, who strives to create a new world order and who must destroy an old and beautiful civilization to do so? Or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve a spiritual perfection as yet unknown to man? The outcome of Dr. Ransom's mighty struggle alone will determine the fate of this peace-loving planet.

]]> 314 C.S. Lewis 0007157169 John 0 to-read 4.00 1943 Perelandra (The Space Trilogy, #2)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: John
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1943
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Out of the Silent Planet (The Space Trilogy, #1)]]> 25350 160 C.S. Lewis 0007157150 John 5
After my second, more mature reading of Out of the Silent Planet, the story was spell-bounding story and had many layers of meaning.

while I read, I would inadvertently relate many of the origin stories described to Ransom with that of real Earthly theories of religion, mythology, and alien conspiracy theories. It could be I've watched my fair share of The History Channel show Ancient Aliens, but it is most likely Lewis' background in theology shinning through that resonated with me. The theories were grand enough to be worthy of the origin of life as we know it and just science-y enough for me to blur the difference (I probably know as much about string theory as I do about the origins of Thulcandra).

Human history is told from the view of the victor, and many of our stories are lost to time. The beings that speak to Ransom in this story offer a story about our origins, and seem so sure it is true. When I finished the last page of Out of the Silent Planet, I could not say for sure it was not.

A very fun read.]]> 3.93 1938 Out of the Silent Planet (The Space Trilogy, #1)
author: C.S. Lewis
name: John
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1938
rating: 5
read at: 2013/02/27
date added: 2013/02/27
shelves:
review:
I first read this book as an teenager, so I added it to my bookshelf here on GoodReads. But I could not remember how it ended. This was likely a product of my rapid consumption of books when I was younger, and also because C.S. Lewis sometimes lost me with his scientific-like descriptions of the creatures and landscapes encountered on Malacandra.

After my second, more mature reading of Out of the Silent Planet, the story was spell-bounding story and had many layers of meaning.

while I read, I would inadvertently relate many of the origin stories described to Ransom with that of real Earthly theories of religion, mythology, and alien conspiracy theories. It could be I've watched my fair share of The History Channel show Ancient Aliens, but it is most likely Lewis' background in theology shinning through that resonated with me. The theories were grand enough to be worthy of the origin of life as we know it and just science-y enough for me to blur the difference (I probably know as much about string theory as I do about the origins of Thulcandra).

Human history is told from the view of the victor, and many of our stories are lost to time. The beings that speak to Ransom in this story offer a story about our origins, and seem so sure it is true. When I finished the last page of Out of the Silent Planet, I could not say for sure it was not.

A very fun read.
]]> My Puppy Is Born (Sepia) 2698548 48 Joanna Cole 0718821637 John 0 to-read 3.85 1973 My Puppy Is Born (Sepia)
author: Joanna Cole
name: John
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1973
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)]]> 76620 Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN13 9780380395866 here.

Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.]]> 478 Richard Adams 038039586X John 0 to-read 4.08 1972 Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)
author: Richard Adams
name: John
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Heretics of Dune (Dune #5) 117
Leto Atreides, the God Emperor of Dune, is dead. In the fifteen hundred years since his passing, the Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis—now called Rakis—has reverted to its desert climate, and its great sandworms are dying.

Now the Lost Ones are returning home in pursuit of power. And as these factions vie for control over the remnants of the Empire, a girl named Sheeana rises to prominence in the wastelands of Rakis, sending religious fervor throughout the galaxy. For she possesses the abilities of the Fremen sandriders—fulfilling a prophecy foretold by the late God Emperor....]]> 471 Frank Herbert 0441328008 John 0 to-read 3.85 1984 Heretics of Dune (Dune #5)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4) 42432 454 Frank Herbert 0575075066 John 0 to-read 3.84 1981 God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Children of Dune (Dune #3) 112 But there are those who think the Imperium does not need messiahs...]]> 408 Frank Herbert John 0 to-read 3.92 1976 Children of Dune (Dune #3)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune #6) 105
The desert planet Arrakis, called Dune, has been destroyed. Now, the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune's power, have colonized a green world--and are turning it into a desert, mile by scorched mile.
Here is the last book Frank Herbert wrote before his death. A stunning climax to the epic Dune legend that will live on forever...]]> 436 Frank Herbert John 0 to-read 3.90 1985 Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune #6)
author: Frank Herbert
name: John
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]> 9717 The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. This magnificent novel juxtaposes geographically distant places, brilliant and playful reflections, and a variety of styles, to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world’s truly great writers.]]> 314 Milan Kundera 0571224385 John 5
So much pain and so little joy can be found in this book. And its "light" happy ending gave me the closure I thought I wanted. But alas Kumdera has won. All throughout the book I desperately wanted those admirable characters to find love. Like one does for a worthy friend addicted to the type of lover that means they are destined for sadness. Do you want them to find the person they desire? If so, you know they will be unhappy and live a life of misery and contempt and doubt. But to want them to fall for that type of person which will portray their appearance of happiness will take that turbulence and internalize it, and they will live a lie.

Kundera tells you how the book ends many chapters before it does, and you hate him for it. For it is only after you know the fate of the hopeless lovers that they begin to find anything that resembles true happiness, true "lightness," as it were.

I had absolutely no expectations for this book, I only decided to read it because it was old, and different than what I liked to read. I wanted to push my boundaries. And I did, and now I can't help but feel that brilliant bastard Kundera is smiling at the thought he has completely thrown one man's perception of happiness into complete doubt.

But alas, that is why this book gets five stars from me. Because the purpose of art is not to give you that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling inside. Its purpose is not to make you happy, that is the purpose of entertainment. The purpose of art is to make you feel the emotion of the artist, or the emotion the artist seeks to invoke in you. And Kundera did that.

Damn you Kundera, you brilliant man you.

This is the book with the clever title that might change how you look at your lover, and more importantly how you look at your life, and what you call happiness.]]> 4.12 1984 The Unbearable Lightness of Being
author: Milan Kundera
name: John
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2012/08/29
date added: 2012/08/29
shelves:
review:
I don't know why, but I had the hardest time giving Kundera's book five stars, I wanted to give it four. But the emotion which it stirred in me, the love for which Kundera forced me to feel for the characters in this book begged me to reconsider.

So much pain and so little joy can be found in this book. And its "light" happy ending gave me the closure I thought I wanted. But alas Kumdera has won. All throughout the book I desperately wanted those admirable characters to find love. Like one does for a worthy friend addicted to the type of lover that means they are destined for sadness. Do you want them to find the person they desire? If so, you know they will be unhappy and live a life of misery and contempt and doubt. But to want them to fall for that type of person which will portray their appearance of happiness will take that turbulence and internalize it, and they will live a lie.

Kundera tells you how the book ends many chapters before it does, and you hate him for it. For it is only after you know the fate of the hopeless lovers that they begin to find anything that resembles true happiness, true "lightness," as it were.

I had absolutely no expectations for this book, I only decided to read it because it was old, and different than what I liked to read. I wanted to push my boundaries. And I did, and now I can't help but feel that brilliant bastard Kundera is smiling at the thought he has completely thrown one man's perception of happiness into complete doubt.

But alas, that is why this book gets five stars from me. Because the purpose of art is not to give you that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling inside. Its purpose is not to make you happy, that is the purpose of entertainment. The purpose of art is to make you feel the emotion of the artist, or the emotion the artist seeks to invoke in you. And Kundera did that.

Damn you Kundera, you brilliant man you.

This is the book with the clever title that might change how you look at your lover, and more importantly how you look at your life, and what you call happiness.
]]> The Time Machine 2493
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.Ěý There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.Ěý Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

Ěý]]> 118 H.G. Wells John 4
A fun read for sure.]]> 3.91 1895 The Time Machine
author: H.G. Wells
name: John
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1895
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/08/27
shelves:
review:
A wonderful classic indeed. Wells had me gripped from the beginning, and I was modestly satisfied by the outcome. Like most modern readers I would have liked to see a clean resolution to the time-traveler's journey, but I can settle for a social commentary that was before its time.

A fun read for sure.
]]> <![CDATA[The Kingdom of Gods (Inheritance, #3)]]> 7923006 613 N.K. Jemisin 184149819X John 5 3.96 2011 The Kingdom of Gods (Inheritance, #3)
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: John
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/01
date added: 2012/07/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)]]> 8695 alternate edition for ISBN 0345418921/9780345418920

Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons is a curious time to have a cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his curious comrades in arms as they hurtle through space powered by pure improbability - and desperately in search of a place to eat. Among Arthur's motley shipmates are Ford Prefect, a long-time friend and contributor to the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the three-armed, two-headed ex-president of the galaxy; Tricia McMilan, a fellow Earth refuge who's gone native (her name is Trillian now); and Marvin, who suffers nothing and no one gladly.

Source: douglasadams.com]]> 250 Douglas Adams John 4 4.22 1980 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)
author: Douglas Adams
name: John
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/20
date added: 2012/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)]]> 11
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]> 216 Douglas Adams John 4 4.21 1979 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
author: Douglas Adams
name: John
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2012/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black People Don't Play Soccer?]]> 6185706 400 Robert Woodard 0982058748 John 4 3.50 2008 Black People Don't Play Soccer?
author: Robert Woodard
name: John
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2012/03/29
date added: 2012/03/29
shelves:
review:

]]>