en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 05:18:59 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 159138897 0 Nicholas Shaxson Rajat 0 4.38
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]]> 222529517 248 P C Saidalavi 1512828491 Rajat 0 0.0
author: P C Saidalavi
name: Rajat
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]]> 62246 The Sacred Willow illuminates recent Vietnamese history by weaving together the stories of the lives of four generations of her family. Beginning with her great-grandfather, who rose from rural poverty to become an influential landowner, and continuing to the present, Mai Elliott traces her family's journey through an era of tumultuous change. She tells us of childhood hours in her grandmother's silk shop, and of hiding while French troops torched her village, watching while blossoms torn by fire from the trees flutter "like hundreds of butterflies" overhead. She makes clear the agonizing choices that split Vietnamese families: her eldest sister left her staunchly anti-communist home to join the Viet Minh, and spent months sleeping in jungle camps with her infant son, fearing air raids by day and tigers by night. And she follows several family members through the last, desperate hours of the fall of Saigon-including one nephew who tried to escape by grabbing the skid of a departing American helicopter. Based on family papers, dozens of interviews, and a wealth of other research, this is not only a memorable family saga but a record of how the Vietnamese themselves have experienced their times.
]]> 506 Duong Van Mai Elliott 0195137876 Rajat 0 to-read 3.94 1999
author: Duong Van Mai Elliott
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read
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]]> 3266851 138 Mieko Kawakami 4163270108 Rajat 0 to-read, japan 3.47 2008
author: Mieko Kawakami
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, japan
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]]> 122169791 354 Hanchao Lu 1009180983 Rajat 0 to-read, china 4.33
author: Hanchao Lu
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.33
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shelves: to-read, china
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]]> 209047303 718 Joseph Torigian 1503634752 Rajat 0 to-read 5.00
author: Joseph Torigian
name: Rajat
average rating: 5.00
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date added: 2025/04/16
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]]> 62016954 In 2035, an AI-driven disinformation campaign turned us on ourselves. We became the enemy's first strike weapons, and as we set fire to our own country, the People's Liberation Army seized half of the Pacific. From the first combat jump on Mars to the climate change-ravaged jungles of Southeast Asia, EX SUPRA blends the bleeding edge of technology and the bloody reality of combat. In EX SUPRA, the super soldiers are only as strong as their own wills, reality is malleable, and hope only arrives with hellfire. Follow John Petrov, a refugee turned CIA paramilitary officer, Captain Jennifer Shaw, a Green Beret consumed by bloodlust, and many more, as they face off against Chinese warbots, Russian assassins, and their own demons in the war for the future of humanity.]]> 531 Tony Stark Rajat 0 to-read 3.96
author: Tony Stark
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.96
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]]> 22609341
Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a ※pink pill§ for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never exist〞but as a result of the research that＊s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women＊s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.

The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others＊ experiences. Because women vary, and that＊s normal.

Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman＊s arousal, desire, and orgasm.

Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but how you feel about it. Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman＊s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible.

And Emily Nagoski can prove it.]]> 400 Emily Nagoski 1476762090 Rajat 0 to-read, sex 4.28 2015
author: Emily Nagoski
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, sex
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]]> 214709016 The bestselling?author of Your Inner Fish takes readers on an epic adventure to the North and South Poles to uncover the secrets locked in the ice and profoundly shift our understanding of life, the cosmos, and our future on the planet.

For three decades, renowned scientist Neil Shubin has made extraordinary discoveries by leading scientific expeditions to the sweeping ice landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic. He＊s survived polar storms and faced the limits of human endurance to explore questions of how life survived and adapted, and what our future on a changing planet may hold.

Scientific discoveries at Earth＊s polar regions have changed the way we see the world and these insights are becoming ever more urgent. These landscapes are the epicenter for rapid change to our planet, with ice retreating, animal species moving toward the equator or going extinct, Indigenous communities confronting dramatic environmental changes, and political battles heating up for newly accessible mineral and gas resources. In the end, what happens at the poles does not stay in the poles〞events there in the coming years will affect all life and every nation on the planet.?The book blends travel, science, and environmental writing to deepen our understanding of animal and plant life, the history of our ice ages, the age of dinosaurs, the history of Western exploration, and the clues meteorites preserved at the poles contain about the cosmos.?

Written with infectious enthusiasm and irresistible curiosity, Shubin shares lively adventure stories from the field to reveal just how far scientists will go to understand polar regions and to reveal the poles＊ impact on the rest of life on the planet.]]> 288 Neil Shubin 0593186524 Rajat 0 to-read 4.26 2025
author: Neil Shubin
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
shelves: to-read
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]]> 222377550 260 Selim Koru 0755656431 Rajat 0 to-read, turkey 4.67
author: Selim Koru
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.67
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]]> 23534 A classic in the Bukowski poetry canon, Love Is a Dog from Hell is a raw, lyrical exploration of the exigencies, heartbreaks, and limits of love.

Charles Bukowski was a man of intense emotions, someone an editor once called a ※passionate madman.§ Alternating between tough and gentle, sensitive and gritty, Bukowski lays bare the myriad facets of love〞its selfishness and its narcissism, its randomness, its mystery and its misery, and, ultimately, its true joyfulness, endurance, and redemptive power.]]> 312 Charles Bukowski 0876853629 Rajat 0 to-read, poetry 4.01 1977
author: Charles Bukowski
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, poetry
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]]> 22067482 136 Kashinath Singh 8126726059 Rajat 0 to-read, hindi-lit 4.13 2014
author: Kashinath Singh
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, hindi-lit
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]]> 49665863 New York Times bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow.

When Sam＊s wife first tells him about Vitek, a twenty-first-century fertility lab, he sees it as the natural next step in trying to help their future child get a ※leg up§ in a competitive world. But the more Sam considers the lives that his child could lead, the more he begins to question his own relationships and the choices he has made in his life.

Amor Towles＊s You Have Arrived at Your Destination is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.]]> 54 Amor Towles 1542004349 Rajat 0 to-read 3.51 2019
author: Amor Towles
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> 49676965 New York Times bestselling author of Recursion.

Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision〞veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?

Blake Crouch＊s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.]]> 85 Blake Crouch 1542043638 Rajat 0 to-read 4.10 2019
author: Blake Crouch
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read
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]]> 206636 450 Edward Hirsch 0156032678 Rajat 0 to-read 4.15 2006
author: Edward Hirsch
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> 3344411 543 Hans Fallada 1933633638 Rajat 0 to-read 4.22 1947
author: Hans Fallada
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1947
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> 8297030 The New Yorker, Qurratulain Hyder is one of the "must reads" of Indian literature. Fireflies in the Mist is Hyder's capstone to her astonishing River of Fire, which was hailed by The New York Review of Books as "magisterial with a technical resourcefulness rarely seen before in Urdu fiction."

Fireflies follows the creation of modern day Bangladesh -- from Indian province, to Partition, to the emergence of statehood -- as told through the impassioned voice of Deepali Sarkar and others around her who live through the turbulence. Hyder perceptively and majestically follows the trajectory of Sarkar's life -- from her secluded upbringing in Dhaka to becoming a socialist rebel and to her ultimate transformation as a diasporic Bengali cosmopolitan -- in the way that many of yesterday's revolutionaries are slowly but surely ensnared within a net of class and luxury dangled in front of them.]]> 325 Qurratulain Hyder 0811218651 Rajat 0 3.91 1979
author: Qurratulain Hyder
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/14
shelves: currently-reading, historical-fiction, regional
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]]> 859018
It was not until 1798, when an unlikely band of scientific explorers traveled from Paris to the Nile Valley, that Westerners received their first real glimpse of what lay beyond the Mediterranean Sea.

Under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Army, a small and little-known corps of Paris's brightest intellectual lights left the safety of their laboratories, studios, and classrooms to embark on a thirty-day crossing into the unknown〞some never to see French shores again. Over 150 astronomers, mathematicians, naturalists, physicists, doctors, chemists, engineers, botanists, artists〞even a poet and a musicologist〞accompanied Napoleon's troops into Egypt. Carrying pencils instead of swords, specimen jars instead of field guns, these highly accomplished men participated in the first large-scale interaction between Europeans and Muslims of the modern era. And many lived to tell the tale.

Hazarding hunger, hardship, uncertainty, and disease, Napoleon's scientists risked their lives in pursuit of discovery. They approached the land not as colonizers, but as experts in their fields of scholarship, meticulously categorizing and collecting their finds〞from the ruins of the colossal pyramids to the smallest insects to the legendary Rosetta Stone.

Those who survived the three-year expedition compiled an exhaustive encyclopedia of Egypt, twenty-three volumes in length, which secured their place in history as the world's earliest-known archaeologists. Unraveling the mysteries that had befuddled Europeans for centuries, Napoleon's scientists were the first to document the astonishing accomplishments of a lost civilization〞before the dark shadow of empire-building took Africa and the Middle East by storm.

Internationally acclaimed journalist Nina Burleigh brings readers back to a little-known landmark adventure at the dawn of the modern era〞one that ultimately revealed the deepest secrets of ancient Egypt to a very curious continent.]]> 286 Nina Burleigh 0060597674 Rajat 0 to-read 3.71 2007
author: Nina Burleigh
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read
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]]> 266485 371 Louis L'Amour Rajat 0 to-read 4.22 1986
author: Louis L'Amour
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read
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]]> 22749723
If you＊ve ever sought a job or hired someone, applied to college or guided your child into a good kindergarten, asked someone out on a date or been asked out, you＊ve participated in a kind of market. Most of the study of economics deals with commodity markets, where the price of a good connects sellers and buyers. But what about other kinds of ※goods,§ like a spot in the Yale freshman class or a position at Google? This is the territory of matching markets, where ※sellers§ and ※buyers§ must choose each other, and price isn＊t the only factor determining who gets what.

Alvin E. Roth is one of the world＊s leading experts on matching markets. He has even designed several of them, including the exchange that places medical students in residencies and the system that increases the number of kidney transplants by better matching donors to patients. In Who Gets What 〞 And Why, Roth reveals the?matching markets hidden around us and shows how to recognize a good match and make smarter, more confident decisions.]]> 260 Alvin E. Roth 0544291131 Rajat 0 3.84 2015
author: Alvin E. Roth
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> 223317403 About the Book
CULTURAL ENQUIRY AND LITERARY EXPLORATION, A HISTORY OF POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL MOVEMENTS〞THIS IS A COMPLEX, NUANCED AND OPEN-MINDED INVESTIGATION INTO MODERN KARNATAKA.
Karnataka is one of India＊s most diverse states, as rich in literary and cultural traditions as it is in democratic struggles and political churns. The twentieth century witnessed the birth of a modern Kannada renaissance, accompanied by the emergence of a powerful social conscience. One young man＊s desire to explore this vibrant historical backyard, born out of a feeling of being linguistically unmoored, compounded by worries over an increasingly opaque political direction, leads to an ambitious〞no, audacious〞attempt to unpack the region＊s social and cultural histories.
Rama Bhima Soma is an enterprise of translation and rediscovery, packed with stories and conversations. The life and times of legends like Kuvempu and Shivaram Karanth; the fall of Socialism and the rise of the Hindu Right; the intellectual ruminations of U.R. Ananthamurthy, D.R. Nagaraj and M.M. Kalburgi; the wildly popular television serials of T.N. Seetharam and the community-centred one-woman theatre shows of Du Saraswathi; a brief history of Naxalism in Karnataka and glimpses of other complicated legacies of the 1970s＊ Left〞the book explores a dizzyingly wide sweep of Karnataka＊s contemporary history, seeking, above all, to forge new connections and begin fresh conversations.
Marshalling a diverse range of literary and scholarly resources, framed through biographical sketches and immersive reportage, Srikar Raghavan＊s genre-bending work of narrative non-fiction reanimates some pivotal moments in the making of modern Karnataka. The result is a sizzling dish of ideas rescued from the deep freeze of historical amnesia. ????????

About the Author
Born in Bangalore and brought up in Mysore, Srikar wrote this book while living in a small village named Parkala in South Canara. Something of that inward trajectory has permeated these pages, he believes. An inveterate bookworm, Srikar fancies himself more of a reader than a writer. He also loves to trek, travel and fiddle around on a guitar.]]> 677 Srikar Raghavan Rajat 0 to-read 4.38
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]]> 228191224 India Gazette wrote a report about a group he called the ＆Radicals＊, ＆Ultra-Reformers＊ or ＆the Ultras＊, who were responsible for an unprecedented upheaval in social, religious and political thinking centred in Calcutta. Later named ＆Young Bengal＊, these students of Henry Derozio at the Hindu College had embarked upon a collision course with orthodoxy and authority, generating scandal and sensation in equal measure.

Focusing on their activities twelve years later in 1843, this book examines their achievements in a radical reassessment of their contribution. That year saw Young Bengal argue for the rights of the peasant, campaign against corruption in the police and judiciary, bring a legal case against a British magistrate for the mistreatment of labourers, and continue their fight against racial, gender and caste discrimination in society. It also marked their formation of the first Indian political party.

India＊s First Radicals seeks to rethink the activities of Young Bengal, whose pioneering contributions to public discourse and the changes they wrought were among the earliest shifts to define modern India as we now know it.]]> 486 Rosinka Chaudhuri 9367908490 Rajat 0 to-read 4.67
author: Rosinka Chaudhuri
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.67
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]]> 223657815 Is it possible to possess a portable, lightweight (say 400 grams), user-friendly soul with a twenty-four-hour battery life?

WELCOME TO LORD SPIDER＊S WORLD OF MARVELOUS LIES
Lord Spider, celebrated author of popular fiction; J.L. Pillai, eminent executioner and voyeur; Rosi, Spider＊s wife and freelance philosopher. When they get together to write an essay on ＆Compassion＊ for the revolutionary party, the art of lying reaches its outrageous zenith. So does story-telling.
Spider＊s world is a novel in brilliant, irresistible free fall.]]> Paul Zacharia 9367907249 Rajat 0 to-read 5.00
author: Paul Zacharia
name: Rajat
average rating: 5.00
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 135984312
In this book, Yang brings disparate methodologies into a fruitful dialogue, including sophisticated methods of poetic interpretation. The author argues that Wang＊s lyric poetry, as the public performance of a private voice, played a central role in constructing his political identity and heavily influenced the public＊s posthumous memory of him. Drawing on archives (in the PRC, Taiwan, Japan, the USA, France, and Germany), memoires, historical journals, newspapers, interviews, and other scholarly works, this book offers the first biography of Wang that addresses his political, literary, and personal life in a critical light and with sympathetic impartiality.
?]]> 350 Zhiyi Yang 0472076507 Rajat 0 to-read, china 4.20
author: Zhiyi Yang
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.20
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> 7784 "Unless someone like you... cares a whole awful lot... nothing is going to get better... It's not."

Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.

His classic cautionary tale is now available in an irresistible mini-edition, perfect for backpack or briefcase, for Arbor Day, Earth Day, and every day.]]> 72 Dr. Seuss 0679889108 Rajat 0 to-read 4.35 1971
author: Dr. Seuss
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1971
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> 214615831 226 Paul Bevan Rajat 0 to-read 5.00
author: Paul Bevan
name: Rajat
average rating: 5.00
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
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]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Rajat 0 to-read 3.86 2019
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 222681582
In Masalamandi, the author sets out on a quest to unravel how a single dish can be prepared with multiple spice blends, all created from the same whole spices yet resulting in distinct flavours! While sharing his own experiences and interactions with these spice blends, he also offers a comprehensive exploration of the history, mythology and cultural significance that surrounds each of them.

This is a spice trail like no other.]]> 304 Sadaf Hussain 0143466550 Rajat 0 to-read 0.0
author: Sadaf Hussain
name: Rajat
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 205544315 Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025

In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Published originally in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023, praised for their dry and gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions testify to Mushtaq＊s years as a journalist and lawyer, in which she tirelessly championed women＊s rights and protested all forms of caste and religious oppression. Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating, it＊s in her characters 每 the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost 每 that Mushtaq emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. Her opus has garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well India＊s most prestigious literary awards; this is a collection sure to be read for years to come.]]> 192 Banu Mushtaq 1916751164 Rajat 0 to-read 3.57
author: Banu Mushtaq
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.57
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]]> 213086918
Summer of Then is a debut novel that relishes the interiority of women, especially about the often-unsettling intimacies of relationships〞sexual, romantic and platonic〞against the trauma of sexual assault and harassment. Set across Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, and even Edinburgh, Scotland, this coming-of-age novel crosses paths with the India of the 2010s, exploring the trickle-down effect of politics into academia and college life in Indian metropolitan cities, leading us just to the point of the incipient anxieties and beginnings of the 2020 pandemic.

In the vein of Sally Rooney＊s Normal People, Otessa Moshfegh＊s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and Avni Doshi＊s Burnt Sugar, the novel＊s protagonist has a sparse, yet deeply compelling voice that pays attention to precise emotional and social detail, exposing a range of motion between observational commentary and introspection.]]> 360 Rupleena Bose 0143465708 Rajat 0 to-read 3.74
author: Rupleena Bose
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> 230151118
Idealized images of China were used to shame rulers for incompetence, while China was demonized as an external threat to cover domestic political failures. In the twentieth century, the geopolitics of global capitalism have facilitated more nuanced perspectives, but the diversifying of knowledge about China is far from complete.

In this thought-provoking study, Ho-fung Hung finds that both Western elites and China's authoritarian regime today continue to promote many orientalist stereotypes to advance their economic interests and political projects. He shows how big-picture historical, social and economic changes are inextricably linked to fluctuations in the realm of ideas. Only open debate can overcome the extremes of fantasy and fear.]]> 324 Ho-fung Hung 100955977X Rajat 0 to-read, china 0.0
author: Ho-fung Hung
name: Rajat
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> 62296519 Life is story in motion. Each day, you add to your story, revise it, and view it from a different angle. You erase things. Tear pages out. And sometimes, in hindsight, wish you could put them back. A day is a story. A year is a story. A life is a story.
You are a story.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ruta Sepetys is known for creating vivid characters and harrowing plots. After five award-winning works of historical fiction and countless hours of meticulous research, she can affirm that the secret to strong writing is embedded within your life experience.

You: The Story is a powerful how-to book for aspiring writers that encourages you to look inward and excavate your own memories in order to discover the authentic voices and compelling details that are waiting to be put on the page. Masterfully weaving in humorous and heartfelt stories from her own life that illustrate an aspect of the craft of writing (such as plot, character development, or dialogue), Sepetys then inspires readers with a series of writing prompts and exercises.

Perfect for fans of Burn After Writing and Bird by Bird, You: The Story awakens the emerging writer and reveals that with some reflection, curiosity, and courage, you have a story to tell.]]> 224 Ruta Sepetys 0593524381 Rajat 0 writing, to-read 4.25 2023
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: writing, to-read
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]]> 39805702 From the acclaimed author of John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished Life, the biography of one of America's greatest presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

'Meticulously researched and authoritative, heroically objective and wide-angled ... Roosevelt is with us again in Dallek's outstanding cradle-to-grave study' Douglas Brinkley, Washington Post

'Assuredly the best single-volume Roosevelt biography' Eric Rauchway, The Times Literary Supplement

'Essential ... a master of the presidential biography captures Roosevelt's compassion and sense of solidarity' Greg Grandin, Guardian

'An insightful, incisive and intelligent one-volume work - and a pointed primer on how things in Washington get done. In a period defined by division, Dallek crafts a pointillist portrait of the four-term president, who knew almost intuitively how to reach consensus' Peter M. Gianotti, Newsday]]> 692 Robert Dallek 014198659X Rajat 0 america, biography, to-read 4.25 2017
author: Robert Dallek
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: america, biography, to-read
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]]> 23258329 Now in English, The Sharp Knife of Memory is a searing memoir that will resonate worldwide as it explores the nature of memory and gives a firsthand account of the arrival of women＊s political independence in India. That Indian women often face incredible suffering is known, but that they can fight back and emerge winners is exemplified in the life of Koteswaramma.]]> 160 Kondapalli Koteswaramma 9383074884 Rajat 3 memoir, regional 4.39 2012
author: Kondapalli Koteswaramma
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/22
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: memoir, regional
review:

]]> 43300060 THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT DOCUMENTARY

A glimpse of life inside the world＊s most secretive country, as told by Britain＊s best-loved travel writer.

In May 2018, former Monty Python stalwart and intrepid globetrotter Michael Palin spent two weeks in the notoriously secretive Democratic People＊s Republic of Korea, a cut-off land without internet or phone signal, where the countryside has barely moved beyond a centuries-old peasant economy but where the cities have gleaming skyscrapers and luxurious underground train stations. His resulting documentary for Channel 5 was widely acclaimed.

Now he shares his day-by-day diary of his visit, in which he describes not only what he saw 每 and his fleeting views of what the authorities didn＊t want him to see 每 but recounts the conversations he had with the country＊s inhabitants, talks candidly about his encounters with officialdom, and records his musings about a land wholly unlike any other he has ever visited 每 one that inspires fascination and fear in equal measure.

Written with Palin＊s trademark warmth and wit, and illustrated with beautiful colour photographs throughout, the journal offers a rare insight into the North Korea behind the headlines.]]> 176 Michael Palin 178633190X Rajat 0 to-read, korea 3.86 2019
author: Michael Palin
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read, korea
review:

]]> 388929 227 Niall Murtagh 1861977891 Rajat 0 to-read, japan 3.56 2005
author: Niall Murtagh
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read, japan
review:

]]> 49203415 One of the world＊s most respected investigative reporters reveals how George Orwell＊s chilling vision of authoritarianism in 1984 has come true in modern China＊s high-tech surveillance state.

They are always watching.

For nearly twenty years, politicians from President Bill Clinton to tech gurus including Google＊s Eric Schmidt proclaimed that the internet could not be censored by any government, including China. As recently as 2013, Tim Berners-Lee, often credited as the inventor of the World Wide Web, declared that ※piece by piece, website by website, China＊s ＆great firewall＊ would meet the same fate as the Berlin Wall.§ Yet these predictions have been proved wrong. In We Have Been Harmonized, award-winning journalist Kai Strittmatter reveals how the internet and high tech have transformed the power of Chinese authoritarians, allowing them to create the most horrifying surveillance state in history.

Advances in technology〞facial recognition, GPS tracking, supercomputer databases, mobile phones, high-resolution security cameras〞make it nearly impossible for a Chinese citizen to hide anything from authorities. Text messages and emails are instantly stripped of ※problematic§ words. The year 1989〞when the world witnessed the student protests and tragic massacre at Tiananmen Square〞has been banished from search results. Cameras scan for ※appropriate§ facial expressions as they track individuals＊ movements. Each citizen is given a score for good behavior. Those who lose points can be banned from traveling, have their internet speed reduced, or even have their toilet paper limited.?

All of this has happened with the help of Chinese tech companies, as well as the complicity of Western governments and corporations eager to gain access to China＊s huge market. While these companies export their technology to authoritarian states around the globe, they are also reshaping American lives via app, smart phones, and computing. Strittmatter＊s book is a terrifying portrait of an Orwellian nightmare unlike anything we＊ve ever witnessed, and a dire warning about what could happen anywhere.]]> 368 Kai Strittmatter 0063027291 Rajat 4 china, tech 4.13 2018
author: Kai Strittmatter
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: china, tech
review:

]]> 61492455
Today, unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film, TV, and wider pop culture. For the first time ever, they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are求gasp求fully fledged human beings. How did we get to this point?

Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman.

Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and co-founder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls, takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture求and society求is finally ready to embrace complicated women.]]> 340 Anna Bogutskaya 1728274745 Rajat 0 to-read 3.70 2023
author: Anna Bogutskaya
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213570821 From the bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and Midnight is the Darkest Hour comes a chilling, compulsive story of five amateur sleuths, whose hunt for an elusive killer catapults them into danger as the world watches.

It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story.

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory...

So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions. Something's not adding up, and they begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap...

Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans...


]]> 480 Ashley Winstead 1728270006 Rajat 0 to-read 3.69 2025
author: Ashley Winstead
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36145702 1490 James A. Michener Rajat 0 to-read, historical-fiction 4.47 1959
author: James A. Michener
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read, historical-fiction
review:

]]> 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ? An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

※捩硃娶喧 Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.§〞Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family＊s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating〞and each other〞to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the ※real story§ through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can＊t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she＊s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 Rajat 0 to-read 4.17 2025
author: Layne Fargo
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 230681951
Nine-year-old Mira, fourteen-year-old Ashu and Ma harbour secrets. All of them confront questions that have no neat answers. Where is Ma's husband, for instance? Who does Ashu pine for? Why is Mira on the alert?

One long, hot summer, the secrets come tumbling out. And the world Ma, Mira and Ashu have cobbled together threatens to give way.

An achingly beautiful novel, Hot Water traces the ways in which the love we feel for one another can both make and wreck us.]]> 256 Bhavika Govil 9365690358 Rajat 0 to-read 4.74
author: Bhavika Govil
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.74
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217582659 The power dynamics of the office are never more obvious than when it comes to food: mandatory lunches with the boss, the colleague who tries to curry favour with home-baked goods, discovering the discarded remnants of someone else's late-night binge . . .

In their Saitama office, Ashikawa is the kind of woman Nitani knows he will likely marry: sweet, obliging, and determined to wean him off his addiction to instant noodles. But he finds himself increasingly unable to respect her 每 or the sugary treats she shares around the workplace, winning their colleagues＊ affection with baking rather than hard work.

Oshio is bolder and uninhibited 每 she is Nitani's drinking buddy. In the oppressive office atmosphere, the pair grows closer, both outsiders struggling with the rigid status quo.

Driven to behave in increasingly absurd ways by the workplace rules that govern their lives, they must navigate the tensions of modern life: between leisure and hard work; indulgence and restraint; the promise of delicious food, and the reality of a lonely pot noodle.]]> 133 Junko Takase 1529153891 Rajat 0 to-read 3.15 2022
author: Junko Takase
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214986269 A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a provocative, defiant debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking autonomy and the full possibilities of her life.

Born with a congenital muscle disorder,?Shaka spends her days in her room in a care home outside Tokyo, relying on an electric wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to breathe. But if Shaka's physical life is limited, her quick, mischievous mind has no boundaries: She takes e-learning courses on her iPad, publishes explicit fantasies on websites, and anonymously troll-tweets to see if anyone is paying attention (※If I were to live again, I＊d want to be a high-class prostitute§). One day, she tweets into the void an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor. To her surprise, her new nurse accepts the dare, unleashing a series of events that will forever change Shaka's sense of herself as a woman in the world.

Hunchback has shaken Japanese literary culture with its skillful depiction of the physical body and?unrepentant humor. Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, it's a feminist story about the dignity of an individual who insists on her right to make choices for herself, no matter the consequences. Formally creative and refreshingly unsentimental, Hunchback depicts the joy, anger, and desires of a woman demanding autonomy in a world that doesn't aways grant it to people like her. Full of wit, bite, and heart, this unforgettable novel reminds us all of the full potential?of our lives, no matter the limitations we experience.]]> 112 Saou Ichikawa 0593734718 Rajat 0 to-read 3.51 2023
author: Saou Ichikawa
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 36505403 An Alabama boy＊s innocence is shaken by murder and madness in the 1960s South in this novel by the New York Times每bestselling author of Swan Song.

It＊s 1964 in idyllic Zephyr, Alabama. People either work for the paper mill up the Tecumseh River, or for the local dairy. It＊s a simple life, but it stirs the impressionable imagination of twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cory Mackenson. He＊s certain he＊s sensed spirits whispering in the churchyard. He＊s heard of the weird bootleggers who lurk in the dark outside of town. He＊s seen a flood leave Main Street crawling with snakes. Cory thrills to all of it as only a young boy can.
?
Then one morning, while accompanying his father on his milk route, he sees a car careen off the road and slowly sink into fathomless Saxon＊s Lake. His father dives into the icy water to rescue the driver, and finds a beaten corpse, naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel〞a copper wire tightened around the stranger＊s neck. In time, the townsfolk seem to forget all about the unsolved murder. But Cory and his father can＊t.
?
Their search for the truth is a journey into a world where innocence and evil collide. What lies before them is the stuff of fear and awe, magic and madness, fantasy and reality. As Cory wades into the deep end of Zephyr and all its mysteries, he＊ll discover that while the pleasures of childish things fade away, growing up can be a strange and beautiful ride.
?
※Strongly echoing the childhood-elegies of King and Bradbury, and every bit their equal,§ Boy＊s Life, a winner of both the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards, represents a brilliant blend of mystery and rich atmosphere, the finest work of one of today＊s most accomplished writers (Kirkus Reviews).]]> 625 Robert McCammon Rajat 0 to-read 4.47 1991
author: Robert McCammon
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof〞she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]> 448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 Rajat 0 to-read 4.06 2025
author: B.K. Borison
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42921509 What if all Palestinians vanished from their homeland overnight?

Alaa, a young Palestinian, is haunted by his grandmother＊s memories of being displaced from Jaffa and becoming a refugee in her homeland. Ariel, Alaa＊s neighbour and friend, is a liberal Zionist, critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza yet faithful to the project of Israel. When he wakes up one morning to find that all Palestinians have suddenly vanished, Ariel begins searching for clues to the secret of the collective disappearance; that search, and his reaction to it, intimately reveal the fissures at the heart of the Palestinian question. Between the stories of Alaa and Ariel are the people of Jaffa and Tel Aviv against whose ordinary lives these fissures and questions play out.

Critically acclaimed in Arabic, spare yet evocative, intensely intelligent in its interplay of perspectives, The Book of Disappearance is an unforgettable glimpse into contemporary Palestine.]]> 256 Ibtisam Azem 0815611110 Rajat 0 to-read 4.13 2014
author: Ibtisam Azem
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 197798168
A semifamous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to New York. Twenty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July＊s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July＊s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman＊s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.]]> 336 Miranda July 0593190262 Rajat 0 to-read 3.52 2024
author: Miranda July
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 213870133 A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with a one-of-a-kind job offer〞only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself.

When Nadia Amin, a witty and bighearted PhD, publishes an article on deradicalization, everything changes. The United Nations comes calling with an opportunity to put her theory into practice and lead a rehabilitation program for women caught in the crosshairs of harmful ideology. And why not? Abandoned by her mother and devastated by unrequited love, she leaps at the chance.

In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she＊s in over her head. The UN is a mess of competing interests, and her team consists of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr. But then Nadia meets Sara, a hilarious, foul-mouthed East Londoner who was pulled into radicalism at just fifteen. The two are kindred spirits, and Nadia vows to get Sara home.

As the rehabilitation program picks up traction, Sara reveals a secret that upends everything, forcing Nadia to make a drastic choice. In the fallout, Nadia＊s brown-savior fantasies crumble, leaving her to wonder if she can save someone who doesn＊t want to be saved.

A fierce, wildly funny, and razor-sharp exploration of radicalism, family, and the quest for belonging, Fundamentally boldly inspects one of the defining controversies of our age and introduces a fearless new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 352 Nussaibah Younis 0593851382 Rajat 0 to-read 3.81 2025
author: Nussaibah Younis
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA＊s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston＊s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 Rajat 0 to-read 4.45 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2012043 322 Norman Lewis 0805019596 Rajat 0 to-read, travel 3.82 1991
author: Norman Lewis
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read, travel
review:

]]> 55155120 A groundbreaking resource for fiction writers, teachers, and students, this manifesto and practical guide challenges current models of craft and the writing workshop by showing how they fail marginalized writers, and how cultural expectations inform storytelling.

The traditional writing workshop was established with white male writers in mind; what we call craft is informed by their cultural values. In this bold and original examination of elements of writing〞including plot, character, conflict, structure, and believability〞and aspects of workshop〞including the silenced writer and the imagined reader〞Matthew Salesses asks questions to invigorate these familiar concepts. He upends Western notions of how a story must progress. How can we rethink craft, and the teaching of it, to better reach writers with diverse backgrounds? How can we invite diverse storytelling traditions into literary spaces?

Drawing from examples including One Thousand and One Nights, Curious George, Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, and the Asian American classic No-No Boy, Salesses asks us to reimagine craft and the workshop. In the pages of exercises included here, teachers will find suggestions for building syllabi, grading, and introducing new methods to the classroom; students will find revision and editing guidance, as well as a new lens for reading their work. Salesses shows that we need to interrogate the lack of diversity at the core of published fiction: how we teach and write it. After all, as he reminds us, "When we write fiction, we write the world."]]> 256 Matthew Salesses 1948226804 Rajat 0 to-read, writing 4.45 2021
author: Matthew Salesses
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read, writing
review:

]]> 213888887 THE CAPTIVATING, HEART-RENDING STORY OF TWO WOMEN IN 1800S CHINA

Love and loss. Sisterhood and betrayal. Little Flower and Linjing's fates are bound together.

As a child, Little Flower is sold to Linjing's wealthy family to become a muizai. In a fit of childish jealousy over her new handmaiden's ladylike bound feet and talent for embroidery, Linjing ensures Little Flower can never leave her to ascend in society.

Despite their starkly different places in the Fong household, over the years the two girls must work together to secure both their futures through Linjing's marriage. As the two grow up, they are by turns bitter rivals and tentative friends.

Until scandal strikes the family, and Linjing and Little Flower's lives are unexpectedly thrown into chaos. Linjing's fall from grace could be an opportunity for Little Flower - but will their intertwined fates lead to triumph, or tragedy for them both?]]> 400 Jane Yang Rajat 0 4.23 2025
author: Jane Yang
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read, china, historical-fiction
review:

]]> 57963486
In New York City, an art student finds an unexpected subject when she moves in with a grandmother from Xi＊an, and boundaries are put into question. When a newlywed couple moves to Arizona, adapting to unfamiliar customs keeps their marriage from falling apart. A woman grapples with what it means to care for another, and the limits of that care, when her dying husband returns from Beijing years after abandoning her. And during a rainy summer in Texas, a visitor exposes the unspoken but unburiable history that binds two families together. Ada Zhang writes with startling honesty and love about lives young and old, in a stunning debut that explores what happens when we leave home and what happens when we stay, and the selves we meet and shed in the process of becoming.]]> 160 Ada Zhang 1736370960 Rajat 0 to-read, china, short-story 4.10 2023
author: Ada Zhang
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read, china, short-story
review:

]]> 195888874
A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters＊ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story

Daughters are the Ang family＊s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother〞abused by the family for failing to birth a boy〞finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family＊s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they＊ve known also comes new freedom〞to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.]]> 400 Eve J. Chung 0593640535 Rajat 0 to-read 4.45 2024
author: Eve J. Chung
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58621983 A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong's prot谷g谷e and lover--and a poster child for the Cultural Revolution--in this provocative, poignant novel from the bestselling author of A River of Stars.

On the eve of China's Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman＊s opulent residence〞a forbidden city unto itself〞that she learns that the girls＊ job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei makes a beeline toward the Chairman.

Mei gradually separates from the other recruits to become the Chairman＊s confidante〞and paramour. As he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers from the dance troupe who will stop at nothing to take her place, as well as the Chairman＊s imperious wife, who has schemes of her own. When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.

Forbidden City is an epic yet intimate portrayal of one of the world's most powerful and least understood leaders during the most turbulent period of modern Chinese history. Mei's harrowing journey toward truth and disillusionment raises questions about power, manipulation, and belief, as seen through the eyes of a passionate teenage girl.]]> 352 Vanessa Hua 0399178813 Rajat 0 currently-reading, china 3.56 2022
author: Vanessa Hua
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: currently-reading, china
review:

]]> 9416409
In July 2004, a convoy of KGL trucks drove into Iraq from Kuwait carrying electronic equipment for the American occupiers, when the worst happened〞three Indian drivers, three Kenyans and an Egyptian were ambushed, detained by unknown Iraqi dissidents and accused of collaborating with the Americans. A deadline was set for their execution. The countdown had begun.

The abduction drama that ensued had all the ingredients of a thriller: Nail-biting suspense, high profile media coverage, international outrage at the plight of these humble workers, and political tightrope-walking. This gripping behind-the-scenes narration recounts what really happened in Baghdad when a team of negotiators was sent there and entered into secret talks through an intermediary whose very existence was not in public domain.

Anatomy of an Abduction reveals for the first time the Indian crisis management team＊s handling of the situation over forty-four days in occupied, lawless Iraq. The book gives an insight into the pressures that governments have to face as more and more innocent people become pawns in global chess games.]]> 219 V. Sudarshan 0143103857 Rajat 0 currently-reading 4.00 2008
author: V. Sudarshan
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 57693584
A dark romance exposing the gaps in American identity politics, especially when exported overseas, If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English is at once ravishing and wry, scathing and tender. Told in alternating perspectives, Noor Naga＊s experimental debut examines the ethics of fetishizing the homeland and punishing the beloved . . . and vice versa. In our globalized twenty-first-century world, what are the new faces (and races) of empire? When the revolution fails, how long can someone survive the disappointment? Who suffers and, more crucially, who gets to tell about it?]]> 186 Noor Naga 164445081X Rajat 0 to-read 3.95 2022
author: Noor Naga
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> 228796180 Shocking and darkly funny, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to the decisions that are shaping our world and the people who make them. Welcome to Facebook.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook's potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite - and the consequences this has for all of us.

Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.]]> Sarah Wynn-Williams 1761771442 Rajat 0 to-read, tech 4.47 2025
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read, tech
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]]> 217317504 He demystifies punctuation, guides us through the arcane rules of spelling and grammar, and explains a wide array of essential components of the language including acronyms, bacronyms, contronyms, oxymorons, kennings, metaphors, similes, idioms, euphemisms, palindromes, and much much more. He delves into the history and evolution of English, delights in its quirks, embraces its geographical variants, provides hilarious examples of its misuse around the world, is awed by the way in which the masters of literature use it, and revels in its beauty and grandeur. Passionate, learned, funny, and brilliantly readable, A Wonderland of Words is a book that will enchant and educate all those who delight in the English language.]]> Shashi Tharoor 8196906196 Rajat 0 to-read 4.18
author: Shashi Tharoor
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 217006044 In his first new novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize, a master storyteller captures a time of dizzying global change.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university with new swagger and ambition. Fauzia glimpses in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. The two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all. As tourism, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils reach their quiet corner of the world, bringing, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands.

]]> 296 Abdulrazak Gurnah 0593852605 Rajat 0 to-read 3.94 2025
author: Abdulrazak Gurnah
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 222681436
While growing up in the north Kerala district of Kannur〞a bastion of Marxist politics〞Ullekh delved into Cuba＊s history, culture, literature and political legends in Leftist journals and through Malayalam translations of Cuban works. The great strides the tiny Caribbean nation made in biotechnology, public health, pharmaceuticals and agriculture despite American sanctions were seen as a testament to the power of public-sector-led growth.

Ullekh was finally able to travel to Cuba in 2023 on a journalist visa. Mad About Cuba documents his visit and observations. Through conversations with senior bureaucrats, scientists at Cuba＊s fabled pharma research institutes, youth beginning their careers, students and many others, he paints an intimate and objective picture of the nation that has managed to withstand American sanctions for over six decades.

Will the Revolution endure? What does the future hold for this island? How will its remarkable transcontinental bond with Kerala pan out? This wonderfully written book attempts to provide answers.]]> 256 Ullekh N.P. 0143469010 Rajat 0 to-read 4.00
author: Ullekh N.P.
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 90886 The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a deeply rewarding novel about the importance of taking responsibility for one's own life.]]> 288 Sloan Wilson 1568582463 Rajat 0 to-read 3.85 1954
author: Sloan Wilson
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1954
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 72241345 From one of China＊s most celebrated〞and silenced〞literary authors, riveting portraits of eight Wuhan residents at the dawn of the pandemic.

When a strange new virus appeared in the largest city in central China late in 2019, the 11 million people living there were oblivious to what was about to hit them. But rumors of a new disease soon began to spread, mostly from doctors. In no time, lines of sick people were forming at the hospitals. At first the authorities downplayed medical concerns. Then they locked down the entire city and confined people to their homes.

From Beijing, Murong Xuecun〞one of China＊s most popular writers, silenced by the regime in 2013 for his outspoken books and New York Times articles〞followed the state media fearing the worst. Then, on April 6, 2020, he made his way quietly to Wuhan, determined to look behind the heroic images of sacrifice and victory propagated by the regime to expose the fear, confusion, and suffering of the real people living through the world＊s first and harshest COVID-19 lockdown.

In the tradition of Dan Baum＊s bestselling Nine Lives, Deadly Quiet City focuses on the remarkable stories of eight people in Wuhan. They include a doctor at the frontline, a small businessman separated from his family, a volunteer who threw himself into assisting the sick and dying, and a party loyalist who found a reason for everything. Although the Chinese Communist Party has devoted enormous efforts to rewriting the history of the pandemic＊s outbreak in Wuhan, through these poignant and beautifully written firsthand accounts Murong tells us what really happened in Wuhan, giving us a book unlike any other on the earliest days of the pandemic.]]> 320 Murong Xuecun 1620977923 Rajat 0 to-read 3.91 2022
author: Murong Xuecun
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 216380351 If you can＊t afford luck, all you can get is compensation.
Wang Changchi shouldn't be here.

His top marks should guarantee him a place at university, and with it the all-important city registration that opens all doors. For generations, his family have dreamed of escaping their poverty-stricken village. He should finally be able to break free. Instead, the lift doors close in his face.

As the sons of the local elite begin their ascent without him, the only direction he can go is through the back door, along with the hordes of illegal construction workers risking their lives just to scrape together a living.

Even if his chance has gone, he can still stake it all on the next generation. The Wangs could finally have a winner - all it would take is a few words on the right documents. But the cost of rewriting fate could require giving up everything＃

What price would you pay for tomorrow?]]> 397 Dong Xi 1838905723 Rajat 0 to-read, chinese-lit 5.00 2015
author: Dong Xi
name: Rajat
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read, chinese-lit
review:

]]> 221574033 Gully Gully reveals not only what cricket means to India, but also what Indians mean to cricket by capturing the best and the worst of us, along with the grit and the grime of the land. This book is as much about a fabulous team brimming with legends as it is about the game＊s other, oft-forgotten nameless and faceless Indian fans, emerging from numerous gullies.]]> 348 Aditya Iyer 9367906293 Rajat 0 to-read, sports, travel 4.17
author: Aditya Iyer
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read, sports, travel
review:

]]> 220708181 818 Chenggang Xu 1108841694 Rajat 0 to-read, china 5.00
author: Chenggang Xu
name: Rajat
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read, china
review:

]]> 211042795 New 699 John Keay 1526660520 Rajat 0 to-read 0.0 2022
author: John Keay
name: Rajat
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 230592486 455 Sreekumari Ramachandran 0143470140 Rajat 0 to-read 4.00
author: Sreekumari Ramachandran
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 18895412 Dziwne kamienie to zbi車r reporta?y o Chinach i USA, o relacjach Wschodu z Zachodem, o du?ych i ma?ych ambicjach, o przygodzie i niezrozumieniu, ale przede wszystkim o ludziach. Hessler z wyczuciem i humorem opowiada o peki里skiej swatce, kt車ra szuka m??車w obcokrajowc車w dla swoich klientek, o ameryka里skim naukowcu, kt車rego obsesj? sta?o si? badanie Wielkiego Muru, o restauratorach prze?cigaj?cych si? w przyrz?dzaniu szczur車w i "uranowych wdowach" z Kolorado, o ?wiatowej s?awy koszykarzu, chi里skiej malarce tworz?cej europejskie krajobrazy, kt車re zna tylko ze zdj??... Losy tych wyj?tkowych os車b pokazuj? niezwyk?? zdolno?? adaptacji, si?? lokalnych tradycji i zaskakuj?ce podobie里stwa mi?dzy zupe?nie odmiennymi kulturami.

Ka?de opisane przez Hesslera spotkanie jest fascynuj?cym odkryciem, ale r車wnie? pretekstem, by opowiedzie? o losie samotnego cz?owieka w zupe?nie obcym ?wiecie.]]> 370 Peter Hessler 0062206249 Rajat 0 to-read 4.38 2013
author: Peter Hessler
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 13167824 - why family and social stability take precedence over individual self-expression and the consequences for education, innovation, and growth;
- their fundamentally different understanding of morality, and why Chinese tolerate human rights abuses, rampant piracy, and endemic government corruption; and
-the long and storied past that still drives decision making at corporate, local, and national levels.

Change is coming fast and furious in China, challenging not only how the Western world sees the Chinese but how they see themselves. From the new generation's embrace of Christmas to the middle-class fixation with luxury brands; from the exploding senior demographic to what the Internet means for the government's hold on power, Doctoroff pulls back the curtain to reveal a complex and nuanced picture of a facinating people whose lives are becoming ever more entwined with our own.]]> 272 Tom Doctoroff 023034030X Rajat 0 to-read, china 3.57 2012
author: Tom Doctoroff
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read, china
review:

]]> 58416952 At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic 每 the Hierarchy 每 may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus 每 what they call Will 每 to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy＊s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.]]> 639 James Islington 1982141190 Rajat 0 to-read 4.60 2023
author: James Islington
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/27
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]]> 34987971 Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has treated children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, witnesses, children raised in closets and cages, and victims of family violence. Here he tells their stories of trauma and transformation.]]> 450 Bruce D. Perry 0465094465 Rajat 0 to-read 4.64 2007
author: Bruce D. Perry
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> 29889086
Drawing on Chinese and international sources, on extensive collaboration with Chinese scholars, and on the political science of state analysis, Stein Ringen concludes that under the new leadership of Xi Jinping, the system of government has been transformed into a new regime radically harder and more ideological than the legacy of Deng Xiaoping. China is less strong economically and more dictatorial politically than the world has wanted to believe.

By analyzing the leadership of Xi Jinping, the meaning of "socialist market economy," corruption, the party-state apparatus, the reach of the party, the mechanisms of repression, taxation and public services, and state-society relations, "The Perfect Dictatorship" broadens the field of China studies, as well as the fields of political economy, comparative politics, development, and welfare state studies.]]> 208 Stein Ringen 9888208942 Rajat 0 to-read, china 4.10 2016
author: Stein Ringen
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read, china
review:

]]> 40179278
To avoid the inherent limitations of typological approaches, this book uses analytical approaches drawn from policy studies. The focus is on the manner in which action programs in China's governmental system can be developed, formulated, implemented, adjusted, and revised. Policy making is therefore seen in this book as an open-ended process with an uncertain outcome, driven by conflicting interests, recurrent interactions, and continuous feedback〞it is not seen as being determined by history, regime type, or institutions in a straight-forward way. Key to this are the political and administrative methodology as well as the capacity to deal with both existing and emerging challenges, the correction mechanisms when things go wrong and conflicts arise, and adaptive capabilities in a constantly changing economic or international context.]]> Sebastian Heilmann Rajat 0 to-read, china 4.00
author: Sebastian Heilmann
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read, china
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]]> 829182 978 Randal E. Bryant 013034074X Rajat 0 to-read, tech 4.48 2002
author: Randal E. Bryant
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read, tech
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]]> 214151202 ※The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.§

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth＊s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn＊t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager〞the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel＊s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> 320 Clare Leslie Hall 166807818X Rajat 0 to-read 4.41 2025
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 20575435 The second volume of the bestselling landmark work on the history of the modern state

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Gress called Francis Fukuyama's Origins of Political Order "magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition." In The New York Times Book Review, Michael Lind described the book as "a major achievement by one of the leading public intellectuals of our time." And in The Washington Post, Gerard DeGrott exclaimed "this is a book that will be remembered. Bring on volume two."
Volume two is finally here, completing the most important work of political thought in at least a generation. Taking up the essential question of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions, Fukuyama follows the story from the French Revolution to the so-called Arab Spring and the deep dysfunctions of contemporary American politics. He examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West.
A sweeping, masterful account of the struggle to create a well-functioning modern state, Political Order and Political Decay is destined to be a classic.]]> 672 Francis Fukuyama 0374227357 Rajat 0 to-read, political-science 4.33 2014
author: Francis Fukuyama
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read, political-science
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]]> 27216723
But these things haven＊t happened before. It＊s August 1947, the night before India＊s independence. It is also the night before Pakistan＊s creation and the brutal Partition of the two countries.

Asha, a Hindu in a newly Muslim land, must flee to safety. She carries with her a secret she has kept even from Firoze, her Muslim lover, but Firoze must remain in Pakistan, and increasing tensions between the two countries mean the couple can never reunite.

Fifty years later in New York, Asha＊s Indian granddaughter falls in love with a Pakistani, and Asha and Firoze, meeting again at last, are faced with one more 每 final 每 choice.

Spanning continents and generations, Where the River Parts is an epic tale of love, loss and longing.

Advance Praise for Where the River Parts:

＆A perceptive story of love swept aside by history, packed with insight, compassion and piercing detail.＊
-Isabelle Grey, Author of Good Girls Don＊t Die

＆A heartbreaking story ... on a chapter of South Asian history that has often been deemed too painful to be explored fully.＊
-Nayomi Munaweera, Author of Island of 1000 Mirrors]]> 288 Radhika Swarup 1910124761 Rajat 0 to-read 4.11 2016
author: Radhika Swarup
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
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]]> 211953309 A dazzling debut novel set in 1980s New York, when cocaine is as easy to get as ice cream, about one young woman＊s summer of infinite possibility〞and looming danger.

It was the summer of 1986, when the girl was found dead in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum〞half-naked, legs splayed, arms flung over her head. Larynx crushed.

There are two things Nina Jacobs is determined to do over the summer of 1986: avoid her mother＊s depression-fueled rages, and lose her virginity before she starts college in the fall. Both are seemingly impossible〞when her mother isn＊t lying in bed for days, she＊s lashing out at Nina over any perceived slight. And after a blowjob gone spectacularly wrong, Nina is the talk of Flanagan＊s, the Upper East Side bar where young Manhattan society congregates. It doesn＊t help that she＊s Jewish, an outsider among the blue-eyed blondes who populate this rarified world. She can fit in, kind of, with enough alcohol and prescription drugs stolen from her parents＊ medicine cabinet.

Flanagan＊s is where she pines for the handsome, preppy, and charismatic Gardner Reed, whom every girl wants to sleep with and every guy wants to be. After she＊s introduced to cocaine, Nina plunges headlong into her pursuit of Gardner, oblivious to the warning signs. When a new medication seemingly frees her mother from darkness, and Nina and Gardner grow closer, it seems like Nina might finally get what she wants. But at what cost?

Freud called cocaine ※a gorgeous excitement,§ but a gorgeous excitement for the wrong guy can be lethal.]]> 368 Cynthia Weiner 0593798848 Rajat 0 to-read 3.71
author: Cynthia Weiner
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 147779009 A powerful novel of the saving grace of language and human connection, from the celebrated author of The Vegetarian.

'Breathtaking . . . She is simply my favourite living writer to read, and think with, and see the world with' Max Porter
__________________

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.

Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human connection, a novel to awaken the senses, vividly conjuring the essence of what it means to be alive.

Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won.
__________________

'Another stunning gem: quiet, sharply faceted, and devastating' Kirkus

'Han Kang's vivid and at times violent storytelling will wake up even the most jaded of literary palates' Independent

'Han Kang is a writer like no other. In a few lines, she seems to traverse the entirety of human experience' Katie Kitamura]]> 149 Han Kang 0241997062 Rajat 0 to-read 3.56 2011
author: Han Kang
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 39346712
So, sad but supportive, he stays back in Delhi. Rohan prepares for a year without Ira, getting by with a little help from his friends.

Life without Ira is going surprisingly well. Until the day, that is, she reveals the real reason she left.]]> 136 Siddhesh Inamdar 9352775902 Rajat 3 3.37
author: Siddhesh Inamdar
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.37
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
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]]> 58489250
In New Delhi of the 1980s, Aahan Sikand and Rajesh Kumar are childhood playmates. They have been brought up under the care of the same woman, living in the same house, but with starkly different realities 每 Aahan is the only son and heir of the fabulously wealthy Sikand family, and Rajesh is the son of the family＊s driver, who lives in a tiny staff quarter on the grounds of their sprawling bungalow.
As Aahan and Rajesh grow up, the natural friendship they shared as children reaches an uncomfortable end, as both become aware of their places in the world. While Aahan is expected to keep what he has inherited intact for the next generation, Rajesh, in the eyes of the world, can, at best, hope for a life better than his father＊s, free of domestic servitude. But he has much larger plans
for himself.
Equations is a story of aspiration and social change, of individual ambition and family bonds. It announces the arrival of a striking new talent who examines the secret worlds of New Delhi＊s political and business families.]]> 212 Shivani Sibal 9354227570 Rajat 2 3.23
author: Shivani Sibal
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.23
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> 214537790 From?Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling?author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. A gripping Dust Bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town

The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing〞not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a "Prairie Witch," whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples＊ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch＊s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town＊s secrets and its fate.

Russell's novel is above all a reckoning with a nation＊s forgetting〞enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities. The Antidote echoes with urgent warnings for our own climate emergency, challenging readers with a vision of what might have been〞and what still could be.]]> 432 Karen Russell 059380225X Rajat 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Karen Russell
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 38926072 Our American Israel tells the story of how a Jewish state in the Middle East came to resonate profoundly with a broad range of Americans in the twentieth century. Beginning with debates about Zionism after World War II, Israel＊s identity has been entangled with America＊s belief in its own exceptional nature. Now, in the twenty-first century, Amy Kaplan challenges the associations underlying this special alliance.

Through popular narratives expressed in news media, fiction, and film, a shared sense of identity emerged from the two nations＊ histories as settler societies. Americans projected their own origin myths onto Israel: the biblical promised land, the open frontier, the refuge for immigrants, the revolt against colonialism. Israel assumed a mantle of moral authority, based on its image as an ※invincible victim,§ a nation of intrepid warriors and concentration camp survivors. This paradox persisted long after the Six-Day War, when the United States rallied behind a story of the Israeli David subduing the Arab Goliath. The image of the underdog shattered when Israel invaded Lebanon and Palestinians rose up against the occupation in the 1980s. Israel＊s military was strongly censured around the world, including notes of dissent in the United States. Rather than a symbol of justice, Israel became a model of military strength and technological ingenuity.

In America today, Israel＊s political realities pose difficult challenges. Turning a critical eye on the turbulent history that bound the two nations together, Kaplan unearths the roots of present controversies that may well divide them in the future.]]> 368 Amy Kaplan 0674737628 Rajat 0 to-read, america, israel 4.20 2018
author: Amy Kaplan
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read, america, israel
review:

]]> 53487334 ※Genius＃ It is miraculous to read these pieces＃ You must read The Best of Me.§ 〞Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review

A?New York Times Book Review Editors＊ Choice
A CNN and?Christian Science Monitor?Best Book of the Month

For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to read without laughing.
?
Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler＊s lap. He drowns a mouse in a bucket, struggles to say ※give it to me§ in five languages, and hand-feeds a carnivorous bird.
?
But if all you expect to find in Sedaris＊s work is the deft and sharply observed comedy for which he became renowned, you may be surprised to discover that his words bring more warmth than mockery, more fellow-feeling than derision. Nowhere is this clearer than in his writing about his loved ones. In these pages, Sedaris explores falling in love and staying together, recognizing his own aging not in the mirror but in the faces of his siblings, losing one parent and coming to terms〞at long last〞with the other.
?
Taken together, the stories in The Best of Me reveal the wonder and delight Sedaris takes in the surprises life brings him. No experience, he sees, is quite as he expected〞it＊s often harder, more fraught, and certainly weirder〞but sometimes it is also much richer and more wonderful.
?
Full of joy, generosity, and the incisive humor that has led David Sedaris to be called ※the funniest man alive§ (Time Out New York), The Best of Me spans a career spent watching and learning and laughing〞quite often at himself〞and invites readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.]]> 387 David Sedaris 0316628247 Rajat 0 to-read 4.19 2020
author: David Sedaris
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 10836585 Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and was the first film critic ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. He has appeared on television for four decades, including twenty-three years as cohost of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.

In 2006, complications from thyroid cancer treatment resulted in the loss of his ability to eat, drink, or speak. But with the loss of his voice, Ebert has only become a more prolific and influential writer. And now, for the first time, he tells the full, dramatic story of his life and career.

Roger Ebert's journalism carried him on a path far from his nearly idyllic childhood in Urbana, Illinois. It is a journey that began as a reporter for his local daily, and took him to Chicago, where he was unexpectedly given the job of film critic for the Sun-Times, launching a lifetime's adventures.

In this candid, personal history, Ebert chronicles it all: his loves, losses, and obsessions; his struggle and recovery from alcoholism; his marriage; his politics; and his spiritual beliefs. He writes about his years at the Sun-Times, his colorful newspaper friends, and his life-changing collaboration with Gene Siskel. He remembers his friendships with Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Oprah Winfrey, and Russ Meyer (for whom he wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and an ill-fated Sex Pistols movie). He shares his insights into movie stars and directors like John Wayne, Werner Herzog, and Martin Scorsese.

This is a story that only Roger Ebert could tell. Filled with the same deep insight, dry wit, and sharp observations that his readers have long cherished, this is more than a memoir-it is a singular, warm-hearted, inspiring look at life itself.

"I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out."
-from LIFE ITSELF]]> 436 Roger Ebert 0446584975 Rajat 0 to-read 3.90 2011
author: Roger Ebert
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> 99660
Born in Paris to sophisticated parents, Willie Maugham was orphaned at the age of ten and brought up in a small English coastal town by narrow-minded relatives. He was trained as a doctor, but never practiced medicine. His novel Ashenden , based on his own espionage for Britain in World War I, influenced writers from Eric Ambler to John le Carr?. After a failed affair with an actress, he married another man＊s mistress, but reserved his greatest love for a man who shared his life for nearly thirty years. He traveled the world and spoke several languages. Despite a debilitating stutter, and an acerbic and formal manner, he entertained literary celebrities and royalty at his villa in the south of France. He made a fortune from his writing--the short story ※Rain§ alone earned him a million dollars每yet true critical recognition, and the esteem of his literary peers, eluded him. The life of Somerset Maugham, as told by acclaimed biographer Jeffrey Meyers, is an intriguing, glamorous, complex, and extraordinary account of one of the twentieth century＊s most enduring writers.]]> 432 Jeffrey Meyers 1400030528 Rajat 0 to-read, biography 3.67 2004
author: Jeffrey Meyers
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 54913720 A finely spun history of clothes and where they come from

Linen, Cotton, Silk, Synthetics, Wool: through the stories of these five fabrics, Sofi Thanhauser illuminates the world we inhabit in a startling new way, travelling from China to Cumbria to reveal the craft, labour and industry that create the clothes we wear.

From the women who transformed stalks of flax into linen to clothe their families in 19th century New England to those who earn their dowries in the cotton spinning factories of South India today, this book traces the origins of garment making through time and around the world. Exploring the social, economic and environmental impact of our most personal possessions, Worn looks beyond care labels to show how clothes reveal the truth about what we really care about.]]> 400 Sofi Thanhauser 0241389534 Rajat 0 to-read, history 3.77 2022
author: Sofi Thanhauser
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, history
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]]> 3479476 With a New Foreword

In So Damn Much Money, veteran Washington Post editor and correspondent Robert Kaiser gives a detailed account of how the boom in political lobbying since the 1970s has shaped American politics by empowering special interests, undermining effective legislation, and discouraging the country＊s best citizens from serving in office. Kaiser traces this dramatic change in our political system through the colorful story of Gerald S. J. Cassidy, one of Washington＊s most successful lobbyists. Superbly told, it＊s an illuminating dissection of a political system badly in need of reform.]]> 360 Robert G. Kaiser 0307266540 Rajat 0 to-read, america 3.84 2009
author: Robert G. Kaiser
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read, america
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]]> 37857066 384 Robert Skidelsky 0241352827 Rajat 0 4.24 2018
author: Robert Skidelsky
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, business-finance-and-economics
review:

]]> 213713164
In?The Bailout State, Martijn Konings exposes the inner workings of this sprawling infrastructure of government guarantees. Backstopping financial markets and securing banks＊ balance sheets, this contemporary Leviathan manages the inflationary pressures that its generosity produces by tightening the financial screws on the rest of the population.
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To a large extent, the bailout state was built by progressives seeking to buttress the institutions of the early postwar period. The resulting tide of capital gains fostered an asset-centered politics that experienced its heyday in the nineties. But ever since the financial crisis of 2007-08, promises of inclusive economic growth have looked increasingly thin. A colossus locked in place, the bailout state disburses its benefits to a rapidly shrinking group of property owners.? Against the backdrop of a ferocious post-pandemic turn to anti-inflationary policy, the only remaining way to exit the logic of the bailout, Konings argues, is to challenge the monetary drivers at the heart of capitalist society.]]> 272 Martijn Konings 1509564314 Rajat 0 to-read 4.00
author: Martijn Konings
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.00
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]]> 7644525 192 Frederick Noronha 8190568272 Rajat 0 to-read 2.50 2009
author: Frederick Noronha
name: Rajat
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> 229020431 This study of organizing and decluttering professionals helps us understand〞and perhaps alleviate〞the overwhelming demands society places on our time and energy.



For a widely dreaded, often mundane task, organizing one＊s possessions has taken a surprising hold on our cultural imagination. Today, those with the means can hire professionals to help sort and declutter their homes. In More Than Pretty Boxes, Carrie M. Lane introduces us to this world of professional organizers and offers new insight into the domains of work and home, which are forever entangled〞especially for women.



The female-dominated organizing profession didn＊t have a name until the 1980s, but it is now the subject of countless reality shows, podcasts, and magazines. Lane draws on interviews with organizers, including many of the field＊s founders, to trace the profession＊s history and uncover its enduring appeal to those seeking meaningful, flexible, self-directed work. Taking readers behind the scenes of real-life organizing sessions, More Than Pretty Boxes details the strategies organizers use to help people part with their belongings, and it also explores the intimate, empathetic relationships that can form between clients and organizers.



But perhaps most importantly, More Than Pretty Boxes helps us think through an interconnected set of questions around neoliberal work arrangements, overconsumption, emotional connection, and the deeply gendered nature of paid and unpaid work. Ultimately, Lane situates organizing at the center of contemporary conversations around how work isn＊t working anymore and makes a case for organizing＊s radical potential to push back against the overwhelming demands of work and the home, too often placed on women＊s shoulders. Organizers aren＊t the sole answer to this crisis, but their work can help us better understand both the nature of the problem and the sorts of solace, support, and solutions that might help ease it.]]> 288 Carrie M. Lane 0226832775 Rajat 0 to-read 3.25
author: Carrie M. Lane
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.25
book published:
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]]> 36808138 489 M T V Nair Rajat 0 to-read 4.18
author: M T V Nair
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.18
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]]> 196038712 This outrageously charming and infuriatingly adorable enemies-to-lovers coffee shop romance is perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Better Than the Movies.

Meet River Langston-Lee. In the past 24 hours, he＊s dumped his girlfriend, walked out of his SATs, and quit his job at his parents＊ cafe in spectacularly disastrous fashion〞even for him.

Somehow, he manages to talk his way into a gig at a failing Korean cafe, Bingsu for Two, which is his lucky break until he meets short, grumpy, and goth: Sarang Cho. She＊s his new no-BS co-worker who＊s as determined to make River＊s life hell as she is to save her family＊s cafe.

After River accidentally uploads a video of his chaotic co-workers to his popular fandom account, they strike viral fame. The kicker? Their new fans ship River and Sarang big-time. In order to keep the Internet＊s attention〞and the cafe＊s new paying customers〞River and Sarang must pretend that the tension between them is definitely of the romantic variety, not the considering the best way to kill you and hide your body variety.

But when Bingsu for Two＊s newfound success catches the attention of River＊s ex and his parents＊ cafe around the corner, he faces a choice: keep letting others control his life or stand up for the place that＊s become home. And a green-haired girl who＊s not as heartless as he originally thought . . .]]> 320 Sujin Witherspoon 1454954027 Rajat 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Sujin Witherspoon
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
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]]> 214269353 From the award-winning author of Flux comes a dazzling novel about love, family, and the art of sushi that asks: What if you could return to the point of a fateful choice, wiser than before, and find the courage to forge a new path?

A coma can change a man, but the world Jack Jr. awakens to is one he barely recognizes. His advertising job is history, his Manhattan apartment is gone, and the love of his life has left him behind. He＊s been asleep for two years; with no one to turn to, he realizes it＊s been ten years since he last saw his family.?

Lost and disoriented, he makes a reluctant homecoming back to the bustling Korean American enclave of Fort Lee, New Jersey; back into the waiting arms of his parents, who are operating under the illusion he never left; and back to Joja, their ever-struggling sushi restaurant that he was set to inherit before he ran away from it all. As he steps back into the life he abandoned〞learning his Appa＊s life lessons over crates of tuna on bleary-eyed 4 AM fish runs, doling out amberjack behind the omakase counter while his Umma tallies the night's pitiful number of customers, and sparring with his recovering alcoholic brother, James〞he embraces new roles, That of romantic interest to the male nurse who took care of him throughout, and that of sage (but underqualified) uncle to his gangly teenage nephew.

There is value in the joyous rhythms of this once-abandoned life. But second chances are an even messier business than running a restaurant, and the lure of a self-determined path might, once again, prove too hard to resist.

Why do we run from those we love, and why do we still love those who run from us? A highly entertaining and poignant story about second chances and self-discovery, I Leave It Up to You pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one＊s footing after the ground gives way.]]> 311 Jinwoo Chong 0593727053 Rajat 0 to-read 4.03 2025
author: Jinwoo Chong
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2025
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]]> 214208227 Emma Donoghue, the ※soul-stirring§ (Oprah Daily) nationally bestselling author of Room, returns with a sweeping historical novel about an infamous 1895 disaster at the Paris Montparnasse train station.

Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train＊s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.

From an author whose ※writing is superb alchemy§ (Audrey Niffenegger, New York Times bestselling author), The Paris Express is an evocative masterpiece that effortlessly captures the politics, glamour, chaos, and speed that marked the end of the 19th century.]]> 285 Emma Donoghue 1668082810 Rajat 0 to-read, historical-fiction 3.76 2025
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name: Rajat
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2025
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]]> 12174
Allison describes in detail a typical company outing to such a club〞what the men do, how they interact with the hostesses, the role the hostess is expected to play, and the extent to which all of this involves "play" rather than "work." Unlike previous books on Japanese nightlife, Allison's ethnography of one specific hostess club (here referred to as Bijo) views the general phenomenon from the eyes of a woman, hostess, and feminist anthropologist.

Observing that clubs like Bijo further a kind of masculinity dependent on the gestures and labors of women, Allison seeks to uncover connections between such behavior and other social, economic, sexual, and gendered relations. She argues that Japanese corporate nightlife enables and institutionalizes a particular form of ritualized male dominance: in paying for this entertainment, Japanese corporations not only give their male workers a self-image as phallic man, but also develop relationships to work that are unconditional and unbreakable. This is a book that will appeal to anyone interested in gender roles or in contemporary Japanese society.]]> 228 Anne Allison 0226014878 Rajat 0 to-read, gender, japan 3.70 1994
author: Anne Allison
name: Rajat
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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shelves: to-read, gender, japan
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]]> 214175077 An extraordinary and urgent debut by a prize-winning Irish writer, Nesting introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.

This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan＊s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.

What will it take for Ciara to rebuild her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan＊s control 每 and what will be the cost?

Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience, this is the story of one woman＊s bid to start over.]]> 400 Rois赤n O＊Donnell 1643755706 Rajat 0 to-read 4.28 2025
author: Rois赤n O＊Donnell
name: Rajat
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
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]]>